International

New platform to enhance Sino-African trade

A new platform to promote economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa was established in Beijing on Tuesday.

The Asia-Africa Innovation Cooperation Center was set up following President Xi Jinping’s proposal made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018 to set up a China-Africa center on innovation cooperation to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among young people in China and Africa, according to the Administrative Committee of Beijing Daxing International Airport Economic Zone.

The center was jointly set up by the committee, the embassies of a number of African nations in China and Chinese companies including Asia-Africa Silk Road International Business Co.

It is set to become an important channel through which Chinese and African entrepreneurs can set up and develop business more efficiently, the zone’s administrative committee said.

The committee said it will intensify cooperation with African countries and improve the business environment and services, with the center facilitating China-Africa cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, science and technology, environmental protection, culture, tourism and talent cultivation.

Deep friendship

Mahamudu Bawumia, the vice-president of Ghana, applauded the establishment of the center and the deep friendship and cooperation between China and Ghana.

“The establishment of the Asia-Africa Innovation Cooperation Center, with the inclusion of a Ghana pavilion, is a further indication of the greater commitment between our two countries,” he said via video link at the launch ceremony of the center on Tuesday.

The range of Chinese investment in Ghana is very wide and covers areas including agriculture, health, infrastructure, industries and services, which have made significant contributions to creating jobs and promoting development in Ghana, he said, adding that China is Ghana’s biggest trading partner and foreign investment source.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, China has provided assistance in terms of projects such as ports, roads and bridges, which have brought benefits to the people of Ghana, he said.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Martin Chedondo, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to China, said, “The center represents the culmination of the initiative by the government of China to forge stronger and mutually beneficial relations and cooperation with Africa.”

“It symbolizes China’s vision to uplift the lives of the people on the African continent through the promotion of trade and investment with China,” he said, adding that he expects the center to become a platform for sharing information and resources and policy communication between China and Africa in the promotion of economic cooperation and trade.

“The center will truly be a steppingstone in the quest to jointly build a China-Africa community with a shared future of prosperity,” he said.

“The center will facilitate the importation and sale of Zimbabwean goods both online and offline. This will help enterprises in Zimbabwe expand their production capacities, thereby growing our economy and increasing jobs.”

Key role in cooperation

Dawano Kedir, deputy head of mission of the Ethiopian embassy in Beijing, applauded China-Ethiopia cooperation and said he hoped the center would play an important role in strengthening bilateral cooperation.

Saying that China has made a great contribution to the development of Ethiopia, he added that the “great opportunities” created by China had benefited both sides.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China-Africa trade exceeded $250 billion last year, making China the biggest trading partner of Africa for 13 years in a row, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

International

10 % ON EXPORTS TO US

US President Donald Trump says it’s Liberation Day in America as he announced his sweeping new tariffs. The new measures took effect at midnight. Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed several of the measures.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 10 percent universal tariff on all imports into the country. This includes Barbadian exports to the American market. According to Mr. Trump, the tariff is in retaliation for the 10 per cent tariff now charged by Jamaica on U.S. imports.

The tariff means American consumers are likely to see an increase in the price of Jamaican goods sold on the U.S. market.

St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Belize, Suriname, St. Kitts and Antigua are among the Caribbean countries that will also see a 10% tariff applied to their exports.

Nearly 60 countries across the world have been hit with tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to as high as 49 per cent. China, countries in the European Union, Taiwan and Vietnam are among the hardest hit. It’s one of the most sweeping impositions of tariffs in U.S. history.

Trump says the tariffs are aimed at protecting American markets from unfair global trade practices. He’s projecting a resurgence in American manufacturing as a result of the sweeping tariffs.

International

China’s Xi Jinping tells top global CEOs to use their influence to defend trade

Gathering of senior business leaders in Beijing comes amid rising tensions with US

Xi Jinping has urged global business leaders to work together to protect supply chains at a meeting with a group of executives including Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx, Ola Källenius of Mercedes-Benz and Georges Elhedery of HSBC.

Amid a deepening trade war with the US, the Chinese leader told the group of more than 40 business leaders, which also included Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, Miguel Ángel López Borrego of Thyssenkrupp and Amin Nasser of Saudi Aramco, that foreign business leaders should resist behaviours that “turn back the clock” on history.

“We hope everyone can take a broad and long-term view . . . and not blindly follow actions that disrupt the security and stability of global industrial chains and supply chains, but instead contribute more positive energy and certainty to global development,” Xi told the gathering in Beijing on Friday.

The event at the Great Hall of the People marked the second consecutive year that Xi held a carefully staged meeting with foreign chief executives in the Chinese capital. Last year’s event was held exclusively with US business leaders.

The meeting came at the conclusion of a busy week for Chinese policymakers, who are trying to strengthen relations with international business amid rising tensions with US President Donald Trump’s administration.

China’s premier annual CEO conference, the China Development Forum, was held in Beijing this week, followed by the Boao Forum for Asia in the tropical resort island of Hainan. Beijing is seeking to promote itself as a bastion of stability in global trade in contrast to the US, where Trump has launched successive waves of tariffs on products from aluminium to cars. The president has vowed widespread, reciprocal duties on US trading partners on April 2, threatening further disruption to international trade.

“A few countries are building ‘small yards with high walls’, setting up tariff barriers, and politicising, instrumentalising, weaponising, and over-securitising economic and trade issues,” said Xi, who was accompanied by his foreign, commerce and finance ministers.

He said these actions were forcing companies “to take sides and make choices that go against economic principles”. “This runs counter to the overarching trend of open markets,” he said. He added that foreign enterprises, especially multinational corporations, had “considerable international influence”.

“We hope everyone will . . . resist regressive moves that turn back the clock,” Xi said. “Together, we must safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains. “Decoupling and severing ties harms others without benefiting oneself; it leads nowhere.”

International

US to Negotiate with Regional Governments on Hiring of Cuban Doctors

US special envoy to the Caribbean and Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, says the United States intends to negotiate a mechanism with Caribbean governments regarding the hiring of Cuban doctors.

The US has threatened visa restrictions for nations who benefit from Cuban medical missions. They deem the programme as a form of forced labour and trafficking on the part of the Cuban government.

Several countries in the Caribbean rely heavily on Cuban medical missions to supplement local staff.

The special envoy says the US wants a united voice against human trafficking, in favour of international labour laws. He says they look forward to reaching a deal that allows Caribbean governments to directly hire Cuban doctors.