Dear CIGAs,

The China/Africa connection – a major opportunity.

Most people will take this article lightly or simply file it in their minds as interesting but not immediately relevant to them. In truth this is a major opportunity in a difficult investment world.

For the business person with foresight, there are so many products and services that are in short supply in Africa. There are so many products and services experiencing growth available nowhere else on the planet.

Certain leadership in Africa rivals and exceeds their peers in the West. The Asia/Africa relationship is rocket fuel for their economy.

Where else is there a combination of such dimensions? Where else is there an opportunity of being part of country building? The Sub-Sahara Common Market is taking form.

As an example, where is the Sub-Sahara trading and financing platform ?

Opportunities are in farming/real banking/minerals/consumer products/high tech services and company building finance as existed in the 18th and 19th century Warburg/Seligman tradition.

Chinese FM calls for strengthening of new Sino-African strategic partnership
www.chinaview.cn 2010-01-11 16:29:24

RABAT, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who is on a five-nation African trip, is calling for the strengthening of the new Sino-African partnership "characterized by equality and mutual respect on the political front, a win-win economic cooperation and reciprocal cultural exchanges."

"Let us deepen the new and strategic Sino-African cooperation through reinforcing our cooperation which should be characterized by equality and mutual respect on the political front, a win-win economic cooperation and reciprocal cultural exchanges," Yang said.

The Chinese top diplomat made the comments in an article titled "Pair of Traditional Friendship," which was published on Thursday in a Moroccan newspaper "Le Matin".

"This corresponds to the Chinese and African common and long-term interests and responds to our shared development objective and the mission to be accomplished during this decade," he added.

For the past two decades, Chinese foreign ministers have established a culture of reserving for the African continent their first foreign trips in a year. This is "a non-written Chinese diplomatic tradition which I would like to honor due to its historic significance and reality," Yang explained at the beginning of the article.

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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Because of its leadership, administration and quality citizens, Tanzania is my favorite place outside of Sharon Ct.

Sir George Kahama, my dearest friend who served as Ambassador to China from Tanzania, lived with his family for many years in Beijing cementing lifelong Chinese relationships to kick start the modern commercial Sino/Africa profitable relationship.

Chinese commerce minister proposes four-point measures on Sino-Tanzanian economic, trade cooperation
www.chinaview.cn 2010-01-15 23:58:14

DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Friday proposed four-point measures to further develop Sino-Tanzanian economic and trade cooperation.

Chen made the proposal during his meeting with Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade Mary Nagu, noting that the bilateral economic and trade cooperation is currently developing rapidly with China’s imports from Tanzania up 46.7 percent in the first 11 months in 2009 and total Chinese direct investments in the east African country exceeding 200 million U.S. dollars.

The investment sectors have expanded to agriculture, pharmacy, mining and commodity producing from construction, textile and transportation, and a number of infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, power projects as well as water supply projects have been constructed through bilateral cooperation, the Chinese commerce minister said.

He added that the development of Sino-Tanzanian development aid is going smoothly, and the eight measures announced at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit to promote the bilateral cooperation is comprehensively implemented.

In order to further develop the Sino-Tanzanian economic and trade cooperation, Chen proposed four-point measures to continue expanding bilateral trade as the two sides have already exchanged documents on tax exemption to some export products to China under the new measures announced at the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 8 to 9, which is beneficial to expand Tanzania’s export to China.

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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

I would love to see what Shadow Stats has to say about the MSNBC/MSN.com article below.

Consumers’ spending power tumbled in ’09
Inflation-adjusted wages fall 1.6 percent ― the sharpest drop since 1990
msnbc.com news services
updated 9:17 a.m. MT, Fri., Jan. 15, 2010

WASHINGTON – American families were squeezed last year as their inflation-adjusted weekly wages fell 1.6 percent ― the sharpest drop since 1990 while consumer inflation rose 2.7 percent.

Consumers’ spending power sank in the face of falling wages, job losses and higher prices for energy, medical care and education. Slack pay and scarce job creation are slowing consumer spending, hindering the economy’s ability to mount a strong recovery.

A surge in energy prices last year offset the biggest drop in food costs in nearly a half century, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index showed Friday. For December, the CPI rose a modest 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, prices were also up just 0.1 percent last month.

Lower income and high unemployment were two reasons cited in a Friday report showing that consumer sentiment was little changed in early January

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of sentiment for January was 72.8, up from 72.5 late December and 61.2 a year ago. The reading is the highest since September 2009, but it fell short of analysts’ median expectation of a reading of 73.9, according to a recent Reuters poll.

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