(HERALD ZW) India hails President’s victory
August 16, 2013
Farai Kuvirimirwa Herald Reporter
India has congratulated President Mugabe and Zanu-PF for resoundingly winning the just-ended harmonised elections in which the President scored 61,09 percent and the party got more than the crucial two-thirds majority in Parliament.Zimbabwe has received congratulations from various countries, among them regional bodies such as the UN, AU, Sadc, Comesa, African Union and the ACP countries for conducting peaceful and credible elections.
Speaking at the flag hoisting ceremony at India House in Harare yesterday, Indian ambassador Mr Jeitendra Kumar Tripathi said Zimbabwe should be commended for conducting peaceful and credible elections.
The hoisting of the flag was meant to celebrate India’s 67th independence anniversary from British colonial bondage.
“I congratulate our Zimbabwean friends, the Government and the leadership for having peaceful and credible elections,” Mr Tripathi.
“We have a good relationship with Zimbabwe which dates back to 67 years ago when we supported the liberation struggle morally since we were subjugated by the same colonial power.
“I hope the incoming Government will come and implement policies such that Zimbabwe regains its glory and becomes one of the richest country in Africa.
“We have clearly cut policies and we do not intervene into any country’s internal affairs and if elections are there it’s up to Zimbabwean friends to decide which way to go.
“It is not proper to influence the Zimbabwean election result because it is an internal matter and people should decide.
“As a friendly country we are always co-operating with Zimbabwe.”
Mr Tripathi expressed optimism on Zimbabwe in the next 10 years and said the bright future of the country has enabled India to avail a US$28,6 million line of credit facility.
“I believe in the future of Zimbabwe and I am hopeful of a positive future in the next five to 10 years,” he said.
“I am hopeful because Zimbabwe has every ingredient to be on top of Africa with more than 90 percent literacy rate, fertile land, abundant natural and mineral resources.
“We are going to establish a testing laboratory and technology park to assist Zimbabwe with experts for three years.
“We have just approved a US$28,6 million line of credit for the upgrading of the Deka Reservoir and connecting it to Hwange power plant.”
Mr Tripathi expressed optimism over six projects submitted by the Zimbabwean Government which he said were under consideration by his country.
He said India planned to embark on projects to enhance capacity building and infrastructure development.
Mr Tripathi congratulated Zimbabwean citizens of Indian origin and urged all Zimbabweans to join in celebrating India’s independence anniversary.
“I congratulate all countrymen who are living here and Zimbabwean citizens of Indian origin for the 67 years after attaining independence,” he said.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), INDIA
Read more...
India's Independence: a Bounty of benefits for Zambia
Thu 15 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
SONAS Zambia Limited, is a pioneer in offering sales and service as the one and only stop for Indian Engineering machineries in Zambia. It has in stock all sorts of machines catering to the needs of fields like construction, electrical and mechanical engineering works with the sole aim of rendering quality and prompt services since its inception in 1961 as Sonas Graham Enterprises in India.
We have shown that we are more than reliable by clinching the coveted 1st prize as the Best Exhibitor in the category of Small Scale Entrepreneur on International Level during the recently held 87th Agricultural and Commercial Exhibition - Lusaka, conducted by the Agriculture and Commercial Show Society of Zambia.
As a supplier of Indian engineering machineries, we take it as a privilege to extend our love and affection by offering a promotion on the selected machines with massive discounts as displayed in the advertisement.
This promotion will run from today till August 21, 2013. We do not feel any regrets on the reduction of our Durable Heavy Industrial machines which are well prepared to serve the purpose of bringing greater developments and benefits to the nation as a whole. We would like to state as a company that because of the understanding and great honour to 66th India's Independence, we are moved to extend a loving hand to the Zambians.
Hurry to get all your required items well in advance before the end of the promotion period.
Be assured of our backing, guarantee and free long services.
Labels: INDIA, SONAS ZAMBIA LIMITED
Read more...
India to enhance economic ties with Zambia, says Mukherjee
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thu 18 July 2013, 14:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Pranab Mukherjee says Zambia's relationship with Zambia is exceptionally warm. President Mukherjee has assured President Michael Sata of his desire to further strengthen ties between the two countries.
