China canceled $30 billion in debts by 35 African countries

[Martian2]

China canceled $30 billion in debts by 35 African countries

"Trade and aid are expected to top discussions during the China-Africa Summit ..."

China

"China’s EXIM Lends More to Sub-Sahara Africa Than World Bank, Fitch Says
By Mike Cohen - Dec 28, 2011 10:31 AM ET

Export-Import Bank of China extended $12.5 billion more in loans to sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade than the World Bank, Fitch Ratings said.

State-owned EXIM lent about $67.2 billion to the world’s poorest region between 2001 and 2010 compared with the World Bank’s $54.7 billion, the ratings company said in a report e-mailed from London today.

“It is estimated that 20 percent of EXIM bank’s total business volume is conducted with Africa,” Fitch said. “Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sudan have been traditional recipients of EXIM loans since the bank’s founding in 1994. However, more recent projects suggest an even distribution across the African continent.”

China has been boosting ties with Africa, as it seeks to secure access to the continent’s raw materials and new markets for its manufactured goods. In return it has provided African governments with financing to help develop their economies, attaching less stringent loan conditions than institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

“Absence of political strings, competitive interest rates and flexible repayment schedules compared with Western counterparts, makes China’s loans highly attractive,” Fitch said. “For countries dependent on foreign aid, such as Ghana and Mozambique, Chinese loans offer an alternative source of capital against more traditional donor demands, particularly given growing infrastructure needs.”

Foreign Direct Investment

Chinese loans to sub-Saharan Africa exceed the Asian nation’s foreign direct investment in the region, with cumulative investment reaching $11 billion as of 2010, according to the ratings company. Most EXIM loans have been used for infrastructure projects, Fitch said.

China Development Bank Corp., the state-owned policy lender, has its own special loan program with Africa to help small- and medium-sized companies secure financing and build local markets. Since the program’s inception last year, the bank has helped fund more than 1,000 projects that created 50,000 jobs in more than 25 African countries, Fitch said, citing data provided by the state lender.

“Long-term debt sustainability is a concern, given poor transparency regarding loan terms and the weak debt management capacity of borrowers,” Fitch said. By the end of 2009 “35 African countries had debts canceled by China, amounting to approximately $30 billion.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net"

 

[Martian2]

Chinese technology more than triples Mozambique rice yields

It is fabulous that Chinese technology is being used to triple (or quintuple) Moazambiquen rice yields.

Mozambique: Chinese Technology to Increase Rice Yields

"Mozambique: Chinese Technology to Increase Rice Yields
27 December 2011

Maputo — Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali has challenged the country's young people, as well as its businesses, to increase food production, by banking on the introduction of new agricultural technologies to increase yields.

This would be possible, he said, through the use of knowledge and techniques learnt through the cooperation between Mozambique and China.

According to a report in the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique", Ali was speaking on Monday, during a working visit to the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme in the southern province of Gaza. Here, in the Ponela block, a rice production project is underway as part of the twinning between Gaza and the Chinese province of Hubei.

A memorandum signed between the two provinces in mid-2007 stipulates that in an initial phase the Chinese investors should ensure rice production in an area of 300 hectares.

Tests began two years ago, and since then rice production at Ponela has been raised to ten tonnes per hectare. Previously, under the traditional Mozambican system, yields were between two and three tonnes per hectare. The Chinese production techniques have been transferred to about 20 Mozambican farmers to date.

Onions growing in an irrigated field. (Credit: Marcos Villalta / Save the Children)

"What we want is that Mozambicans, particularly young people and the business sector, should embrace this project enthusiastically, obtaining the technologies and the machinery to increase production levels", said Ali.

Gaza has educational institutions that specialize in agriculture, and Ali suggested that students from these colleges should go the Lower Limpopo irrigation scheme for apprenticeships where they would assimilate Chinese rice production techniques.

