1. General

African manufactured exports double in 10yrs
The African manufactured exports have doubled over the last ten years with the rise in demand of goods by emerging partners, says a new report. According to the African Economic report released on Monday, it shows that the share conducted by the continent with emerging partners has grown from approximately 23 per cent to 39 per cent in the last decade. The report shows that China replaced the US in 2009 as the main Africa’s trading partner. Africa’s top five emerging trade partners include China (38 per cent), India (14 per cent), Korea (7.2 per cent), Brazil (7.1 per cent) and Turkey (6.5 per cent).
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2. China in Africa

China's Hanlong eyes W.Africa iron ore in Sundance bid
China's Sichuan Hanlong bid to buy out Australia's Sundance Resources , valuing the company at $1.5 billion in a deal that would give it control of a major iron ore mining project in West Africa and help feed China's demand for metals. Sundance's board urged shareholders not to take any action on Hanlong's A$0.50 a share offer, a 25 percent premium to Friday's closing price, which it said was inadequate. Hanlong already owns 18.6 percent of the company.
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Abide by the law, envoy asks Chinese companies
CHINESE companies have been asked to improve their relationship with the Zambian government and local people to boost their grip on huge infrastructural projects currently being enjoyed. And China’s Sinohydro has started building the Us $2 billion 750 megawatts Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower station which is expected to boost power security in Zambia and the region once completed in 2017. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for Kafue Gorge Lower on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Zhou Yu Xiao said there was need for Chinese companies to fully exploit opportunities in Zambia that arise from the enactment of the Public Private Partnership Act.
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China's Wing Hing to buy SA gold assets in $580m deal
China’s Wing Hing said on Thursday that it planned to buy up to 87% of South African gold company Taung Gold for $580-million to take advantage of the surging gold price.
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China, Nigeria Spend $629 Million on Construction of Abuja to Kaduna Rail
China and Nigeria have spent $629 million on the construction of a rail line linking the capital, Abuja, to the northern city of Kaduna, Nigeria’s Transport Ministry said today in an e-mailed statement. The Export-Import Bank of China provided $500 million in concessionary loans for the $850 million project being built by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Co., according to the statement.
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Botswana: Diamond revenue to rise as China's mineral hunt grows
China’s growing investment interest in Africa has seen firms from the Asian country acquiring prospecting mining licenses in a territory close to 37 300 square kilometers in Botswana. Three Chinese companies have reportedly secured 143 prospecting licenses since 2009 in the diamond-rich Southern African country. The southern African country’s Department of Geological Survey principal geologist, Tebogo Segwabe was quoted saying: "a number of companies are coming through from China and showing interest. “Three of them in particular hold a number of licenses in Botswana."
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Ghana in talks with Chinese companies on eastern corridor road network construction
A delegation from Ghana led by the country’s Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr. Joseph Gidisu, has held talks with two Chinese construction firms about developing road networks in the country. The delegation which joined the ECOWAS team led by its President His Excellency, James Victor Gbeho held discussions with officials of the China CAMC Engineering Limited (CAMCE) and the China Gezhouba Company Limited (CGGC) in Beijing, China.
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China to increase role in Africa's building sector
One of the most important areas where China is set to play a bigger role is in the construction and infrastructure sectors in Africa, according to Jeremy Stevens, Standard Bank Group's Beijing-based economist. The nature and driver of construction will change as highly-skilled Chinese companies will increasingly capitalise on their ability to provide cost-effective infrastructure solutions, he says.
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3. India in Africa

