Vol 55 No 6 | AFRICABANKS Ecobank's next act 21st March 2014 Albert Essien, the new Chief Executive of Ecobank, told delegates at the Africa CEO Forum in Geneva on 18 March that the bank would relentlessly focus on the future after its recen...
Vol 55 No 4 | AFRICAASIA Tackling the trade in endangered species 11th February 2014 With promises of funds and the destruction of ivory stockpiles, China and the USA – the two main markets for illegal wildlife products – are now racing to fight the criminal trade and win favour in Africa Chinese police and Kenyan conservationists worked hand in hand in Nairobi in mid-January to secure the arrest of the Chinese boss of an ivory smuggling ring and two other suspects....
Vol 55 No 3 | JAPANAFRICA Abe in Africa 5th February 2014 A rise in Japanese activity on the continent worries China, as does Tokyo's pledge to provide US$32 billion in finance by 2018 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's state tour to Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Ethiopia in early January was only the third official visit by a serving Japanese Premier to tak...
Vol 55 No 3 | INDIAAFRICAASIA Tripling trade 4th February 2014 African countries are calling for more investment in local manufacturing and processing capacity – and India's private sector is ready to oblige India's diplomats started off the year with a flurry of official visits to North African countries with a view to strengthening economic ties there. External Affairs Minister Salma...
Vol 55 No 3 | SOUTH KOREAAFRICAASIA Big plans for 2014 31st January 2014 Despite recent missteps, South Korea's engagement with Africa will increase this year and move beyond natural resources to embrace information technology, communications and markets New efforts by the Seoul government and by South Korea's private companies aim to widen cooperation with its African partners this year. These new initiatives follow a series of mi...
Vol 55 No 2 | ECONOMYAFRICA Making the best of the boom 24th January 2014 The challenge this year is to convert a decade of faster growth into jobs and higher living standards as political tensions rise in the biggest economies The International Monetary Fund’s projection that Sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product growth should be over 6% in 2014, compared to average Asian growth of over... READ FOR FREE
Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 | CHINAAFRICA A trillion-dollar promise 29th November 2013 Chinese officials are still bullish about Africa but the IMF worries that the continent’s export growth will weaken as investment in China drops off Despite talk of slower growth and less investment in China over the medium term, Chief Country Risk Analyst at the Export-Import Bank of China Zhao Changhui predicts that his bank ...
Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 | CHINAAFRICAFORESTRY Talks on illegal timber 20th November 2013 China, the largest buyer of illegal timber, is working with the European Union and African governments to improve the global forestry trade Governments from three continents have launched an unprecedented cooperative effort against the illegal forestry trade in Africa. Officials from Africa, Asia and Europe discussed w...
Vol 7 (AAC) No 2 | CHINAFRANCEAFRICA Africa is our future 30th November 2013 With conflicting strategies pulling France in different directions, two senators map out a plan for cooperation with China in Africa In a policy paper entitled L’Afrique est Notre Avenir (Africa is Our Future), the Senate sought to lay out France’s Africa policy and respond to China’s growing i...
Vol 7 (AAC) No 1 | CHINAAFRICA Africa gets into the driving seat 4th November 2013 Governments are negotiating much more robustly with Chinese companies and cancelling those contracts they judge to be poor value It had seemed that the big-ticket investors in African countries sponsored by China would be free to run rough-shod over investment and other legislation, given the fervour with wh... READ FOR FREE