Courtesy of Africa-Asia Confidential, a reporton how Chinese communications projects are encountering legal problems from East Africa down to southern Africa: Uganda may miss the East African Community’s deadline of December 2012 for all member states to switch from analogue to digital television. In early August, Uganda’s communications regulator sounded the alarm, saying that the […]
Read more »Via Celsias, a report that The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a notoriously conservative organization, has stated that Venezuela now has the world’s largest oil reserves, even exceeding those of OPEC’s top producer, Saudi Arabia. As the article notes: “…Oil production in Venezuela is under the control of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. company, […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Financial Times, an interesting look at how China’s oil groups are ready for more deals: Sinopec reported a 12 per cent rise in net profit, to Rmb41bn, in the first half of the year, beating analysts’ expectations Solid first-half profits at China’s state-owned oil companies have paved the way for further […]
Read more »Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), an interesting report on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s visit with Russian leaders where they will likely discuss a railway project and a natural gas pipeline project, which, if implemented, would give Russia greater influence in the Korean Peninsula while allowing North Korea to wean itself off Chinese influence. […]
Read more »Via Time, an interesting comparison of Brazil and China: When Brazilians contemplate the beauty of their country or the ability of their soccer team, they like to joke, “God is Brazilian.” It seems foreign investors have taken the joke seriously. No emerging nation has attracted portfolio flows the way Brazil has in recent years. Charts […]
Read more »Via The Foreign Policy Association, an interesting comparison of Mexico and Brazil: Mexico’s technocrats have been seething at comparisons with Brazil for years. Who could blame them? From 2004-2009 Brazil’s growth rate doubled that of Mexico’s, just one of many indicators (foreign direct investment, exports, poverty reduction) that spelled Mexico’s—long self-annointed as Latin America’s vocero—comeuppance. […]
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