Taiwanese diplomacy faces an awkward commercial challenge. Stripped of the warm words and diplomatic ambiguities, it is clear that Taipei's biggest trading partners no longer recognise Taiwan as an independent state...

Japanese and Indian interest in Mozambican coal is growing and export prices are rising again. In a deal in March between the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance and Japan's Nippon Steel with...

Although China's exports have fallen by more than a quarter from last year's levels, the Export-Import Bank of China is busier than ever financing trade with Africa, Latin America and...

A year after Malaysian company Ramatex abandoned its US$100 million textile factory in Windhoek, the authorities are at last tackling the environmental impact of the operations of the...

If effort can be measured in miles, Thailand's new Commerce Minister is earning her pay. Pornthiva Nakasi has been travelling constantly this year, in India in February and China, Japan and...

Nobuhide Minorikawa plays a leading role in the development of Japan's African diplomacy. With wide experience of development economics and diplomacy, he is a familiar face on the African conference circuit....

After the India-Africa summit in April 2008 set out Delhi's new policies for the continent, Pradeep Kumar Chaudhery was given a leading role in the strategy with his appointment as Additional...

The posting of Wu Zexian, one of Beijing's most experienced Francophone diplomats, to Kinshasa in March 2007 shows the seriousness of China's Africa strategy. Initially, it looked like a surprising detour...

Africa and China escaped the worst direct effects of the global slowdown last year, Africa because its banks were not integrated into international credit markets, and China because its banks were...

The man who was Japanese Prime Minister in 2007-08, Yasuo Fukuda, was in Botswana on 21-22 March for the follow-up meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African...