After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...
Category: Summits
Indian Prime Minister to Visit China as Tensions with U.S. Rise
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, will visit China for the first time in seven years. Modi will travel to Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in late August. The announcement further solidifies the diplomatic thaw between the two Asian giants, as India’s relationship ...
Iranian Foreign Minister to Meet Chinese, Russian Counterparts
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will reportedly meet with China’s FM Wang Yi and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Foreign Ministers’ gathering in Tianjin on 15 July. One goal will likely be to boost ...
SCO Foreign Ministers Meet as Internal Rifts Deepen
The nine foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will meet this week in the Chinese coastal city of Tianjin. It's a bit hard to believe that this is a group that's almost 25 years old now, since it has few, if any, notable achievements.
BRICS Announces Numerous New Initiatives
The BRICS group wrapped up its two-day leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. The summit’s final communique is a 16,000-word doorstop that covers numerous issues from economics to education. The communique avoids any direct mention of the United States, and ...
Li Qiang’s Low-Key Diplomatic Schedule at the BRICS Summit
Chinese Premier Li Qiang maintained a relatively low profile at this weekend's BRICS summit in Brazil, where he avoided the usual "speed-dating style diplomacy" they engage in when attending these kinds of gatherings. Instead, Li met on Saturday with his ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Why Was Xi a No Show at BRICS?
There's been a lot of speculation as to why Chinese President Xi Jinping opted to stay home from a BRICS summit for the first time and instead sent Chinese Premier Li Qiang in his place. Some suggested that it was because
China Says BRICS Not Seeking ‘Confrontation’ After Trump Tariff Threat
China said on Monday that BRICS, the grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and India, was not seeking "confrontation" after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose an extra 10 percent tariff on countries aligning with the bloc. "Regarding the imposition ...
BRICS Nations Slam Trump Tariffs, Condemn Strikes on Iran
By Facundo Fernández Barrio BRICS leaders at a summit on Sunday took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" import tariffs and recent Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran. The 11 emerging nations -- including Brazil, Russia, ...
BRICS Nations to Gather Without Xi, Putin
By Facundo Fernández Barrio BRICS leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro from Sunday, with the bloc depleted by the absence of China's Xi Jinping, who is skipping the annual summit of emerging economies for the first time in 12 years.
Rio to Host BRICS Summit Wary of Trump
A summit of BRICS nations will convene in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to ...
Brazil’s BRICS Balancing Act Faces a New Test in Rio
The 17th BRICS Summit kicks off this weekend in Rio de Janeiro, but preserving the group’s original mantra of non-alignment is proving to be a challenge for Brazil, the summit’s host. Since returning to power, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva ...
In China, Ecuador’s Noboa Looks for Breathing Room and Bargains
With a tightening fiscal clock and the weight of geopolitical balancing on his shoulders, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa touched down in China last week with more than just a forum appearance on his agenda. His trip to the 2025 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin doubled as a ...