Vol 4 (AAC) No 4 | SOUTH KOREA Chung Joon-yang 28th February 2011 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, POSCO POSCO, a former parastatal that was privatised in 2000, is the world’s third-largest steelmaker and a key supplier to South Korea’s lucrative shipbuilding and automotive industries. The...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | CHINAAFRICA Top in trade and investment 30th January 2011 Confirming its status as Africa’s biggest trading partner, Beijing is taking on new diplomatic initiatives that may herald an eventual end to ‘non-interference’ Standing at US$114.8 billion in November 2010, China-Africa trade has bounced back faster than most of Africa’s other foreign trade since the 2008 global financial slowdown. China is...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | INDIAAFRICA ‘An emerging priority’ 30th January 2011 New Delhi’s diplomats struggle to offer Africa something that Beijing and Washington do not India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describes Africa as ‘an emerging priority’ for his government, which is poised to reinforce its economic, diplomatic and security links with the continent...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | JAPANAFRICA The home front 30th January 2011 The economic crisis and the changing face of government in Tokyo will result in less attention to Africa The Democratic Party of Japan’s crisis of popularity forced a cabinet reshuffle and now a new raft of ministers will handle relations with Africa. The replacement of Land,...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | JAPAN Japanese flip-flops 30th January 2011 Struggles within the Democratic Party of Japan and also between the DPJ, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and smaller coalition parties promise more turbulent politics in Japan this...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | SOUTH KOREAAFRICA Building without BRICs 30th January 2011 Feeling a little slighted by China’s invitation to South Africa to join the BRIC emerging market group, Seoul wants to trade its way to the top China’s invitation to South Africa – rather than South Korea – to join the developing-country top table group of Brazil, Russia, India and China in December has irritated...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | NORTH KOREA Sowing seeds 30th January 2011 Africa is another theatre in which North and South Korea play out their rivalries. This has led to unintended consequences, especially in the case of a South Korean...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | JAPAN Makiko Kikuta 30th January 2011 Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs West Africa is only a recent target of Tokyo’s donor diplomacy and commercial overtures, and just last year Japan opened embassies in Mauritania and Mali. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | SOUTH KOREA Park Young-june 30th January 2011 Vice-Minister of Knowledge Economy On 29 December, Park Young-june, an associate of President Lee Myung-bak and a familiar face in South Korea-Africa relations, hosted 13 African ambassadors at the Korea-Africa Round Table...
Vol 4 (AAC) No 3 | INDIA Sriprakash Jaiswal 30th January 2011 Deputy Minister of Coal India is seeking African supplies to cope with a looming coal shortage. Dependent on coal, India has large reserves – 58.6 billion tonnes in 2009 – but environmental...