SENEGAL:
7 Chinese trawlers arrested for illegal fishing grounds of the coast of Casamance: ""Seven trawlers flying the Chinese flag were arrested at the main coast of the Casamance in the southwest for unauthorized fishing activities in the Senegalese waters," indicates to Reuters Karim Mara, Captain of the Senegalese Navy and in charge of the maritime patrol mission. Recalling that the ships were caught in flagrante delicto, the official explains that Chinese fishermen and Guinean and Guinea-born workers are aboard the boats. This arrest of Chinese fishing vessels is the second that takes place in the West African region after that of last month which saw the confiscation of 8 vessels by the authorities of Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea..."
BURKINA FASO:
Valuation of non-timber forest products: Burkina Faso is supported by 4,300,000 Swiss Francs: "The Swiss cooperation has just awarded a grant of four million three hundred thousand Swiss Francs (4,300,000 Swiss Francs), i.e. about 2.5 billion CFA Francs (2,500,000,000) in Burkina Faso. This support aims to help the implementation of Phase 2 of the non-wood forest products (NWFP) valuation program. The objective of this second phase of the program is to strengthen the food and nutritional security of rural households and to improve their income sustainably through the sustainable management and development of non-timber forest products. In this regard, Swiss Cooperation Director, Jean Bernard Dubois, explained that the project meets three imperatives, notably social, environmental, and economic. He said that the results expected at the end of the second phase of the project include 40,000 households, i.e. about 100,000 people, can increase their production of non-wood forest products. Companies active in this field increase their turnover and have better access to the market...""
Finance Burkina Faso: An AFREXIMBANK commitment of about 880 billion CFA Francs: "The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has pledged to finance the National Economic and Social Development Plan (PNDES) in Burkina Faso with an amount of 1.6 billion Dollars, i.e. about 880 billion CFA Francs..."
ZAMBIA:
The IMF could approve a 1.3 billion Dollar three-year funding program: ""The International Monetary Fund (IMF) could provide the Zambian State with more than 1.3 billion Dollars under the Extended Credit Facility (FEC)," announced Tsidi Tsikata, the Head of Mission of the financial institution. The information was made public on Saturday during a joint press briefing with the Zambian Minister of Finance. According to the IMF, this three-year program aims to close the budget deficit by about 7%, but the Zambian Minister has already committed to bringing the gap to 4% of GDP by 2019. The country's second largest copper producer suffered from the sharp decline in commodity prices since 2015. This situation has negatively impacted its revenues by increasing the budget deficit..."
NIGERIA:
The executive negotiates with the AfDB to finance coal-fired power stations: ""The Nigerian government has asked the African Development Bank (ADB) to support coal-fired power plant projects in the country," Yinka Oyebode, a special assistant in charge of the media, told the minister of mines. While the amount of support was not revealed, the executive affirmed that the funding would be available to operators wishing to install the power stations concerned, with a production capacity of at least 500 MW..."
MOZAMBIQUE:
Mozambique ambitions to build a railway line north-south from 3,800 km with more than 20 billion Dollars: "Last Thursday, during the Forum on Infrastructure, in Mozambique, the Mozambican government presented a set of five-year projects for 2015-2019 to a panel of local and foreign investors whose ambitious construction of a rail network. Estimated at about 20 billion Dollars, the network that should connect the south of the country to the north will span an average distance of 3,800 kilometers. It should extend to the already existing railways and elongate them from within to the coast, as well as existing ports and those that are preparing to be built. Although the economic feasibility of this gigantic project is not yet established, Maputo intends to prepare the ground for the mobilization of investments with various entities, including local and external entrepreneurs and financial institutions..."
TANZANIA:
Tanzania signs a 154 million Dollar contract with CHEC to expand Dar Es Salam port: "The Tanzanian government signed last Saturday a contract to extend the port of Dar Es Salaam with the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC). The agreement, worth 154 million Dollars, will see CHEC, a subsidiary of the Chinese company China Communications Construction Co Ltd, build a rolling terminal (ro-ro), dig and reinforce seven berths at the port. This extension will increase the capacity of the infrastructure to 28 million tons per year by 2020 compared to 20 million tons currently. "This operation will allow large container ships to dock in Dar Es Salaam and thereby improve the port's competitiveness," Makame Mbarawa, the Tanzanian Minister of Labor, Transport, and Communications, told Reuters. It should be noted that the extension, financed from a loan obtained from the World Bank, comes at a particularly critical time. Indeed, the discovery of large gas and oil reserves in recent years in several countries in the region (Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda in particular) has made it necessary to set up transport infrastructures..."
GUINEA:
Ghost Mining discovers reserves of rubies and sapphires of 100 million Carats: "The mining company Ghost Mining has discovered important deposits of rubies and sapphires in Guinea Conakry. It indicated that the deposits are estimated to contain an exploitable reserve of 100 million Carats. Asked by Ecofin agency, the company explained that the first deposit was discovered in 2013. It declared that statements were made during an expedition led by one of its leaders, Roger Poitoux, in collaboration with the Guinean mining services, with the aim of delimiting and quantifying the deposit. The results have yielded reserves of 100 million Carats, a figure confirmed by a second opinion carried out by South African specialists at the end of 2015. The company obtained after size, on a sampling of 2,500 Carats, star-shaped sapphires, multicolored sapphires, star-shaped multicolored sapphires, padparadscha sapphire, trapiche sapphire, ruby of pigeon blood, and an exceptional pink sapphire of 144 carats..."
Crédit :IMPERIUM MEDIA
