Macao News https://macaonews.org Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:20:29 +0000 Tue, 12 Dec 2023 07:52:23 +0800 Mariana César de Sá 68258 2023-12-12 07:52:23 2023-12-12 07:52:23 6952 The US and other G7 countries step up their investment in the latest instance of superpower rivalry on the African continent.]]>The United States is set to invest more than US$2 billion in Angola in a bid to position itself as an alternative source of financing to China, according to reports. More than US$1 billion in US investment has been committed this year to fund solar power, bridges and internet infrastructure. A further US$1 billion has been offered to fund the Lobito Corridor – the strategically important connection running from Zambia to the Angolan coast – as part of the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment launched last year.  President Joe Biden praised the first-of-its-kind project as “the biggest US rail investment in Africa ever,” noting that the Lobito Corridor promises to “create jobs and connect markets for generations to come.” [See more: Angola home to 36 of top 51 most critical world minerals: official] The Lobito Corridor projects, including the refurbishment of the 1,300-km Lobito Atlantic Railway line and the US-EU joint project to build a new 800-km rail line connecting Angola and Zambia via the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are also considered a key step in developing clean energy supply chains to fuel Angola’s green transition. All three African countries are major producers of critical minerals like copper and cobalt. Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Angola has relied on massive Chinese investment to fund its reconstruction, accounting for more than a quarter (US$45 billion) of China’s total spending on the continent between 2000 and 2022. The oil-backed loans pioneered by China offered easy access to Chinese funding – until oil prices fell. China’s “lending spree has come to a hard stop,” Dominik Kopinski, co-founder of the Polish Centre for African Studies, told media. While relations between the countries remain friendly, Angola sees Western investment as an opportunity to expand its financial and geopolitical options.  ]]> Mon, 11 Dec 2023 07:19:22 +0800 Mariana César de Sá 68217 2023-12-11 07:19:22 2023-12-11 07:19:22 6952 Porto welcomes 18 new train carriages from Chinese manufacturer CRRC Tangshan as it marks a new milestone in public transit.]]>Portugal’s second-largest city put into commercial operation the first made-in-China metro train in the EU last week, according to reports. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa travelled to Porto to take a ride on its first day of operation, inaugurating the service and emphasising his government’s investment of nearly US$54 million from the EU recovery fund.  Costa also revealed plans for a further investment of more than US$1 billion in the public infrastructure of key cities including Lisbon, Braga and Porto. [See more: India’s state-owned railway company nets a contract in Mozambique] The Metro do Porto collaborative project began in early 2020 with the state-owned company signing a 5-year maintenance contract with Chinese manufacturer CRRC Tangshan, which supplied the 18 new train carriages. The first train arrived in Portugal at the end of 2022. Demand for the metro is high, with Metro do Porto transporting a record-breaking 72 million passengers in 2023. The company has also started construction on a new line to Santo Ovídio, including a new bridge, and launched a new metrobus. Porto opened its first metro line in 2002, with the service growing to six lines, more than 80 stations and 67 km of track to service a metro region of around 1.3 million people. The network has transported more than 1 billion passengers in its 21-year history, a ridership that reduced nationwide carbon emissions by around 55,000 tons annually.  ]]> Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:43:44 +0800 Erico Dias 68161 2023-12-07 07:43:44 2023-12-07 07:43:44 6952 Ivanhoe’s founder touts the ‘outstanding geological potential’ for copper mining in the area, located in the southeast of Angola.]]>Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines has announced plans to begin exploration activities in Angola next year, after securing greenfield prospecting rights over an area the size of Switzerland for an initial period of five years, according to reports. Ivanhoe signed the deal for the 22,195-kilometre area at the Angolan Mining Conference at the end of November. Founder Robert Friedland said they felt “incredibly privileged” to secure rights to such a massive swath of land with “outstanding geological potential”. Ivanhoe will hold full prospecting rights for the initial five-year period, with the option to extend the permit for a maximum of seven years at 50 percent prospecting rights. The company expects to begin activities following team mobilisation in early 2024. [See more: Angola home to 36 of top 51 most critical world minerals: official] Located in the southeast corner of Angola, the prospecting area ranges from Moxico Province, bordering Namibia and Zambia, up to the province of Cuanda Cubango, bordering Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Much of the more than 22,000-kilometre area is covered by Kalahari sand and Karoo volcanics, igneous rock deposits that pre-date the dinosaurs, which make conventional exploration techniques less effective. Ivanhoe says it will deploy the expertise developed in its successful Kamoa-Kakula complex in neighbouring DRC under similar conditions.  Ivanhoe has committed to an initial exploration budget of US$10 million. “Our goal is to make Angola a globally significant producer of strategic minerals that our planet so desperately needs, for many generations to come,” said Friedland. Multinational mining companies Anglo American and Rio Tinto have also undertaken greenfield exploration activities in Angola.  ]]> Wed, 06 Dec 2023 07:33:52 +0800 Erico Dias 68128 2023-12-06 07:33:52 2023-12-06 07:33:52 6952 A deadly skirmish marks the latest flare-up in the deep political divide between the president and ruling coalition.]]>The president of Guinea-Bissau dissolved parliament on Monday in response to what he called an “attempted coup” that had plunged the West African nation into crisis. Violence erupted last Thursday night, according to reports, as members of the national guard stormed a police station to free Finance Minister Souleiman Seidi and Treasury Secretary Antonio Monteiro, who were being held for questioning. They exchanged fire with the special forces of the presidential guard, resulting in two deaths, before taking shelter at a nearby military camp. The tense situation ended by noon on Friday following the capture of national guard commander Colonel Victor Tchonga. President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who was attending COP28 in Dubai at the time, arrived back in Guinea-Bissau on Saturday. He labelled the incident an “attempted coup d’état,” adding on Monday that the national guard were complicit with “certain political interests” within the government, rendering the normal functioning of governmental institutions “impossible.”  [See more: Food aid from China arrives Guinea-Bissau at a ‘critical’ time] Guinea-Bissau has seen a series of coups and coup attempts since gaining independence from Portugal in 1964, including an attempt in February 2022 against Embalo. The ruling PAIGC coalition in the now-dissolved parliament was elected in its wake.  The national guard is under the control of the interior ministry, which was dominated by the PAIGC, as were most ministries in the country. The prosecutor’s office that ordered the questioning of Seidi and Monteiro, is controlled by the president. The two high-ranking officials were brought in regarding a withdrawal of US$10 million from state accounts, then detained again after the army removed them from national guard protection. Speaking on Monday, Embalo condemned the “passivity of the government,” saying the parliament preferred to defend executive officials suspected of corruption, rather than “fight to apply the law rigorously ... and to exercise its role as a check on government actions.”  ]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2023 07:31:00 +0800 Erico Dias 68098 2023-12-05 07:31:00 2023-12-05 07:31:00 6952 South America’s largest oil producer is to become a member of a broader coalition formed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. ]]>Brazil is set to sign the Charter of Cooperation of OPEC+, a broader group set up by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in January 2024, according to reports.  The announcement came at the 36th OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Thursday, attended by Alexandre Silveira, Brazil’s minister of mines and energy. A full technical analysis is still pending, as is a formal sign-off from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.  Brazil currently produces around 3.2 million barrels of crude per day and is expected to see solid medium-term crude production growth, according to an OPEC report published in October. The country is the biggest oil producer in South America and ranks among the world’s top 10 crude producers.  [See more: Exports of Brazilian oil to China are set to soar] Founded in September 1960, OPEC counts five countries as founding members: Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Sixteen other countries have joined in the decades since and three – Qatar, Indonesia and Ecuador – have left. The membership currently stands at 13 member countries.  