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In this week's roundup of emerging actors in Africa news, Industrial and Commercial Bank mulls acquisitions in Middle East and North Africa, France pushes for African presence on UN Security Council, presidents of Seychelles and South Africa set to visit India, and Kenya reaps billions from Sudanese separation plan.

GENERAL

Building Africa: Where's The United States?
If the United States wishes to maintain its strategic interests in the East Africa region, it must seek to better engage with the continent’s emerging regional structures. This will require policymakers to move beyond the confines of military strategy and to embrace a more holistic approach to economic and security policy in the region. Read more

Sovereign wealth rewrites old-world rules
Sovereign wealth funds -- national vehicles created to grow state wealth for the future -- have long experience investing in exotic and lesser-known lands. To these funds, many of which originate in what the West calls the "frontier" region, it's a local market. Read more

Changing economy opens door wider for Africa investors
Since the turn of the century, several irreversible shifts have taken place in the global economy. One such adjustment, which has been accelerated by the recent global financial meltdown, is the rise to prominence of the south.
In a recent speech, World Bank president Robert Zoellick declared the end of the ‘Third World’, saying such crude divisions are no longer applicable within an ever more multipolar world economy given the dramatic rise of markets throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America in the course of the past decade. Read more

Hedge fund hungry for Africa
HARBINGER Capital Partners, the US hedge fund operation run by billionaire Philip Falcone, plans to boost investment in African resources as companies compete for some of the world's biggest mineral deposits.

Read more

Weak euro makes Africa investment cheaper
A top African economist says the weak euro and Greece's budget crisis are making African countries cheaper places to invest. Read more

CHINA in AFRICA

CAD Fund to boost footprint in Africa
The China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund), China's largest private equity (PE) fund focused on African investments, has kicked off its second-phase of fund raising to raise $2 billion over three years CAD Fund has teamed up with Chinese companies for investments in Africa and is largely a financial investor. The fund does not hold controlling stakes in any project and limits its holdings between 10-50 percent . Read more

China, kingpin in Africa, turns to Mideast
China is negotiating with the Persian Gulf state of Qatar to sell an additional 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year, on top of the 5 million it already buys.
This is part of Beijing’s drive to establish strategic energy links with Middle Eastern states as it has done in mineral-rich Africa over the last few years, challenging U.S. dominance of the oil-rich strategic region since World War II. Read more

China firms urged to invest in Africa
Government officials on Friday urged more Chinese companies to invest in Africa's agricultural and manufacturing sectors to help the continent improve its economic structure Read more

Zambia: Luanshya mine to create 1,000 more jobs
China Non-Ferrous Metal Company’s Luanshya Copper Mines (CLM) is set to recruit 1,000 employees in readiness for the beginning of production at the Muliashi open pit mine, taking the total number of workers to more than 3,000.
CLM also plans to make an additional investment of more than US$150 million to rehabilitate infrastructure at Luanshya Copper Mine this year. Read more

Mozambicans Complain against Chinese employer
Mozambican workers involved in building the new international passenger terminal at Maputo International Airport have accused their Chinese employers of violating Mozambican labour legislation and of physically assaulting them. Read more

ICBC mulls acquisitions in Middle East and North Africa

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's most profitable bank, on Monday said that it will consider the acquisition opportunities in the Middle East and the North Africa to further blueprint its expansion strategy, sources reported.

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China's struggling soccer program won't field a team in the 2010 World Cup
When teams from 32 nations gather for the World Cup in South Africa this month, one country will be most conspicuous by its absence: China. Read more

INDIA in AFRICA

South African president and Sharma to review IBSA pact
India and South African conglomeration will give a fresh impetus to the proposed preferential trade agreement during the upcoming visit of South Africa President Jacob Zuma beginning Wednesday.
Read more

Indian and South African CEOs Forum to be re-launched
The India-South Africa CEOs Forum was re-launched during the visiting South African President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma's interaction with the Indian industry in Mumbai on June 3. Read more

Trade issues to dominate Zuma visit
South African President Jacob Zuma is in India on his first state visit to Asia since he took office in May last year. The three-day visit would focus on deepening strategic partnership between the two countries. According to officials, strengthening and broadening of economic and commercial interaction between the two countries; expansion of South-South interaction with a view to strengthen the voice of the developing world and its capacity to address the needs of its people are on the agenda. Read more

Rossell Tea scouts for Africa properties
Faced with the high price of tea garden acquisition in India, Rossell Tea is looking at possible acquisitions in Africa. Read more