Agricultural engineers and other specialists should also visit Ponela, he said, so that they could understand the Chinese technologies and spread them to other provinces.

The Ponela block covers about 11,000 hectares or arable land. 7,000 hectares are worked by commercial farmers, and the other 4,000 hectares are in the hands of around 8,000 peasant producers."

[Note: Thank you to EastWind for the newslink.]

 

[Martian2]

China transfers new bamboo charcoal technology to sub-Saharan Africa

New bamboo charcoal technology promises to jump-start Africa

"New bamboo charcoal technology promises to jump-start Africa’s bio-energy sector
Page last updated at Friday, December 30, 2011 13:13 PM

Bamboo, a plant not often associated with Africa due to it not exploited, may be the key to combating soil degradation and massive deforestation on the continent. The plant can be used as an alternative source of energy.

A partnership among African nations and communities, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and China are working to substitute bamboo charcoal and firewood for forest wood on which 80 percent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa depend for their fuel needs.

Initial successes with bamboo charcoal in Ghana and Ethiopia, which have put bamboo biomass at the centre of renewable energy policies, are spurring interest in countries across the continent and prompting calls for greater investment in bamboo-based charcoal production as a ‘green biofuel’ that could fight deforestation and mitigate climate change.

“Bamboo, the perfect biomass grass, grows naturally across Africa and presents a viable, cleaner and sustainable alternative to wood fuel,” said Dr. J. CoosjeHoogendoorn, Director General of INBAR.

“Without such an alternative, wood charcoal would remain the primary household energy source for decades to come with disastrous consequences,” he said.

Scientifically, burning wood also has a significant impact on the climate. Scientists predict that the burning of wood fuel by African households would release the equivalent of 6.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by 2050.

In terms of health, the burning of fuel wood claims the lives of an estimated 2 million people every year mostly women and children who inhale the smoke, according to data from INBAR. Continued widespread indoor use of forest wood charcoal as a household fuel could cause 10 million premature deaths by 2030.

INBAR’s bamboo as sustainable biomass energy initiative is the first to transfer bamboo charcoal technologies from China to sub-Saharan Africa to produce sustainable ‘green biofuels’ using locally available bamboo resources.

Driven by growing concerns about energy, health and food security and climate change, the initiative is funded by the European Union (EU) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

Saving Forests, Mitigating Climate Change

It takes seven to 10 tons of raw wood to produce one ton of wood charcoal, making wood fuel collection an important driver of deforestation on a continent of nearly one billion people, who have few alternative fuel sources.

“Ensuring food security in a changing climate is one of the major challenges of our era. It is well known that the destruction of forests has negative repercussions on livelihoods and sustainable agriculture as it feeds into a cycle of climate change, drought and poverty,” said Dr. Patrick Verkooijen, Head Agriculture and Climate Change of the World Bank. “Feeding people in decades to come would require ingenuity and innovation to produce more food on less land in more sustainable ways”.

Indeed, scientists believe that deforestation across the Horn of Africa has contributed to pervasive drought in the region.

Years of tree-clearing, particularly in hard-hit Somalia, has eliminated fragile forests that stood as the last line of defense against the conversion of sparsely forested dry lands and pastures into useless desert, according to researchers from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that if business continues as usual, by 2030 biomass energy in sub-Saharan Africa would still account for about three-quarters of total residential energy, underscoring the urgency of coming up with a sustainable alternative biomass to replace wood.

Sub-Saharan Africa has over 2.75 million hectares of bamboo forest, equivalent to roughly 4 per cent of the continent’s total forest cover.

“Rural communities need access to sustainable approaches that will keep trees in the ground and the environment safe,” said Professor Karanja M. Njoroge, Executive Director, Green Belt Movement.

“Bamboo grows naturally across Africa’s diverse landscapes, but unlike trees, it regrows after harvest and lends itself very well for energy plantations on degraded lands. We should put it to good use to provide clean energy for the continent.”

