Tag Archives: countries
Africa To Establish Free Trade Area By 2015: Zuma
JOHANNESBURG, (Xinhua) — African countries are expected to establish a free trade area by 2015, combining the markets of 26 countries with a population of nearly 600 million people and a combined GDP of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. “Importantly, this will form the basis for an Africa-wide Free Trade Area, which could create a single market of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars,” Zuma told delegates attending the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council in Johannesburg. This will enable African countries to further promote intra- African trade, Zuma said, adding that under the auspices of the African Union, African countries are launching an ambitious Tripartite free trade area, bringing together countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. “Africa is becoming a remarkable success story which augurs well for the BRICS partnership,” Zuma said. BRICS is an acronym for the powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging markets, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At the 5 th BRICS Durban summit in March, special focus was put on BRICS’ cooperation with Africa. The BRICS-Africa engagement and dialogue signals a new departure and a new avenue to take forward the continent’s development agenda. The ongoing meeting of the BRICS Business Council, which was set up at the Durban summit, will address three key issues—investment opportunities, value-added trade and the BRICS Development Bank. Zuma devoted much of his speech to the potentials of Africa. Africa’s output, he said, is expected to expand by 50 percent by 2015, resulting in a 30 percent rise in the continent’s spending power. “It is becoming well-known as well that the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region in the world. This is not surprising given the competitive edge of the continent,” Zuma noted. Africa’s advantages include its extraordinary mineral wealth and agricultural potential. South Africa’s own mineral wealth is estimated at 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. In addition, the continent has a young working population and a growing middle class with considerable and growing purchasing power. In moves to promote intra-African trade, South Africa will play its own part to promoting investments within the continent, Zuma said. Over the last few years, the South African Reserve Bank approved nearly 1,000 large investments into 36 African countries. These mutually beneficial investments generate tax revenue, dividends and jobs between countries. “While we appreciate that our intra-African trade is still marginal, real barriers are not tariffs, but include other factors such as under-developed production structures and inadequate infrastructure,” Zuma said. He said Africa is poised to make further progress given the focus on improving systems and policies. JOHANNESBURG, (Xinhua) — African countries are expected to establish a free trade area by 2015, combining the markets of 26 countries with a population of nearly 600 million people and a combined GDP of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. “Importantly, this will form the basis for an Africa-wide Free Trade Area, which could create a single market of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars,” Zuma told delegates attending the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council in Johannesburg. This will enable African countries to further promote intra- African trade, Zuma said, adding that under the auspices of the African Union, African countries are launching an ambitious Tripartite free trade area, bringing together countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. “Africa is becoming a remarkable success story which augurs well for the BRICS partnership,” Zuma said. BRICS is an acronym for the powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging markets, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At the 5 th BRICS Durban summit in March, special focus was put on BRICS’ cooperation with Africa. The BRICS-Africa engagement and dialogue signals a new departure and a new avenue to take forward the continent’s development agenda. The ongoing meeting of the BRICS Business Council, which was set up at the Durban summit, will address three key issues—investment opportunities, value-added trade and the BRICS Development Bank. Zuma devoted much of his speech to the potentials of Africa. Africa’s output, he said, is expected to expand by 50 percent by 2015, resulting in a 30 percent rise in the continent’s spending power. “It is becoming well-known as well that the rate of return on foreign investment in Africa is higher than in any other region in the world. This is not surprising given the competitive edge of the continent,” Zuma noted. Africa’s advantages include its extraordinary mineral wealth and agricultural potential. South Africa’s own mineral wealth is estimated at 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars. In addition, the continent has a young working population and a growing middle class with considerable and growing purchasing power. In moves to promote intra-African trade, South Africa will play its own part to promoting investments within the continent, Zuma said. Over the last few years, the South African Reserve Bank approved nearly 1,000 large investments into 36 African countries. These mutually beneficial investments generate tax revenue, dividends and jobs between countries. “While we appreciate that our intra-African trade is still marginal, real barriers are not tariffs, but include other factors such as under-developed production structures and inadequate infrastructure,” Zuma said. He said Africa is poised to make further progress given the focus on improving systems and policies. Continue reading
China, Africa to Strengthen Agriculture Cooperation