India to discuss security ties with Seychelles
India will discuss greater security and economic cooperation with Seychelles during discussions with its President James Alex Michel who arrived here on Tuesday. Read more

CII to take business delegation to Ghana and Burkina Faso
India's largest business chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is taking a large delegation to two countries in west Africa this week, officials said Tuesday. Read more

Rights group appeals for African detainees' release
Civil rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Monday appealed to the Indian government to release a dozen Africans held in detention centre in Delhi. The detainees have threatened to go on hunger strike from June 1. Read more

Other Emerging Actors

France sees business opportunities at Africa summit
France will attempt to claw back some economic influence in Africa as it welcomes some 40 government leaders to a summit that will for the first time include the heads of top French companies. Read more

With Europe's influence waning in former African colonies, France looks to China's example
China's investment in Africa has increased so much in recent years that some Africans fear a new form of colonialism.
Now, France, one of the continent's old colonial masters, is looking to Africa with outstretched hands, working to imitate China and step up its own investment there. Read more

France says Africa must be on UN Security Council
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday Africa should be represented on the U.N. Security Council, promising to back reforms when France takes the helm of the G8 and G20 groups of big economies next year. Read more

Presidents of Seychelles and South Africa to visit India
India will play host this week to President James Alix Michel of Seychelles and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, who will be here on State Visits for talks aimed at further improving their relations with India Read more

Kenya reaps billions from Sudanese separation plan
Kenya is tapping billions of shillings in new investments from what is emerging as an early harvest of the fruits of the looming birth of Africa’s latest independent state — South Sudan.
East Africa’s largest economy has emerged as the major beneficiary of the expectation that Southern Sudanese will choose independence in January — sparking a race among foreign governments with the financial muscle to develop infrastructure that the new state will require to trade with the world.

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World Cup 2010: Climate change fouls and goals
South Africa, where the Fifa Football World Cup is to kick off 11 June, has introduced cleaner transportation, while Brazil is planning ecological stadiums for the championship it will host in 2014. But these and other initiatives clash with the countries' overall environmental performance. Read more

Dubai Chamber eyes new investment opportunities in Africa for its members
In preparation to host the 4th Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA) Investment Forum in 2011, Dubai Chamber organized today at its premises the first ever COMESA Workshop, aimed at highlighting the investment opportunities and enhancing the economic cooperation between Dubai and COMESA. Read more

AngloGold to cut Australian exploration on Profit Tax
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the world’s third-largest gold producer, will cut its exploration spending in Australia if a proposed tax on mining profits is approved. Read more

Blogs, Opinion and Dates

Why China and India Need Each Other
Recent rumblings that the Indian government is making it difficult for Chinese companies to export telecom equipment to Indian operators (or may even issue an outright ban on security grounds) is just the latest development in a two-step-forward, one-step-back dance that China and India are trying to master, albeit awkwardly. Read more

Global Insider: Russia's Stake in Africa
In late May, Russia announced that it would invest $1 billion in uranium exploration in Namibia. In an e-mail interview, Raksha Maharaj, a director at South Africa-based Emerging Market Focus, explains Russia's renewed interest in Africa.
Read more

China International Fund's New Bellzone-Kalia Guinea Deal
Last week China International Fund, the murky Hong Kong real estate, construction, and investment company, hit the news again with a confirmed report that CIF had signed a preliminary agreement to finance $2.7 billion in infrastructure connected with the development of Australian company Bellzone's proposed $4.45 billion Kalia iron ore mine in Guinea. A $40 million feasibility study still needs to be done before the deal goes forward.

Read more

Trade With Africa Or Lose Out
A leading British think-tank has warned that many of Africa's traditional partners, especially in Europe and North America, risk losing global influence and trade advantages to the emerging powers in Asia, Africa and South America unless they recognise the greater strategic role that African countries are playing in international affairs. Read more

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: INDIA-SOUTH AFRICA BILATERAL AGREEMENT
Under the framework of the South Africa-India inter-governmental bilateral agreement on co-operation in the fields of science and technology signed in 1995, a new programme of cooperation was agreed on for the years 2008 to 2011. Read more

Africa’s bad image turns away global investors
The tarnished image of African countries, including Kenya’s in the global arena still gets in the way of attracting investors to the continent. Read more

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Compiled by Anna Lena Wachter, intern based with the Emerging Powers in Africa programme.