Diplomatic Pouch
India and SA must aim for meaningful trade agreement
Indian President Pratibha Patil was in South Africa this month, accompanied by a business delegation that is looking to explore the potential for opportunities. President Jacob Zuma stressed the importance of enhancing relations with India in both infrastructure and trade.
Mozambique's gas holds promise for SA's energy security
An Energy Planning Colloquium hosted by South Africa's Department of Energy from 29-30 March served to highlight the challenges the country faces in meeting its high energy demand. As defined by the minister of energy, Dipuo Peters and the minister in the presidency, responsible for the National Planning Commission, Trevor Manual, this included ensuring energy security and efficiency; competitive energy pricing; and lastly, encouraging growth while reducing carbon emissions in the sector.
SA should lead in putting Africa first
The existing global economic governance arrangements are failing. They are incapable of dealing with our challenges of poverty, inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation. Nevertheless, they are proving to be exceptionally resistant to change. Although the old powers -- primarily Europe and the United States -- have lost some of their authority, they have demonstrated that they will not easily surrender control and are still capable of imposing their will on the international community in matters of most interest to them. It means that achieving substantial, progressive global economic governance reform will be a slow, painful process. It requires emerging powers to exploit each opportunity, no matter how small, for advancing the process of change. Skilled diplomatic efforts are needed when the chances for clear victories are slim but can generate collateral benefits that increase the chances of future successes.
Australia, New Zealand and the African Union
There's been a good discussion so far of South Africa's role at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa this January, and its bid for Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to take up the Chair of the AU Commission. It would come as no surprise if the controversy over the Chair's position eclipsed other activity at Addis. Also there in January were the Foreign Ministers of Australia and New Zealand.
Electing a new female head of the World Bank
The World Bank needs a new president. Historically, he has been selected by the US president. This is unacceptable and must change. In fact, there is agreement that there should be a transparent and merit-based selection process. That the Europeans and their allies reneged on this commitment when they selected Christine Lagarde as the MD of the International Monetary Fund makes it even more important that the World Bank sets the precedent of how a transparent and merit-based selection process should work. Doing so will require the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, SA) and the other emerging market members of the Group of 20 to behave more responsibly than they did in the Lagarde case. What does this mean for South Africa?
Artisanal and Small-scale Mining in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a thorny issue for both governments and large scale mining (LSM) companies. Often operating in remote, unregulated and environmentally sensitive areas, difficult to tax and posing a security challenge on the verges of LSM mine sites, ASM miners are generally discussed at major mining forums as a challenge to be managed, if indeed they form part of the discussion at all. The 2012 "Investing in Africa Mining Indaba", however, revealed a greater urgency among both government and corporate delegates to address ASM mining.
Mining in Africa: Preventing holes in the ground and the pocket
How can Africa extract lasting dividends from the growing global commercial engagement in its mineral and oil resources? The marketing pitch of the 2012 "Investing in Africa Mining Indaba" that took place in Cape Town (from 6 to 9 February) is that it is the biggest and most significant annual event on the African mining industry's calendar. This claim seemed compelling judging by the packed programme, thousands of participants, hundreds of exhibitors, and the wide array of ministerial and company presentations that flooded the Cape Town International Convention Centre. But in the aftermath of the Indaba it is useful to ask more probing questions about the value-add of the mining sector to Africa's people. There were some indications at the Indaba that this question is beginning to exercise policy and business minds.
Busan HLF4: Bringing everyone under the same roof
It will take some time to fully unpack what happened in those three high-powered days at the 4th High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. From government ministers and representatives of various intergovernmental organisations to parliamentarians, NGOs, academia, and the private sector, this High Level Forum was the largest and included the most diverse set of development actors ever seen before. The event was held against a backdrop of a rapidly changing global development landscape with traditional donors facing major economic crisis, new emerging countries gaining a bigger share of the global economy, and new players such as philanthropies and the private sector playing an increasing role in the developing world.
The articulation of maritime piracy in Kenya's foreign policy
Maritime piracy – and Somali piracy in particular – has arisen since the early 2000s as a major problem that not only plagues Africa, but constitutes a global dilemma. Despite the best efforts of the international community, pirate attacks have continued unabated. Kenya's relative stability and geostrategic location makes it a crucial actor to be involved in all aspects of counter-piracy in the region. How though, is this being articulated in Kenya's foreign policy?
All not lost for South Africa at the African Union Summit
South Africa contested two continental positions during the recent summit in Addis Ababa. While the country spectacularly failed in one, it quietly won continent-wide support for its bid to serve on one of Africa's most innovative and important governance mechanisms that has evolved over the last 10 years. The theme of the 18th Summit of the African Union, recently held in Addis Ababa, was "Boosting Intra-African Trade." An important agenda, chosen to raise awareness amongst African countries about the value of stronger continental trade links in support of the ambitious pursuit of a Continental Free Trade Agreement by 2017. Instead the business of the day was overshadowed by a bold and ultimately failed bid by South Africa to win the AU's top job of Chairperson of the African Union Commission against the incumbent, Gabon's Jean Ping.
After the political dust-up in Libya: deepening the Europe-Africa dialogue
On the eve of the first year anniversary of the Arab uprisings, it is useful to reflect on the state of EU-Africa relations, particularly in the aftermath of the prominent role played by key EU member states in Libya. Under the weight of United Nations Security Resolution 1973, which validated an intervention led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Colonel Muammar Gaddafi met his death brutally on 20 October 2011 at the hands of his fellow citizens. This marked the end of Gaddafi's tempestuous relationship with the West, oscillating through various cycles - from a dangerous bogeyman in the 1980s, to ally from the late 1990s, and ultimately to the default mode of 'supreme leader' and dictator in 2011, capable of inflicting a large scale massacre on fellow Libyans in Benghazi. If Gaddafi was a pantomime villain leader in much of the West and generally unwelcome in many Arab states, public opinion in Sub-Saharan Africa showed a mixture of solidarity and compassion for Gaddafi's Libya.