President Mukherjee spoke yesterday when he received letters of credence from Zambia's new High Commissioner to India Brigadier General Patrick Tembo at the Rashtrapat Bhawan in New Delhi.
President Mukherjee said India looked forward to enhanced economic cooperation with Zambia through the India-Africa Forum and the Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation.
And Brig Gen Tembo pledged to strengthen relations between India and Zambia during his tenure of office.
Brig Gen said there was need for the Joint Permanent Commission between Zambia and India which has not met since 2005, to convene as soon as possible to address matters of bilateral interest.
He thanked India for the US$50 million Line of credit towards construction of 650 rural health posts and another US$50 million earmarked for the Itedzi Tezhi Hydropower Project. Gen. Tembo also thanked the India Government for a grant of US$5 million for the social sector including health and education.
Brig Gen Tembo also invited India to attend the forthcoming United Nations World Tourism Assembly to be co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Labels: FDI, INDIA, PRANAB MUKHERJEE
Read more...
HH takes wife to India for treatment
By Roy Habaalu
Wed 08 May 2013, 14:01 CAT
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has accompanied his wife Mutinta for medical treatment to India, sources have revealed. And Lusaka Province PF youth chairman Kennedy Kamba has
wished Mutinta a quick recovery.
Sources said Hichilema left Zambia on April 30 aboard an Emirates flight EK714 destined for Dubai and arrived in India on May 2. Sources said Mutinta was being treated as an outpatient.
But UPND deputy spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said Hichilema was visiting various places and India was just one of them.
Hichilema's absence from the party is only known to those considered loyal to him.
Kamba asked all Zambians to pray for Mutinta's quick recovery so that she comes back to Zambia and offer her husband support in his political career.
"May the good Lord help Mrs Hichilema get well soon. All well-meaning Zambians should pray for her quick recovery so that she returns home.
This is not time for politics but time for the country to pray for our dear sister. No one chooses to be sick. Anyone can fall ill at anytime and it's as a result of this that we in PF wish Mrs Hichilema a quickest recovery," said Kamba.
And Mweetwa said there was no leadership vacuum from the time Hichilema left.
"HH is making visitations in various countries around the world and taking time from the hectic schedule brought about by these unnecessary by-elections. He will be back and you will see him during nominations in one of these constituencies," said Mweetwa.
He said the votes UPND got in the past by-election encouraged Hichilema to forge ahead.
Mweetwa said as Hichilema's dogs of war, they would ensure that they liberated Zambia economically and politically.
Hichilema was quoted on Lusaka's QFM as saying yesterday that Zambians needed a generational change of leadership and not being taken backwards.
According to QFM, Hichilema said the PF went into government without a plan for the country, but for purposes of sharing jobs amongst themselves.
Hichilema added that President Michael Sata had changed from being a man of action to a man of negative action.
Labels: CORNELIUM MWEETWA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, INDIA, KENNEDY KAMBA, MUTINTA HICHILEMA, UPND
Read more...
India's Surat looks to Marange as gem supplies fall
05/02/2013 00:00:00
by India Times
GEM processors in India’s Surat, the world's biggest diamond cutting and polishing centre, are looking at Zimbabwe for the required supplies of rough diamonds during the year as diamond production of mining companies like De Beers has decreased phenomenally.
Two of the largest diamond mines in the world - Canada's Ekati and Diavik mines - have exhausted open pit resources and now both are underground mines.
Converting a mine from an open pit operation to an underground operation typically results in curtailed production given the geology of Kimberlite pipes - the geologic formation of the resource is shaped like a carrot and gets narrower at depth.
Ekati's production declined 28 per cent year-over-year in 2012 and Diavik's output is estimated to fall 17 per cent year-over-year in 2013.
Three more of the world's largest mines are set to go underground over the next few years as Russia's Udachny mine is expected to be converted to an underground operation in the next two to four years and Botswana's Jwaneng and Orapa mines are expected to follow suit.
