Latest edition: emerging powers news roundup

1. China in Africa

AU Chief meets with a senior Chinese official in Ethiopia
The African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping on Tuesday met and held talks with a high level Chinese delegation led by Jiang Yaoping, Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce. The discussion between the two sides was mainly focused on the cooperation between China and Africa in different sectors. Ping said AU is ready to do all possible to further strengthen its ties with China.
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Sino-African roundtable talks mull closer economic, trade cooperation
The Second Roundtable Conference on Sino-African Cooperation was convened in the city of Wanning in south China's Hainan Province from Nov. 10 to 11. The roundtable talks, which focused on China's African foreign policy as directed through non-governmental channels, is a strong complement to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), said Ji Peiding, former vice foreign minister and president of the Association of Former Diplomats of China. More than 400 former diplomats, politicians, researchers and entrepreneurs from China and nearly 40 African countries attended the conference.
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China, Zimbabwe pledge to seek practical cooperation
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Wednesday pledged to develop stronger practical cooperation with Zimbabwe during a meeting with visiting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Calling Mugabe an old friend of China, Xi said the 87-year-old is a renowned leader of national liberation movement in Africa and has made great contributions to China-Africa relations. Xi said China would like to promote cooperation with Zimbabwe in trade, agriculture, mining and infrastructure and seek closer coordination in international affairs.
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China to lend Ethiopia $100 mln: Xinhua
China is set to loan Ethiopia $100 million and donate a fleet of 90 vehicles to help the African state complete its water supply projects, the Xinhua state news agency said. China's Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Yaoping and Ethiopian Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed signed a deal for the loan on Wednesday, Xinhua said. It did not say when the money will be disbursed.
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2. India in Africa

India, South Africa to cooperate in SME sector
India and South Africa Tuesday agreed to boost trade and investment and further strengthen bilateral cooperation in micro, small and medium enterprises sector. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M. Scindia held bilateral talks with visiting South African Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe to discuss the areas of business cooperation. During the discussions, Scindia reiterated the offer of India's full cooperation for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector in South Africa, according to the official statement released after the meeting.
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Africa-India economic mission brings agri-experts together
EMRC International and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) are partnering once again for the second edition of the Africa-India Economic Mission to be held in Hyderabad, India from 11-16 December 2011. With the aim to bring African and Indian decision-makers, experts and business people together, the Africa-India Economic Mission will give participants access to India's leading institutes and foremost agricultural equipment, irrigation and crop corporations, providing a basis for potential business partnerships, with a focus on public-private sector corporation.
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3. In Other Emerging Powers News

Brazil ties to benefit COMESA– Ngwenya
COMMON Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya has said cooperation with Brazil will greatly benefit the regional body as the country has scored tremendously in the area of economic development. Speaking when he received credentials from Brazilian Ambassador to Zambia Ana Morales as COMESA Special Representative in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Ngwenya said Brazil was the seventh largest economy in the world in nominal Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) terms with a GDP of US $1.65 trillion, a land mass of 8.51 million square metres and a population of 199 million people.
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Brazilian mission to visit Mozambique, Angola and South Africa
A business mission of 53 companies organised by the Brazilian government plans to begin a tour of Mozambique, Angola and South Africa on 21 November, an Apex-Brasil official said Friday in Sao Paulo. Ricardo Santana, Image and Market Access coordinator for the Brazilian Agency For Export and Investment Promotion (Apex-Brasil), told Portuguese news agency Lusa that the mission would be in Mozambique on 21 and 22 November and from 23 to 25 in Angola and after a free weekend would head on to South Africa from 28 to 30 November and then return to Brazil.
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No BRICS expansion wanted for now – Brazil
Brazil does not want to see the "BRICS" group of emerging countries enlarged for the time being, but does want the developing world to be given a greater say in international bodies, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Antonio Patriota told Reuters in an interview that the BRICS grouping -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- was fine as it was, brushing off a suggestion Indonesia may be admitted to the club.
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Obama calls for China, India action on climate
US president Barack Obama Wednesday said he would be pushing for greater efforts by emerging economies on global warming at coming climate talks in South Africa, which he warned would be a "tough slog". Obama described Australia's carbon tax, passed into law last week, as a "bold strategy" to tackle pollution and said he would be advocating that countries like China and India take greater responsibility at Durban.
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4. Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications

US, China in Sudan great game
In 1898, amid the age of imperialist acquisition, Great Britain and France confronted each other at Fashoda in the Sudan. The two powers almost went to war but happily, diplomacy prevailed. Today, amid fierce global competition for commodities and regional influence, the US and China are facing each other in several parts of the world and the oil-rich Sudan may become one of the more complex and portentous sites of this contest. Recent fighting there is drawing greater attention to the region.
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China rearms Zimbabwe's army
The Zimbabwean Defence Force has just taken delivery of 20,000 AK-47s, reports the Southern Africa Report. The arms were delivered from China via a circuitous route, avoiding countries such as Mozambique and South Africa where unions (not governments) have prevented arms shipments from reaching Zimbabwe before. But where and on who is the ZDF planning to use all these shiny new weapons?
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Crisis exposes EU hypocrisy on China aid
On November 3, Chinese President Hu Jintao stated that China will continue to provide greater amounts of financial help to other developing countries. This pledge was made at this year's G20 summit in France. Hu stated that development loans will mainly go toward the improvement of infrastructure. He also stated that between 2010 and 2012, China will provide Africa with $10 billion in the form of soft loans, the bulk of which will go to infrastructure. Such pledges are made against a backdrop of the withdrawal of US aid to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and a begging letter to the Chinese government from the debt-ridden eurozone. In such a context, it may be harder for foreign governments, the traditional donors within the global aid framework, to criticize the scope of foreign aid and export finance being offered by China to developing countries.
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