African Solutions and Twitter Revolutions
The Arab Spring brought about regime change in three African states – Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Popular uprisings in other states — Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Morocco and Swaziland — underscored growing public dissatisfaction about the state of governance in their countries. These events served as a re-confirmation that African citizens will not tolerate oppressive and authoritarian rule. However, short of taking to the streets, when societies believe that the ballot box will serve to subvert rather than validate their concerns, does Africa have other tools to advance governance reforms in the region, hold politicians accountable and entrench democracy?
South Africa’s development partnership agency: A burden or blessing?
Sub-Saharan Africa needs to step up and move with the times
Fresh from attending the World Economic Forum’s summer Davos in Dalian, China, I feel relatively good to be African. Our traditional European trading partners are undergoing sweeping economic changes and the prospect of sustained declines in standards of living. The US may be on the cusp of a double-dip recession and is mired in a destructive ideological fight over budgets, debt and more. New centres of economic power are engaging with us through trade and investment. Growth in sub-Saharan Africa is rapid in many countries, and likely to be sustained. Yet we cannot be complacent. Two broad, contradictory trends are at work in the global economy.
What Does BRICS mean for China?
After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, China under its fourth generation of leadership faces a big challenge to both manage its development and define its world role. Globally, with its growing influence and interests in the international system, China increasingly faces the question of how to use its power judiciously and protect its interests worldwide. Domestically, China needs to address the negative side effects of rapid economic growth over past decades to pursue a more sustainable growth path. It is against this backdrop that China proposed its peaceful development and harmonious world theories to reassure the rest of the world of its peaceful intentions and future world vision. In the current phase, China’s external engagements are becoming more actively cooperative and pro-active.
Libya: A lost opportunity for the African Union
In life realities on the ground often lay waste to the best-laid plans. So has it been for the AU in the Libyan crisis. Since the rebels entered Tripoli on August 21 the hand-wringing around the AU’s marginalisation by Nato during the campaign has reached a crescendo. In that period, the Transitional National Council (TNC) has been recognised as the legitimate government in Libya by many states, including 20 from Africa; there has been a diplomatic flurry of activity on both sides of the Mediterranean with pledges for reconstruction assistance… and oil contracts; and the Libya Contact Group met in Istanbul – all this before the AU’s Peace and Security Council meeting on August 25 and 26. Has the AU lost another opportunity and how did it come to be much less important than the Arab League on the Libyan question?
Walmart in South Africa: Creating Jobs through its Sustainable Fish Policy
Walmart’s investment in South Africa has accounted for numerous headlines during the past months. However, one of the less reported stories is how the company’s sustainable seafood policies are contributing to employment in South Africa by sustainably exploiting South Africa’s fish resources. In July 2011, Lonrho, announced that its South African headquartered seafood division, Oceanfresh, would be supplying hake fillets to 500 Walmart stores in the United States by October 2011. The agreement is expected to create over 100 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs in South Africa as Oceanfresh expands its production capabilities to meet the new orders.
Unrest in Malawi: An Economic Perspective
On Wednesday 20 July 2011, 80 civil society organisations in Malawi held a protest against the government’s handling of the economy. The protests turned violent following efforts by the police to restrain the march. Nineteen people were killed in the three main towns of Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre. Some shops were looted and cars, including those of privately-owned radio stations, were scorched.
One year after the World Cup: Africa and South Africa on the international playing field.
This time last year the world was watching an event unfold in Africa. The eyes of the world were not fixed on Africa because a civil war was unfolding or genocide was committed by a callous regime. The fixation was caused by ‘the beautiful game’ being played as South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This was a proud moment for South Africa and the continent. During the presentation of the South African bid on the 14 May 2004, Thabo Mbeki said that millions of Africans on the continent and the African Diaspora had ‘embarked on an exciting human journey. This is a journey away from conflict, repression and endemic poverty’. During his presentation to the executive committee of FIFA in 2008, Mbeki remarked that the Soccer World Cup “is an African journey of hope”.1
World Oceans Day: Balancing commercial and environmental needs
June 8th is World Oceans Day, an opportunity to reflect on the condition of the world’s oceans and our broader relationship with the environment. Across many fronts the news is not good. Yet in certain cases governments, NGOs and resource users have come together to form effective partnerships, proving that oceans can bounce back if given an opportunity.
More Articles...
- Anton Hammerl – A casualty of Libya’s ‘un-civil’ war
- The UN Security Council: Is South Africa ready for the prime time?
- Syria: Many factors mitigate against the revolt
- Côte d’Ivoire: Gbagbo as anti-imperialist hero is mistaken
- Côte d’Ivoire: The Battle of Abidjan
- 17 years since the genocide: Rwanda’s journey
- Côte d'Ivoire: The Spectre of Warlordism
- Arab democracy at stake while royals protect their crown jewels
- What are the Prospects for a Renaissance of Economic Liberalism
- South Africa: mining revenue, transparency and the EITI
- Zuma’s Paris visit – the Africa background
- Libya’s Oil Makes all the Difference
- First Egypt, and now Yemen’s Lethal Political Cocktail is on the Boil
- Parliament: Reclaiming its position in 2011?
- What will Uganda’s Elections mean for Parliamentary Oil Governance?
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