Rough diamonds achieved record prices in the summer of 2011, but have since slipped back to 2010 levels on global macroeconomic worries.
However, current prices are still higher than historic levels of summer 2008, and supply is estimated to fall short of new demand over the next two decades, which could take prices back to new highs.
The rough diamond demand in India is pegged at $15 billion per annum since the last three years with the increased production following the rising demand of polished diamonds.
According to a recent government report Zimbabwe expects diamond production from its Marange fields to double to 16.9 million carats in 2013 as the mining companies' ramp up production in the region where human rights groups have flagged concerns over rights abuses.
The government through its mining firm Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) operates five joint venture mines in Marange, which produced 8 million carats in 2012 and generated $685 million in exports.
Diamond analyst Aniruddha Lidbide said: "As the rough diamond production in world's leading mines are on a decline, Zimbabwe is the only hope for Indian diamantaires. It is only Surat, which has the skill to cut and polish the Zimbabwe stones."
Labels: DIAMONDS, INDIA, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS
Read more...
Ecobank, Exim to promote Africa-India investment
By Gift Chanda
Wed 27 June 2012, 13:25 CAT
ECOBANK Group has partnered with the Export-Import Bank to promote and finance trade investment flows between Africa and India. Under the partnership, the Export-Import Bank of India will work with Ecobank to explore joint trade and investment opportunities across Ecobank Group's unrivalled footprint of 32 countries in Middle Africa.
Commenting on the partnership, Arnold Ekpe, Ecobank Group's chief executive officer, said the institution was looking forward to working very closely with the Export-Import Bank to facilitate the growing trade and investment flows between Africa and India.
India's trade with Africa has doubled over the past four years to over US$50 billion, with the Indian government setting a 2015 bilateral trade target of US $90 billion.
The trade increase has been accompanied by stronger investment ties, with Indian investments in Africa totalling US$2.4 billion in 2008.
Labels: ECOBANK, EXIM BANK, INDIA
Read more...
COMMENT - Commentary on
The Keiser Report (E271).
BRICS summit: Emerging economies condemn military threats against Iran, Syria
By Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post
NEW DELHI — Leaders of five of the world’s fastest-growing economies called Thursday for an end to the rhetoric of military action against Iran and Syria, as they met in India to develop measures to boost mutual trade in their local currencies. The leaders of the coalition known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — said unilateral sanctions against Iran would affect their trade and economic growth.
Syrian crackdown continues:Protesters opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad face violent responses from security forces, and the United States has closed its embassy in the country as the violence grows.
A look at the Syrian uprising one year later. Thousands of Syrians have died and President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, despite numerous calls by the international community for him to step down.
Click Here to View Full Graphic Story
A look at the Syrian uprising one year later. Thousands of Syrians have died and President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, despite numerous calls by the international community for him to step down.
“We must avoid political disruptions that create volatilities in global energy markets and affect trade flows,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. “We agreed that a lasting solution to the problems in Syria and Iran can only be found through dialogue.”
Echoing Singh’s concerns, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said she does not “support any embargo policy” and “escalation of pro-violence rhetoric.” She called for “opening a room for compromise solution” on Iran.
The statements come at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning of a possible military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In Syria, a violent government crackdown on an opposition uprising has killed about 9,000 people, according to U.N. estimates.
The BRICS leaders, meeting in a five-star hotel under heavy security, discussed adjusting the balance of the global economic order and decision-making. They signed new trade agreements, made frequent reference to their shared goal of growth, decried the lack of parity in international organizations and called for reforms in the U.N. Security Council.
But analysts say that it is not clear whether the disparate, patchwork coalition of emerging economies — with very little in common apart from their recent economic growth, size and aspirations — can be an effective platform to influence global policies.
The coalition, which represents countries that have more than 41 percent of the world’s population and contribute 20 percent of the global economy, is beset by mutual suspicion and disagreements. And members have not always taken the same stance on international efforts to address uprisings in Libya and Syria.
