Africa

National pride comes before a fall. Reports that Tokyo has routinely bribed at least six African countries to vote in support of its whaling policy have embarrassed the Japanese government. This...

Environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace have long protested about the links between voting at the International Whaling Commission and Japanese aid. That was before evidence that Japanese activities, including the paying...

On 24 May, Seoul’s Strategy and Finance Ministry identified Algeria, Ethiopia, Congo-Kinshasa, South Africa and Tanzania as ‘strategically important’ countries in its economic cooperation with Africa. South Korea...

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari held a mini-summit of African ambassadors on 2 June to launch Islamabad’s first real forays into Africa. In the style of Beijing’s Forum on China-Africa...

With limited domestic markets and poor infrastructure, the building of African refineries by Asian countries is often interpreted as cementing political ties rather than economic ones. China’s Sinopec balked at the...

Beijing’s relationship with the China International Fund is much clearer than it likes to admit. When the Hong Kong-registered CIF signed multibillion-dollar deals with pariah regimes in Guinea...

The China-Africa Development Fund’s expansion plans moved a step forward with the opening of a new branch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 March. The office will pursue greater cooperation...

The first cooperation agreement signed by the China-Africa Development Fund was with the Tianjin North China Geological Exploration Bureau, a state-run mining enterprise, in December 2007.

April 2009: the China-Africa Development Fund and YTO Group announced a joint venture – the China-Africa Machinery Corporation – to manufacture agricultural and construction equipment. YTO agreed to invest US$20.1 million for...

India plans to increase its annual trade with Africa to US$70 billion – up from current levels of $45 bn. – over the next five years. That is...