INDIAAFRICA The Delhi Durbar 7th November 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site As Beijing and Tokyo boost their profiles, Prime Minister Singh's government hosts its first grand summit In a direct challenge to established Western interests and the continent's growing ties with China and Japan, India is promising to invest heavily in Africa's transport, energy and manufacturing sectors as well as build up education and training programmes.
INDIAAFRICA In the Navy 7th November 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The exercise of power on Africa's seas India has defined Africa as part of its wider strategic interest and is concerned about nuclear rival China's encroachment on what it perceives as its'wider sphere of influence' along...
INDIAAFRICA Chalo Africa 7th November 2008 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site The Indians are making moves in the diamond market, but will it last forever? Indian Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh cut a deal with Endiama, Angola's state-owned diamond company, to facilitate the direct sale of stones to India by mid-2009. India is also...
AFRICAASIAAGRICULTURE Two continents, one food crisis 7th November 2008 China, India and Korea are taking the lead in efforts to boost Africa's farm production, while preventing grain exports to the region Africans depend heavily on imported food, and the World Bank estimates that world food prices rose by 58% between March 2007 and March 2008. Moreover, several important food-exporting...
JAPANAFRICA Ticad Talks 7th November 2008 Japan gets read to play host With just a month to go before the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) on 28-30 May, the Japanese hosts are busily firming proposals that will both...
AFRICAASIAAGRICULTURE How Africa could feed itself... And Asia too 7th November 2008 Asian money and know-how could help Africa become the breadbasket of half the world The veteran environmentalist Lester Brown asked in the mid-1990s: 'Who will feed China?' The answer is that the Chinese hope to, thanks to more fertiliser, better seeds and...
EQUATORIAL GUINEACHINA Not working out 7th November 2008 The Chinese face labour problems all over Africa When China evacuated 400 construction workers from Mongomo in Equatorial Guinea in early April, it marked the culmination of a labour dispute with a difference. In several African countries, notably Zambia...
NIGERIACHINA A $50 Billion Handshake 7th November 2008 Beijing may not want much to do with Nigeria A sizable and much-ballyhooed credit line looks to be little more than a goodwill gesture from China to Nigeria, promising much but delivering little. The brief fanfare attached to the initial...
JAPAN Nobutake Odano 7th November 2008 Ambassador for TICAD IV As the man responsible for coordinating the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development scheduled for May 28-30, Ambassador Nobutake Odano has covered a lot of miles in...
NIGERIA Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 7th November 2008 Managing Director, World Bank Born in 1954, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala studied economics at Harvard University, then earned a Ph.D in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. She joined the World...
NIGERIA Shamsudeen Usman 7th November 2008 Finance Minister, Nigeria Since joining Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's cabinet in 2007 as Finance Minister, Shamsudeen Usman has courted foreign investment - particularly from China - to rejuvenate Nigeria's infrastructure and boost its petroleum production....
CHINA Wang Yi 7th November 2008 President, China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation Wang Yi has been appointed President of Sinosure, China's export credit insurance agency, after he resigned as General Manager of the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) on...