“With further investment and policy reform, community kiln technologies could be up-scaled to reach thousands of communities in Ethiopia,” said MelakuTadesse, National Coordinator for Climate Change Unit at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture.

He said a number of African countries are pressing for development of their own bamboo charcoal industries to provide sustainable, affordable energy for their growing populations.

Harnessing the Perfect Biomass Grass

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet and produces large amounts of biomass, making it an ideal energy source. Tropical bamboos could be harvested after three years, compared to the two to six decades needed to generate a timber forest.

Indeed, the entire bamboo plant, including the stem, branch and its rhizome, could be used to produce charcoal, making it highly resource-efficient, with limited wastage. Its high heating value also makes it an efficient fuel.

Its charcoal is made through the controlled burning of bamboo in kilns, whether traditional, metal, or brick.

The technology is being adapted to produce larger quantities of charcoal to serve a larger number of rural and urban communities as well as to produce bamboo charcoal briquettes that are ideal for cooking because it burns longer, produces less smoke and air pollution than ‘natural’ charcoal.

China is a global leader in the production and use of bamboo charcoal. The sector is worth an estimated $1 billion a year and employs over 60,000 people in more than 1,000 businesses.

Chinese partners, including the Nanjing Forestry University and WENZHAO Bamboo Charcoal Company, are helping to adapt equipment like brick kilns, grinders and briquette machines, and hand tools, for bamboo charcoal and briquette production using local materials.

Building on this momentum, the INBAR initiative is now transferring China’s advanced bamboo charcoal technologies, which focuses on providing cleaner, safer “Green” energy source, to sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to charcoal, bamboo offers many new opportunities for income generation. It is being processed into a vast range of wood products, from floorboards to furniture and from charcoal to edible shoots.

The world bamboo export was estimated at 1.6 USD billion in 2009, a decline of about 659 USD million from 2.2 USD billion 2008.

Progress in Domesticating Bamboo Technology in Ghana

Currently the ”Bamboo as sustainable biomass energy, a suitable alternative for firewood and charcoal production in Africa” is being implemented in Daboase and Tandan in the MpohoorWassa East and Ellembelle Districts respectively in the Western Region of Ghana.

It is being funded by the European Union with an amount of 1.663 million Euros of which INBAR is providing 20% of the budget cost.

Key partners to the project are the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) and Bamboo and Rattan Development Programme under the Ministry of Lands and Natural resources. Associate partners include the Energy Commission and Chemical Engineering Department at KNUST.

So far, 300 micro small enterprises (MSE) in the catchment area has been established with over 2,000 out growers cultivating bamboo as well as charcoal production and some 7,000 low income local households are expected to use bamboo charcoal as fuel wood by the close of the project year in 2014.

A total of 505 tonnes of bamboo charcoal have been produced for October and November 2011.

Conscious efforts of cultivating bamboo have seen the planting of 11,733 seedlings out of 14,880 seedlings propagated from 15 different species selected across the globe.

By statistics, a disconsolate situation about rate of forest depletion makes the bamboo technology a welcome concept as the country had lost about 6.6 million hectares of forest cover since the beginning of the last century and having the highest rate of deforestation of 2.19 percent globally.

New Bamboo Charcoal Technologies Promise to Jump-start Africa’s Bioenergy Sector, and holds the key to slow deforestation and fight Climate Change at the same time.

It is envisaged that Africa’s leadership, policy-makers, private sector, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, Religious and Traditional Authorities as well as civil society organisations would lead the crusade towards saving the forests and the environment from vicious abuses.

Ghana plays host to the next global Regional Steering Committee meeting in the Western Regional capital, Takoradi, in February, 2012, according to Mr Michael Kwaku, West African Coordinator of INBAR.

By Maxwell Awumah

Source: GNA"

 

[Aramsogo]

Great thread.
There should be a dedicated Africa-China Sticky.

