South Africa & Saudi Arabia relations -- Chinafrica.asia

Discovered haohaoreport this morning. A China focused version of Newsvine, Stumbleupon or Digg.

From haohaoreport I then found this great blog/site. Chinafrica.asia. A great, well written resource for news relating to the growing relations between China and Africa.

In this post, the author of the blog writes

A few days ago the Saudi Arabia-South Africa business Council was launched with the specific purpose of:

* Facilitating an increase in the volume of trade by easing the process of entry of products in each others markets;
* The department of Trade and Industry and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority signed an MOU to increase flow of investment between the two countries;
* Initiatives on food security to be undertaken;
* Signing an MOU on science and technology.

Importing agricultural products from South Africa and in return exporting talent to South Africa would enhance food security. This would offer an opportunity to Saudi Arabia to move away from its focus on oil and energy products as its sole exports. Long term investments would be undertaken by this oil rich nation in the field of farming. Saudi farmers had perfected a technique of growing maize in a manner that ensured a higher level of produce per hectare, and would use this technique in Africa. South Africa remains a net importer of foodstuff and needs to reverse the scenario in order to advance economically.

Click here to access this full post from Chinafrica.asia

Deciphering the Sino-African saga

A interesting perspective on China's geopolitical interests in the Southern Hemisphere emerged from Accra, Ghana today.

The author, Bright B. Simons is an executive at IMANI-Ghana, a think-tank voted the sixth-most influential in Africa this year by Foreign Policy Magazine. I've copy and pasted a few experts below in order to summarize the major premise of the article and get you interested.

Remember the opinions and views expressed below do not reflect those of this site or myself (the author/ webmaster). None the less, they are legitimate views and overall, the analysis of the geopolitics at play is one of the best I've read in months and is definitely worth your time.

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In that scheme of things, one could have said that Hu's visit to Africa was part of the ongoing effort to diversify China's export markets away from their fatal dependence on Western profligates. China's trade with Africa has expanded 1,000% this decade to an astounding US$100 billion plus, a significant proportion of which is made up of Africa-bound Chinese consumables.

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Thus while Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is being kept busy at home shoring up confidence in the southern export machine through staged visits to the shrinking enclaves of roaring capitalist success on the country's southern coast.

Vice President Xi Jinping has been neck-deep in diplomatic intrigue in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia and Jamaica.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has been asked to ride on China's recent membership into the Inter-American Development Bank (IABD) to worm his way into the hearts of Ecuadorian, Argentinean, Barbadian and Bahamian opinion leaders with assurances of more funds to follow on the $350 million that sealed China's membership in the IABD.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping makes a speech at a business seminar in Caracas, Venezuela,
Feb. 17, 2009. Xi arrived in Caracas Tuesday for an official visit to Venezuela. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)

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But look closely and another vortex pops out of the design: the visit to the four African countries is actually one plank in what seems to be a multi-prong diplomatic offensive aimed at consolidating some kind of Southern Hemisphere solidarity in anticipation of an era of mercantilist alliances arrayed to the effect of greater multilateralism and the breaking of Euro-American economic hegemony.

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Having painted this elegant portrait of the African visits as embedded in an overarching Chinese framework of geostrategic positioning, encompassing Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, gleeful observers are naturally inclined to dismiss the more mundane spin put on the issue by Chinese diplomats.

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Hu's choice of country visits, based on such logic, could thus only have been motivated by the desire to visit as many African countries as possible, and to engage in a powerful, if also political capital intensive, "geo-symbolism" that will manifest its usefulness should the growing outcry of a new world economic order lead to a greater multilateralism and its attendant universal international suffrage.

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Click here if you would like to access Simons article from the Asia Times Online