2013-08-29 12:09:54 Xinhua Web Editor: Liu Ranran China and Africa see broad prospects for future agricultural cooperation and the two sides will work to establish a mechanism to advance cooperation in the sector, said an official white paper released Thursday. “The Chinese government attaches great importance to its mutually beneficial agricultural cooperation with Africa, and works hard to help African countries turn resource advantages into developmental ones,” says the paper on Sino-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation published by the Information Office of the State Council. In recent years, Sino-African trade in agricultural products has grown quickly. From 2009 to 2012, China’s agricultural exports to Africa grew from 1.58 billion U.S. dollars to 2.49 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 57.6 percent. During the same period, China’s agricultural imports from Africa, mainly non-food items such as cotton, hemp, silk and oilseeds, saw a 146-percent surge. The paper attributes the robust growth partly to China’s zero-tariff policy adopted in 2005 for some African products, as well as Chinese enterprises’ growing investments in Africa. From 2009 to 2012, China’s direct investment in African agriculture grew from 30 million U.S. dollars to 82.47 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 175 percent. Those investment has increased grain supplies in the countries concerned and enhanced the comprehensive agricultural productivity of those countries, the paper says, citing Mozambique as an example, where 300 hectares of experimental paddy fields supported by Chinese investment yielded 9 tonnes to 10 tonnes per hectare for three successive years. The paper says the Chinese government has tried to enhance Africa’s self-reliance capacity to develop its agriculture by setting up technology demonstration centers, and sending experts to share experience in agricultural production. Since 2006, China has helped set up 15 agricultural demonstration centers in Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, Mozambique and some other countries, and is planning to establish another seven. “In the future, China will advance agricultural cooperation with Africa in all respects while ensuring that this cooperation puts both parties on an equal footing, is mutually beneficial, and advances common development,” the paper says. It will work to establish and improve a mechanism for bilateral agricultural cooperation, and strengthen Sino-African cooperation in the sharing of agricultural technologies, resource varieties and agricultural information, the processing and trade of agricultural products, agricultural infrastructure construction, and human resource training, says the white paper. China will also work to deepen Sino-African cooperation within the frameworks of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, according to the paper. Continue reading
New Regulations Create Fresh Row Over Biomass Power
Government guidelines could allow destructive forms of biomass and fail to satisfy industry of future financial support Fiona Harvey , environment correspondent theguardian.com , Thursday 22 August 2013 15.34 BST The travails of the industry were highlighted in July with the shelving of plans to turn the Tilbury power station into a biomass-burning plant. Photograph: Alamy[/color] New regulations to ensure energy generated from forests, crops and waste is sustainable provoked a fresh row on Thursday over biomass power, with the government plans failing to reassure the industry of future financial support. Green campaigners said the new rules would allow the use of destructive forms of biomass, which have been linked to deforestation in other countries. The biomass industry denied this, but will still face a major task to attract investment into the sector, because the government has put strict limits on how biomass plants will be supported under its new regime for the electricity market. Under the current proposals, biomass will be at a disadvantage relative to other forms of generation, because some forms of new biomass power plants will be effectively excluded from the new long-term “contracts for difference” that are the basis of the new system. That may rattle investors. The travails of the industry were highlighted in July with the shelving of plans to turn the Tilbury power station, in Essex, into a biomass-burning plant. Greg Barker, minister for energy and climate change, said biomass – now an industry worth £1bn in the UK and supporting 3,000 jobs – had “an important role” in UK energy generation. “The new criteria will provide the necessary investor certainty and ensure that the biomass is delivered in a transparent and sustainable way.” The new sustainability rules cover issues such as harvesting rates, to ensure trees can regrow, as well as ensuring wood comes from forests where the biodiversity is not harmed by the harvesting, and where the rights of indigenous people are respected. The government promised there would be no changes to the criteria before 2027, and that the operators of plants who complied with the guidelines would continue to receive subsidies under the Renewable Obligation. Dr Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, which represents the industry, said: “These sustainability criteria ensure that the UK can reap the benefits of biomass, safe in the knowledge that it is making a real dent in our carbon emissions and that ecologically sensitive land is being protected.” Tensions between green groups and the biomass industry have been running high for months, as environmental groups have published studies and claims that some forms of biomass, such as imported wood, do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions because they encourage the chopping down of large swaths of forest. Biomass proponents have responded that some of the scientific research has been misinterpreted , and unrealistic worst case scenarios wrongly presented as the norm. At least one academic involved with the research has contested the green groups’ claims. However, the government’s new guidelines, far from defusing the row, have inflamed it further. Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, said: “The loopholes in these sustainability standards are big enough to drive a logging truck through. The government has ignored the latest scientific research and produced standards that will take a potentially sustainable industry and transform it into one more way to greenwash environmental destruction. The climate isn’t going to fall for creative accounting and neither should the public.” The government also failed to satisfy the biomass industry with Thursday’s announcement. Under electricity market reform, new biomass-burning power stations will only qualify for the new contracts if the heat they produce is captured and reused, a process known as combined heat and power (CHP). But some biomass companies are worried because CHP technology is an extra cost at the outset, and because it is only suitable where there are buildings – either dwellings, industrial estates or large public buildings – near enough for the heat to be piped from the plant. Given the UK’s planning laws, it may be hard to get permission for a site, which could put some potential projects in a “catch-22” situation. CHP will also only be economically viable if nearby property owners are prepared to pay for the heat. Skorupska said biomass was a good option because it could reduce carbon, but is not intermittent like other renewables such as wind. But she warned that the CHP stipulation risked harming investment. “CHP is an excellent use of the resource, but it is not feasible in sites where there is no user for the heatload. The government will have serious regrets down the line if it excludes the construction of dedicated biomass power plants from the new regime.”[/font][/color] Continue reading