The term “BRICS” was coined by Goldman Sachs in 2001 to categorize the emerging economies as the drivers of international growth. The group came together formally in 2006 at the initiative of Russia. In 2011, South Africa joined it. In recent years, the BRICS countries have worked at forming common positions to determine the outcome of climate-change talks in Copenhagen. But many analysts say that it is unlikely to be a formidable bloc in international negotiations.
“The BRICS grouping has economic heft, but their political clout is yet to be tested,” said Lalit Mansingh, former Indian ambassador to the United States. “They don’t see eye to eye on many international issues. There is no common cementing principle among them. All the members in the group have problems with China. They have made all the right noises today at the summit, but each country will have to make its own calculations as to how far they can defy the United States.”
The New Delhi BRICS summit, the fourth since 2009, is taking place under the shadow of the euro-zone crisis and the impasse over Iran, which supplies oil to India, China and South Africa.
On Wednesday, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States, said China will not allow domestic laws of a country to get in the way of its trade ties with Iran.
The five leaders signed a pact that they hope will reduce the demand for fully convertible currencies, such as the dollar, for trade among BRICS nations. The agreement will allow credit in local currencies among BRICS export-import banks to boost trade. The internal trade among the BRICS nations, now at $230 billion, is growing at an average of 28 percent a year, and the coalition hopes to increase it to $500 billion by 2015.
“The BRICS group is trying to tie five boats together in the midst of an enormous global economic storm,” said Rajiv Kumar, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. “They are trying to hedge their bets by promoting trade among themselves and creating a fall-back plan in case the dollar-denominated global trade falls apart in the future.”
The group also agreed to work toward setting up a development bank — like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — that would finance projects in their member countries.
Kumar said he was less optimistic about the potential of such a bank, saying similar efforts by other countries have failed to take off in the past.
Labels: BRAZIL, CHINA, GLOBAL SOUTH, INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA
Read more...
Sata calls for quick lending from India for health sector
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Wed 28 Mar. 2012, 12:59 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata has stressed the need to expedite the line of credit from the Indian government to facilitate construction of health posts across the country.
President Sata said it was the intention of his administration to ensure that Zambia benefited from the US$50 million line of credit for the construction of about 650 rural health posts throughout the country.
He was speaking when he met Lucky Exports director Diwakar Mishra and his deputy general manager (business development) T.P Singh in Ahmedabad, Gujarat West India, during his continued economic investment promotion crusade.
This is according to the President's special assistant for press and public relations George Chellah.
According to Chellah, President Sata assured the firm's executives that Zambia had favourable investment terms and urged them to take advantage of the condusive business climate.
In response, Mishra said his team would travel to Zambia not later than April 2012 to take up the challenge.
President Sata was flanked by Zambia's High Commissioner to India Susan Sikaneta and first secretary for press and tourism at the Zambian Mission, Bwalya Nondo.
Lucky Exports has built health posts in Togo, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Benin and Tanzania.
Chellah stated that President Sata who is on a private visit to India is scheduled to meet more Indian business executives whose companies have expressed interest in investing in Zambia.
He stated that over 30 Indian investors who attended a business promotion seminar organised by the Zambian High Commission in New Delhi last week indicated interest in investing in mining, agriculture, health and other sectors of the economy.
Labels: FDI, GEORGE CHELLAH, HEALTHCARE, INDIA, MICHAEL SATA
Read more...
Sata calls for quick lending from India for health sector
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Wed 28 Mar. 2012, 12:59 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata has stressed the need to expedite the line of credit from the Indian government to facilitate construction of health posts across the country. President Sata said it was the intention of his administration to ensure that Zambia benefited from the US$50 million line of credit for the construction of about 650 rural health posts throughout the country.
He was speaking when he met Lucky Exports director Diwakar Mishra and his deputy general manager (business development) T.P Singh in Ahmedabad, Gujarat West India, during his continued economic investment promotion crusade.
This is according to the President's special assistant for press and public relations George Chellah.
According to Chellah, President Sata assured the firm's executives that Zambia had favourable investment terms and urged them to take advantage of the condusive business climate.
In response, Mishra said his team would travel to Zambia not later than April 2012 to take up the challenge.