India to create central foreign aid agency
India is to set up a central foreign aid agency to prevent funds from being misused and delays in aid delivery. India's aid commitments have soared in recent years as the country seeks to improve its strategic, political and economic clout on the world stage, especially as China extends its hand. The agency will reportedly be called the Indian Agency for Partnership in Development, overseeing $11.3bn (Rs 50,000 crore) over the next five to seven years.
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India to fulfil PM's Africa promise, train their engineers
In line with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's promise to African nations, India will begin enhancing its engagement this November with a project on road engineering. These engagement are part of $5 billion (Rs22,175 crore) aid for the mineral and oil-rich continent where China has deepened its stake considerably. India's strategy will focus on enhancing expertise and manpower, especially in infrastructure sector. The road transport ministry has firmed up two proposals to equip African engineers to build roads and highways in their countries.
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Indian enterprise to set up $30 mn cancer centre in Ethiopia
An Indian healthcare enterprise plans to construct a cancer care centre in Ethiopia at a cost of over $30 million. Dinesh Madhavan, marketing director of HealthCare Global Enterprises (HCG), an Asian cancer care network which is headquartered in India's Bangalore city, said the construction of the centre will help cancer patients in Ethiopia to get better treatment. Madhavan said the enterprise will train and educate doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in the latest advances in treatment and management of cancer. HCG focuses exclusively on cancer in India.
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23 Workers Returned to Orissa From South Africa
The returnees who spent over Rs50000 each to get an overseas job allege India High Commission in South Africa did not address their issue. “I went to South Africa two months back in a group of 24 through V. D. Prasad a Hyderabad based recruiting agent and was employed in the construction work of a cement company in the dense forest near Bimbo town in Central Africa at monthly Rs 40000”, said Chitaranjan Ghadei (34) of Padmapala village under Dharmasala block in Jajpur district.
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4. In Other Emerging Powers News
BHEL seeks to join hands with Chinese firm in development of 120MW Zambian project
India-based Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is seeking to join hands with China's Sinohydro Corp. by supplying electromechanical equipment for the development of 120 megawatts hydropower project in Zambia, the Mint reported. For the hydropower project in Zambia, India has offered a $50 million line of credit. In January 2010, the Export-Import Bank of India signed an agreement with the Zambian government to extend a $50 million line of credit for the Itezhi Tezhi project worth $200 million.
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Brazil's Embraer eyes Africa growth opportunities
Brazil's Embraer sees Africa as a major growth market and targets doubling the number of its jets operating on the continent, a top executive at the aircraft manufacturer said. The plane maker is hosting a two-day aviation seminar in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, its first in Africa, as it looks to tap the region's fast-growing aviation industry. "If you look at passenger demand, we see an average growth of 5.4 percent (in Africa) one of the highest we predict around the world," said Mathieu Duquesnoy, Embraer's vice president.
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Angola becomes Brazil’s third-largest trading partner in Africa in 2010
In 2010 Angola became Brazil’s third-biggest destination for Brazilian exports to Africa and in the same year imported goods from Angola worth US$947.1 million the business director of Brazilian export promotion agency Apex Brasil said Wednesday in Luanda.
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Zuma promises more trade envoys in Africa
HISTORICAL reasons were to blame for SA’s failure, 17 years after the advent of democracy, to increase the number of its economic representatives on the continent, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday. SA has a total of 10 foreign-based economic representatives serving Africa’s 54 states. In contrast, there were 14 in Europe and 11 in Asia . In the US, SA has four representatives, with one in Brazil and one in Argentina, according to the Department of Trade and Industry.
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5. Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications

African leaders do not take us for granted, insists Japanese aid chief
Any suggestion that African leaders take Japanese bilateral aid for granted is swatted away by Sadako Ogata, president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). The former UN high commissioner for refugees bristled when it was brought to her attention that Japanese officials - unlike their Chinese counterparts - found it hard to meet African policymakers at the recent African Development Bank annual meeting in Lisbon. The formidable head of Jica was in London this week en route to a conference at Wilton Park in Sussex, where policymakers gather to discuss weighty issues. She proceeded to rattle off Japanese projects and programmes in Africa: a joint programme with Brazil to transform the savannah into arable farmland and help Mozambique attain food security, one-stop border posts to speed up regional integration, and a project that began in 2008 with other donors to double rice production within 10 years.
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China expected to step up pace of investment in Africa
Asian giant China is expected to increase its focus on resource investments in Africa over the next 18 to 24 months, as the country moves to plug a mineral supply gap, China-focused advisory firm Beijing Axis founder and MD Kobus van der Wath said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Terrapin Africa Mining 2011 conference in Johannesburg, Van der Wath said that he expected China, which is currently the third biggest investor in Africa, to boost its merger and acquisition (M&A) activity on the continent in coming years.
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Hanlong Group's bid for Sundance Resources comes as no surprise
Sundance said earlier this year that it had held numerous discussions with a wide range of international steel mills, including Korea's Posco, about Mbalam, but its has also talked about strong interest from Chinese investment groups and Chinese bankers. Late last year, Sundance appointed China's largest investment bank Citic as its financial adviser in China, to assist in securing debt and equity funding for the iron ore project and associated infrastructure. Late last month, Sundance advised that potential partners and a number of Chinese banks had visited the operations in Central Africa to finalise due diligence and follow up discussions that had been held in China and Africa.
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