Vol 2 (AAC) No 8 | VIETNAM Nong Duc Manh 26th June 2009 General Secretary, Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Its revolutionary days are long over and CPV General Secretary Nong Duc Manh leads an outward-looking Vietnam committed to multilateral diplomacy, which this year has taken steps to mend relationships (and...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 8 | MALAYSIA Musa Hitam 26th June 2009 Chairman, Sime Darby, Malaysia Malaysia's Sime Darby has signed a US$800 million deal securing a 63-year concession to 220,000 hectares in Liberia that include the troubled Guthrie Rubber Plantations. Sime Darby, a government-controlled plantation operator,...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 8 | CHINA Zhang Ming 26th June 2009 Director General of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China Zhang Ming rose to his position through the West Asia and North Africa Department of China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, which he joined in the early 1980s. Postings at the embassies in...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | ZAMBIACHINAINDIA A shake-out after the crash 22nd May 2009 China and India want to snap up assets as metal markets hit the floor and the mining houses sack workers Western mining houses are pulling out of Zambia due to the copper price slump, leaving Chinese and Indian investors to battle over the abandoned assets. As the copper price crashed...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | ANGOLACHINA Oil, votes and Beijing 22nd May 2009 As Luanda tries to shore up its finances as export revenues tumble, China’s offer of credit becomes more important The combination of lower world oil prices, tighter credit and production cuts has increased Luanda's reliance on its countertrade credits with China. As Angola holds the presidency of the Organisation of...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | CHINAAFRICA Not the promised land 22nd May 2009 China would not be taking up tracts of land in Africa to meet its domestic food requirements insisted Beijing's Deputy Agriculture Minister Niu Dun in April, but reports on the...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | GUINEACHINA Contract confusion 22nd May 2009 The junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's order that all mining licences are subject to immediate revocation if the government does not approve of their development plans has added more confusion...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | SOUTH AFRICAINDIA Friends in the right places 22nd May 2009 Just before President Jacob Zuma's inauguration on 9 May, India's state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) signed a commercial cooperation agreement with the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu)...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | TAIWANAFRICA With your permission 22nd May 2009 On 7 May, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a long-delayed white paper on foreign aid confirming what Taipei's allies are keenly aware of: Taiwan's foreign aid has dropped...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 7 | THAILAND Thaksin Shinawatra 22nd May 2009 Former Prime Minister (2001-2006), Thailand Known for his polarising effect in Thai politics, his flight from justice and his interest in football teams in England, Thaksin Shinawatra also presided over a sharp increase in Thai trade...