President Sata was flanked by Zambia's High Commissioner to India Susan Sikaneta and first secretary for press and tourism at the Zambian Mission, Bwalya Nondo.
Lucky Exports has built health posts in Togo, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Benin and Tanzania.
Chellah stated that President Sata who is on a private visit to India is scheduled to meet more Indian business executives whose companies have expressed interest in investing in Zambia.
He stated that over 30 Indian investors who attended a business promotion seminar organised by the Zambian High Commission in New Delhi last week indicated interest in investing in mining, agriculture, health and other sectors of the economy.
Labels: GEORGE CHELLAH, HEALTHCARE, INDIA, MICHAEL SATA
Read more...
Sata invites Indians to invest in Zambia's hotel industry
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tue 27 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata has invited investors running a chain of hotels in India to invest in Zambia. President Sata said this when he held an investment promotion meeting with the chairman and managing director of UMEID Group of Hotels in Ahmedabad, Ummeid Champawat.
According to a statement issued from India by President Sata's special assistant for press and public relations George Chellah, the meeting was in the President's continued efforts to woo investors into the country. President Sata said the government was ready to facilitate investment in the hotel industry.
"President Sata assured Mr Champawat of his administration's readiness to work with investors who would contribute to the development of tourism in the country," stated Chellah.
Chellah stated that President Sata was flanked during the meeting by Zambia's High Commissioner to India Susan Sikaneta and first secretary for press and tourism Bwalya Nondo.
And Champawat, who was accompanied by The Gateway Hotel general manager Darius Merchant, said his company was eager to invest in Zambia.
"It is the President's desire to ensure that Zambia maximises on economic benefits from the forthcoming World Tourism Assembly (WTA) to be co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe," stated Chellah.
"To this end, construction of hotels prior to the event scheduled for next year will go a long way in enhancing tourism development in the country."
President Sata had travelled to India last week.
There has been speculation about President Sata's health in the country and on Indian internet media.
However on Sunday, President Sata said speculation about him dying was wishful thinking. In a telephone conversation with Post editor Fred M'membe, President Sata assured that he was fine.
"I spoke to the President and first lady about 15:00 today (Sunday). His voice sounded very strong and he joked about all sorts of things. And we got to discuss some serious business about poverty and how impressed he was about how India is looking after the poor and how we should learn from their experience in looking after the poor," M'membe disclosed.
"Reducing poverty in Zambia seems to be something really troubling his mind. He seems to be in a hurry about addressing this problem and looking for inspiration and solutions everywhere he goes."
He said President Sata told him that the town he is in had the same population as Zambia's and that he was impressed with how clean it was and how the poor were being looked after there.
"He said that speculations about him dying are wishful thinking. He said he can't understand why there is so much speculation about his health," said M'membe.
The Times of India had reported that President Sata had undergone laser procedure for a urological disorder at Samved Urology Hospital.
Yesterday, DeshGujarat News which had reported on Saturday that President Sata was in India for treatment, posted on its site that President Sata had been discharged from hospital after undergoing treatment.
But Vice-President Dr Guy Scott denied the Indian media reports.
According to the Voice of America, Vice-President Dr Scott said it was normal for the President to go on a private visit and undergo a medical checkup.
"He went to India for a personal visit and, whenever I make a personal visit, I have a checkup, and maybe he is having a checkup too. It was planned for quite long time ago. There have been many times that he President Sata has been pronounced dead. So, we are a bit used to it here," he told VOA.
Vice-President Dr Scott accused UPND members of jubilating over Sata's supposed health problems.
"There is no good reason to suppose our boss is sick. He might have gone for a checkup. You expect to have a checkup, and I would certainly have a checkup because, when you passed 50, it's best to watch the gauge on the dashboard," he told VOA.
Labels: FDI, GEORGE CHELLAH, INDIA, MICHAEL SATA
Read more...
What's the truth about Michael's India visit?
By The Post
Sun 25 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT
IT seems that some government officials never learn that the cover-up can be worse than the underlying conduct.There is no need to surround Michael Sata's so-called private visit to India with so much secrecy. No one should be able to pull the curtains of secrecy around issues that can be revealed without injury.
