On this International Day of Peace, and on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the United States announced new initiatives to help consolidate the role women play in building peace and strengthening security around the world. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details. Camera: Veronica Balderas Iglesias Voice of America
The war in Ukraine is likely to be the big topic for a second year when leaders gather at the U.N. General Assembly next week, but many developing countries are hoping to shine a light on issues important to them, including development, the economy and climate. This year’s general assembly will take place after Asian countries met in Indonesia for the ASEAN summit, G20 leaders gathered in India, and developing countries in the Group of 77 plus China met in Cuba. After a busy September, several high-profile leaders are skipping…
China pledged to help South Africa with its crippling energy crisis during the recent BRICS summit in Johannesburg. At the same time, South Africa said it wants to correct a trade imbalance with China and export more finished products — but manufacturing in South Africa is currently hampered by the unreliable power grid. Kate Bartlett spoke to business owners in Johannesburg about the challenges they face. Video editor: Zaheer Cassim Voice of America
The five Brics nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have announced the admission of six new countries from next year as the club of large and populous emerging economies seeks to reshape the global order. Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE are to become full members from 1 January 2024, the group announced at its summit in South Africa. “This membership expansion is historic,” said the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, whose country is the most powerful in the group of non-western states that…
President Xi Jinping of China, traveling to Africa for the first time in five years, pledged greater cooperation with South Africa to enhance the voice of poor nations. He commended developing countries for “shaking off the yoke of colonialism.” And on Wednesday, he’s expected to hold talks with the leaders of the BRICS, a club of emerging nations, as he pushes for its expansion to serve as a counterweight to Western dominance. On his four-day visit to South Africa this week, Mr. Xi has sought to cast himself as a…
Johannesburg, South Africa — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for an official state visit, full of pomp and ceremony, on the side of the BRICS summit on Tuesday. Xi was greeted in Pretoria with a 21-gun salute as the two countries marked 25 years of diplomatic relations. Ramaphosa welcomed Xi warmly, recalling how Beijing supported South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and calling the relationship between the two a “very special” one. He noted that China is South Africa’s biggest global trade partner, with some $32…
Leaders from developing countries representing almost half the world’s population including China and Russia are to meet in South Africa for a key summit aimed at reinforcing their alliance as a counterweight to the west. The Brics grouping summit in Johannesburg, which starts on Tuesday, will be hosted by the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and brings together the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, as well the presidents of China, Xi Jinping, and Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Dozens of leaders of other countries in Africa, Asia and…
johannesburg — Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in South Africa next week for a major summit as well as an official state visit, at a time of increasing South African concern about persistent trade imbalances in the countries’ relationship, as well as worries about China’s domestic economy. Naledi Pandor, South African minister for international relations and cooperation, said last week that in 2022, trade with fellow BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China – accounted for 21%% of South Africa’s global trade, or $43 billion (830 billion rand). China,…
JOHANNESBURG — China’s “friendship without limits” with Russia may be tested in Africa, where Beijing’s long-established economic interests are at risk of clashing with the growing footprint of Moscow’s paramilitary Wagner Group. The most recent point of potential friction is Niger, where leaders of a July 26 military coup are reported by The Associated Press to have reached out to Wagner for help in cementing their hold on power. That news is unlikely to have been welcomed in Beijing, where a foreign ministry spokesman last week described the deposed president,…
JOHANNESBURG — African countries are investing heavily in trying to attract tourists from the world’s biggest outbound travel market, China, as they battle to recover from losses suffered during the travel bans of the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID wiped out large parts of tourism industries, especially in poorer parts of the world like Africa,” said Mike Fabricius, a specialist in tourism management, consulting and marketing for his Johannesburg-based company, The Journey. “Some African countries rely heavily on the foreign exchange that tourists bring in and the money they spend in domestic…