For most Africans, since their countries got independence, BBC has been the most preferred and most tuned to - news channel from a foreign country. Then, for TV viewers, in the 1990s came CNN; which was then followed by Al Jazeera. All along, the French on their part have been transmitting news in French and in English. But, whoever thought of Africans tuning in to a Chinese news channel?

That's what the main international Chinese channel is aiming at: CCTV (China Central TeleVision) - headquartered in Beijing, is soon going to expand. The state broadcaster is launching a major expansion in pursuit of an international audience, increasing its overseas staff fivefold by the end of next year and almost tenfold by 2016. It hopes to win millions of viewers in the US and Africa with English-language services produced in Washington and Nairobi.......At the heart of operations will be six hubs: two probably in London and Dubai and others in South America and the Asia Pacific region.......It is understood to have hired some 150 people, with Washington gaining 60 staff. Most will be working for the English- and other foreign-language channels. In Nairobi, the Kenyan vice-president has said Chinese officials plan to increase CCTV's staff from 12 to 150. It has poached high-profile anchors from local networks for CCTV Africa.

For Western countries, especially their main stream media organizations, this move by the Chinese - is not welcomed. It is suspiciously viewed as a way; for this powerful, fast growing country - increasing and expanding its global influence. For the last two decades, China has rapidly and vigorously been expanding its influence in Africa: economically and politically. And now, it intends to do that culturally. Many African countries have greatly benefited from China's economic influence. As for China widening its news into Africa, it doesn't really matter how influential that would be. But, for a change -Africans will have more choices, options and a variety when listening to international news channels from foreign lands. For a change, Africans will have news from a Chinese perspective. Which is certainly much more different from/to all the other Western dominated news medias.

 

[Rusty]

China has the right idea when it comes to world commerce.
They invest, trade and reciprocate.
They don't go around "liberating" nations by murdering hundreds of thousands just so BP and Halliburton can get juicy contracts.

 

[ephone]

Are we kidding ourselves???

China canceled $30 billion in debts by 35 African countries

"Trade and aid are expected to top discussions during the China-Africa Summit ..."

China

"China’s EXIM Lends More to Sub-Sahara Africa Than World Bank, Fitch Says
By Mike Cohen - Dec 28, 2011 10:31 AM ET

Export-Import Bank of China extended $12.5 billion more in loans to sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade than the World Bank, Fitch Ratings said.

State-owned EXIM lent about $67.2 billion to the world’s poorest region between 2001 and 2010 compared with the World Bank’s $54.7 billion, the ratings company said in a report e-mailed from London today.

“It is estimated that 20 percent of EXIM bank’s total business volume is conducted with Africa,” Fitch said. “Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sudan have been traditional recipients of EXIM loans since the bank’s founding in 1994. However, more recent projects suggest an even distribution across the African continent.”

China has been boosting ties with Africa, as it seeks to secure access to the continent’s raw materials and new markets for its manufactured goods. In return it has provided African governments with financing to help develop their economies, attaching less stringent loan conditions than institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

“Absence of political strings, competitive interest rates and flexible repayment schedules compared with Western counterparts, makes China’s loans highly attractive,” Fitch said. “For countries dependent on foreign aid, such as Ghana and Mozambique, Chinese loans offer an alternative source of capital against more traditional donor demands, particularly given growing infrastructure needs.”

Foreign Direct Investment

Chinese loans to sub-Saharan Africa exceed the Asian nation’s foreign direct investment in the region, with cumulative investment reaching $11 billion as of 2010, according to the ratings company. Most EXIM loans have been used for infrastructure projects, Fitch said.

China Development Bank Corp., the state-owned policy lender, has its own special loan program with Africa to help small- and medium-sized companies secure financing and build local markets. Since the program’s inception last year, the bank has helped fund more than 1,000 projects that created 50,000 jobs in more than 25 African countries, Fitch said, citing data provided by the state lender.