OPEC formed the OPEC+ coalition in 2016, with 10 of the world's major non-OPEC oil-exporting nations including Russia. The OPEC+ grouping represents around 40 percent of the world’s oil production.  News of the announcement raised questions about the voluntary cap of 2.2 million barrels per day on OPEC+ members, set to begin early next year. The head of state-owned Petrobras rejected the idea, noting that as a non-voting member, Brazil is not required to cap its production. Compliance with the measure would require cutting production in the country by more than 30 percent.    ]]> Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:00:16 +0800 Erico Dias 68049 2023-12-04 07:52:43 2023-12-04 07:00:16 6952 The southern African nation seeks investors for its energy transition at the world's largest climate change summit.]]>Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi has presented his country’s new ground-breaking energy transition plan, set to last until 2050, to international partners and potential donors at COP28, according to reports. The US$80 billion plan, approved by the Mozambican Council of Ministers on 21 November, outlines a comprehensive strategy to propel the nation toward a more sustainable future by enhancing renewable energy capabilities and ensuring wider electricity availability.  Mozambique is not the only African country seeking improved climate financing for renewable energies at the conference. The continent is home to many of the lowest carbon emitters in the world yet has suffered some of the most severe impacts of climate change, including Cyclone Freddy which killed 500 people and displaced thousands this year in Mozambique and neighbouring Malawi.  [See more: Half of all households in Mozambique have no electricity]  The plan outlines crucial initiatives set to unfold between 2023 and 2030.  One key component is a substantial boost of 2,000 MW in hydropower – a 67 percent increase to Mozambique’s electricity production potential – achieved through upgrades to existing facilities and the completion of the Mphanda Nkuwa Hydropower project, set to begin construction next year.  With nearly half of Mozambican households currently without connection to the grid or other electricity solutions, expansion of the national grid is also a priority. A more comprehensive grid will also help facilitate the goal of transitioning to electric vehicles, mitigating emissions in the transport sector.  ]]> Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:00:12 +0800 Erico Dias 67988 2023-12-01 08:16:11 2023-12-01 07:00:12 6952 Bilateral relations remain strong despite the expected 20 percent drop in trade, which sits at just US$18.9 billion for the year so far.]]>Trade between Angola and China is projected to fall by 20 percent compared to 2022, in part due to the global financial crisis, reports Lusa. Luís Cupenala, president of the Angola-China Chamber of Commerce, revealed the projection on the sidelines of a recent international conference hosted in Luanda. He explained that trade between the two countries, which totalled US$27.3 billion in 2022, sits at just US$18.9 billion for the first 10 months of this year. Cupenala pointed to the international financial crisis as the cause, noting that while the dip is “extremely worrying” it is part of a cycle, rather than a growing trend. Consistent relations between Angola and China look likely to deepen, he said, spurred by new private investment. [See more: Subsistence family farming dominates the agricultural sector in Angola]  [caption id="attachment_67990" align="aligncenter" width="803"] Luís Cupenala, president of the Angola-China Chamber of Commerce, pictured recently in Luanda - Photo courtesy of Luis Cupenala Facebook[/caption] Among the nine Portuguese-speaking countries, Angola remains China’s second-largest trade partner after Brazil. The South American nation conducted US$148 billion in trade with China during the same 10-month period. Cupenala spoke of the need for Angola to diversify its economy, emphasising investment in agriculture over continued dependence on oil, the main export product for China currently. Sizable investments by Chinese companies have already begun to build up domestic production in the agricultural province of Malanje.  The “aggressiveness” of Chinese investment in agriculture and other key sectors, outside the oil sector, has been encouraging to Cupenala. “I’m sure that as the market gains confidence, more investments will also take place in this area of agriculture and farming.”  ]]> Thu, 30 Nov 2023 07:38:14 +0800 Erico Dias 67945 2023-11-30 07:38:14 2023-11-30 07:38:14 6952 Latin America’s largest car market is spending more on Chinese autos than ever before, with Chinese brands accounting for over 50 percent of EVs sold.]]>Newly released data from Brazil reveals more than half of electric cars sold in the country are made in China, according to reports. Since electric vehicle (EV) imports began in 2017, Brazilians have bought 37,612 EVs from China or 54 percent of the total (69,633).  Chinese EVs strongly outpace Brazilian imports of such vehicles from India (16,481) or Belgium (6,618). [See more: BYD launches an electric car entirely manufactured in Brazil] Although China accounts for a smaller percentage of overall car imports to Brazil – supplying 35,520 cars or 17.6 percent for the year ending 21 November – it is responsible for 61.6 percent (8,896) of 14,445 EVs sold in Brazil during the same period. Sales meanwhile hit US$651.4 million for the year so far, up nearly 30 percent over the previous record set of US$482.5 million set for the whole of 2011.  In volume terms, China comes second only to Argentina, which has exported 106,143 cars to Brazil so far this year.  ]]> Wed, 29 Nov 2023 07:00:37 +0800 Erico Dias 67911 2023-11-29 07:33:05 2023-11-29 07:00:37 6952 The 628-million-carat mine is the southern African nation’s largest diamond mine to date and has an initial annual processing capacity of 4 million metric tons of ore. ]]>Angolan President João Lourenço inaugurated on Monday the country’s largest diamond mine, projected to produce 628 million carats, reports Lusa. Stakeholders in the Luele (Luaxe) mine have poured US$635 million into the project so far. Angola’s largest mining company, Catoca, holds the largest stake with 50.5 percent. The remainder is divided between Angolan state diamond company Endiama, Rio Tinto joint venture Falcon, and two other enterprises. The mine is due to start operations later this year with an initial processing capacity of 4 million metric tons of ore per year, eventually increasing to 12 million tons. Mining during the pilot stage has already yielded 5 million carats of diamonds. [See more: Angola home to 36 of top 51 most critical world minerals: official] The kimberlite (diamond matrix rock) of the Luele project, located in the northeast province of Lunda Sul, was first discovered in November 2013 during geological surveys by Catoca. The 60-million-carat Catoca mine, one of the largest diamond mines in the world, is also located in Lunda Sul. Preliminary studies of the Luele kimberlite, extending 600 metres deep over an area of 105 hectares, indicate the deposit contains 647 million tons of ore. Within that massive quantity of igneous rock are the estimated 628 million carats of diamonds expected to be mined during the project’s 60-year lifespan.  Global giant Rio Tinto makes its first foray in Angola with the Luele project, and has expressed interest in prospecting for other minerals. Angola is one of the most mineral resource-rich countries in the world, with diverse deposits that include many of the critical minerals key to global decarbonisation.  ]]> Tue, 28 Nov 2023 07:00:49 +0800 Erico Dias 67876 2023-11-28 07:34:47 2023-11-28 07:00:49 6952 Beijing wants to move beyond investments in traditional sectors and is looking at opportunities in emerging sectors such as green energy and telecommunications.]]>Beijing expressed interest in exploring new cooperation frontiers with Brazil at the latest meeting of the two nations joint high-level coordination and cooperation committee in Beijing, according to reports. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen indicated his country’s willingness to explore investment opportunities in new energy, the digital economy, 5G and other emerging sectors with Brazil. Brazil, meanwhile, said it hoped to fully leverage the mechanisms of the joint committee, strengthen alignment between its New Growth Acceleration Program and China’s development plan, and increase exports to China. [See more: BYD launches an electric car entirely manufactured in Brazil] Brazil attaches great importance to the development of economic and trade cooperation with China, said Marcio Elias Rosa, Brazilian deputy minister and executive secretary of development, industry, commerce and services. The South American nation welcomed further Chinese investment in both traditional and emerging sectors, Rosa added. Bilateral trade for the first 10 months of the year sits at over 1 trillion yuan, up 8.2 percent year-on-year.  The two have also made major strides in their efforts to promote local currency settlement, moving from a memorandum signed in April to full-process, closed-loop transactions in both countries’ local currencies by October.  ]]>