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Day: November 11, 2020

Critical Zambian Bondholder Vote to Take Place Today

A coalition of Zambian bondholders is expected to cast their votes today (Wednesday) to decide on whether or not to grant the government a six-month repayment holiday on $3 billion of Eurobond notes, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. Results are scheduled to ...

COVID Vaccine Narrative Battles Intensify Following Pfizer Announcement

A narrative battle over COVID-19 vaccines is emerging in the aftermath of this week's announcement by Pfizer that its vaccine is reportedly 90% effective. That news also coincided with an interruption of a Chinese-made COVID vaccine clinical in Brazil ...

COVID-19 Tops the Agenda at China-Gulf Countries Foreign Minister Meeting

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with six of his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday for a virtual conference, where COVID-19 was atop the agenda. The ministers focused on access to a future C19 vaccine as well as PPE and other pandemic mitigation resources. ...

All This Talk About Vaccines Gives a Desperately-Needed Boost to Two of Africa’s Largest Oil Producing Countries

The prices for Nigerian Bonny Light and Angolan Cabinda crudes have regained some lost ground in November thanks to the Pfizer vaccine news and the U.S. elections. Given that both countries face enormous debt servicing challenges, these higher oil prices will help to replenish government coffers. China ...

Where Does China Buy Its Oil?

Africa's share of China's oil imports has been steadily declining over the past 15 years but the continent nonetheless remains Beijing's second-largest source of crude after the Persian Gulf. In 2008, according to George Washington University China-Africa scholar David Shinn, China imported close ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China’s Global Development Initiative Meeting Signals Growing UN Influence

China’s Global Development Initiative (announced by President Xi Jinping in 2021) took a massive step towards global influence this week. It got the UN stamp of approval and is being integrated into its development plans like Agenda 2030.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-hosted a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative with UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN in New York on Wednesday. 
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South Africa Moves to Diversify Its Trade Ties in Asia Beyond China

South Africa is expanding its trading ties in Asia by becoming the newest partner country in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), marking the first time a sub-Saharan country joins the regional body. Morocco and Egypt are also ASEAN partners. The move ...

Upcoming China-Africa Media Forum Highlights a Key Component of China’s Soft Power Diplomacy

The Chinese and Kenyan governments will hold a media conference next week in Nairobi that's part of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) action plan. While a lot of U.S. and European observers dismiss these kinds of events as mere propaganda exercises, they're often enthusiastically embraced by ...

Wait. Is 11.11 is Actually a Thing in Zambia? Really?

Today is the most important day on the calendar for hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers, who are expected to buy an astonishing $45 billion worth of stuff in just 24 hours. Yes, that almost $2 billion AN HOUR. While Singles Day (named for being the anti-Valentine's ...

Africa, You’re On Your Own

Back in March, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was the first leader to sound the alarm that Africa's economies were "staring at an abyss" due to the financial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He rightly predicted that without urgent, large-scale assistance, ...