“Long-term debt sustainability is a concern, given poor transparency regarding loan terms and the weak debt management capacity of borrowers,” Fitch said. By the end of 2009 “35 African countries had debts canceled by China, amounting to approximately $30 billion.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net"

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Are we kidding ourselves???

Because we are the Communists, if we become rich, then everyone else also should become rich.

 

[Thorough Pro]

Great gesture China. Real Super power, not to destroy the world, but to help all the poor nations. Well done China.

 

[rcrmj]

Yeah right right every fake "Made in IND" tagged item is a trademark of an IND immigrant in Chinese colors, talk about delusional you guys are just like PAK blaming all your misdeeds on the WoT besides the usual American sponsored whoop a$$e$

I'm not expecting an ignorant indian to understand how dodgy Indians are conducting businesses. If i'm delusional my business wont able to survive. the indian businessmen I talked to had trading with in the past were more than the clueless china bashing propagandas you ate in your entire life.

so my past experience taught me, if i want to make my business grow healthy, progmatic and authentic, i'd stay away from Indians and to follow the real market not some bluffed. whether you believe it or not but it is my 'bible'

 

[R0H1T]

I'm not expecting an ignorant indian to understand how dodgy Indians are conducting businesses. If i'm delusional my business wont able to survive. the indian businessmen I talked to had trading with in the past were more than the clueless china bashing propagandas you ate in your entire life.

so my past experience taught me, if i want to make my business grow healthy, progmatic and authentic, i'd stay away from Indians and to follow the real market not some bluffed. whether you believe it or not but it is my 'bible'

Whether you have a bible or any other code/ethics is none of my biz but saying that everything coming out of CN with a "Made in IND" tag is done by Indians doesn't even come close to the word "ignorance" whatever you derive out of it(that infatuation of yours) clearly keeps you going so stay healthy for your family's sake

 

[rcrmj]

Whether you have a bible or any other code/ethics is none of my biz but saying that everything coming out of CN with a "Made in IND" tag is done by Indians doesn't even come close to the word "ignorance" whatever you derive out of it(that infatuation of yours) clearly keeps you going so stay healthy for your family's sake

the article you posted on is clearly a BS which only ignorant people'd buy it, you are included, the article doesnt give audience a clear picture but as usual putting on catchy words like 'china faking this and that'``

 

[R0H1T]

the article you posted on is clearly a BS which only ignorant people'd buy it, you are included, the article doesnt give audience a clear picture but as usual putting on catchy words like 'china faking this and that'``

China has a state sponsored cyber espionage program, any foreign company that wants to do biz in CN has to set up a JV with a local firm & the national govt encourages IP theft & trademark infringement ! Say it isn't so cause the rest of the world does & if you don't wanna agree on that then end of discussion !

 

[Huan]

China has a state sponsored cyber espionage program, any foreign company that wants to do biz in CN has to set up a JV with a local firm & the national govt encourages IP theft & trademark infringement ! Say it isn't so cause the rest of the world does & if you don't wanna agree on that then end of discussion !

Despite those allegations, China is still getting stronger and you could only get butt-hurt from this reality.

 

[R0H1T]

Despite those allegations, China is still getting stronger and you could only get butt-hurt from this reality.

The only ones getting a burn in their backside with the rise of IND/CN is the West including US, though I'm not sure what hybrid (with the name HUAN) are you but rest assured IND has all the time in the world to catch up with CN plus we have a favorable set of demographics to our advantage !

 

[rcrmj]

China has a state sponsored cyber espionage program, any foreign company that wants to do biz in CN has to set up a JV with a local firm & the national govt encourages IP theft & trademark infringement ! Say it isn't so cause the rest of the world does & if you don't wanna agree on that then end of discussion !

clueless ranting, China introduced IP law in 1992, but the 'IT superpower' only indroduced such law in 2002, no wonder India is listed as world No.1 threat to intellectual properties by CIA, which are the only one of two fields that India outpace China alone with population growth