If Michael has private business in India to attend to, let the people know what that private business is because Michael is not a private citizen, he is president of the Republic.
And there is no way Michael can leave this country for days without the Zambian people knowing where he has really gone and what he is doing there. And this is why even on a private visit, the Zambian taxpayer is meeting his bill. Where there is secrecy, speculation sets in.
And the Zambian people are justified in speculating about Michael's trip to India. What is it that should be so private and so secret about the president's visit to India? Is he on holiday? If he is on holiday, what is it that should be a secret about the president taking a holiday? If he is not well and he has gone for medical check-up or treatment, what is difficult about telling the Zambian people the truth?
Moreover, when so much is secret, secrecy is not respected and people start speculating. And there is a chain reaction to this because speculation leads to more speculation, counter-speculation.
The people of Zambia have the right to know the state of their president's health. If he is not well, the nation has a duty to pray for him and wish him well and give him and his family all the support they need. Our people have adequately demonstrated that they are a caring people, a loving people, a grateful people to those who serve them. We saw this during the period of Levy Mwanawasa's illness and death.
The main speculation today is that the president is not well and he has gone to India for treatment. We don't know what the truth is but all truths begin as hearsay. When the Zambian people hear all these things being said about their President, anxiety sets in. We shouldn't forget that this is a people that lost a president whose popularity was on the rise and any speculation in this direction revives those sad, painful memories and despair may set in.
It's better to tell our people the truth. The government has given very little information on the president's trip to India other than saying it's private and that he is accompanied by his wife. In this situation privacy is not a right, it may be a preference but certainly not a right. And silence blurs more truth than it reveals. However, it shouldn't be forgotten that silence remains, inescapable, a form of speech. Silence may be as variously shaded as speech.
There is need to give the Zambian people more information about the president's private visit to India. There is also need for the government to come up with a clear and truthful statement about the President's health so that all this speculation is ended.
Without that, speculation about his health will escalate and may cause more harm than the silence that they have maintained over this issue. The health of the president is a public issue. Moreover, the speculations about the president's health have a background anchored on the heart problem he had a few years ago when he had to be evacuated to South Africa for treatment.
Of course, there are some vultures, jackals, hyenas that are so much in a hurry, are so impatient and want to scavenge on the rumours or speculations about the president's health. There are some evil people in the political arena who wish him dead.
And information about his health, if it's bad, may be political cannon fodder in their hands. But the government's conduct shouldn't be dictated by such elements. When the truth is fully out there, these evil people will not be able to use it in a detrimental way because the people will know the truth and will support the man who just a few months ago they voted for overwhelmingly. There is nobody who doesn't fall ill.
So there is nothing strange in Michael not being well. All human beings are terminally ill and it's just a matter of time before things come to an end for each one of us.
But there is need for civility in our politics. Our multiparty politics is not a contest for survival, it is simply a competition to serve for which no one should be wished dead or killed. If it was left to these elements, if Michael's life was in their hands, he wouldn't have been able to contest last year's election.
After that heart problem, they had written him off and were positioning themselves to take over whatever political support he had. They manoeuvred in all sorts of ways to position themselves for that big harvest of Michael's political support. But they are not the creators and Michael survived against their wishes to win the election.
They are not satisfied, they are still looking and hoping for a presidential by-election. They have no patience to wait for 2016.
But Michael's life is not in their hands, is not even in his own hands. Probably they may need to do a deal with Michael's Creator for him to disappear quickly so that they can take over!
Let our politics be based on love for one another. Let us place a high value on every life, including that of Michael.
In saying this, we are not in any way trying to stop decent discourse about Michael's private visit to India. This is a matter that deserves discussion.
People are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely and truthfully. People should be free to speculate in the absence of adequate information. After all that is what secrecy leads to - speculation.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, INDIA, MICHAEL SATA
Read more...
Sata said to be in India for treatment
By Ernest Chanda and Moses Kuwema
Sun 25 Mar. 2012, 13:00 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata is undergoing treatment at India's Samved Hospital. According to India's Desh Gujarat News, President Sata landed at Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday at around 22:00 hours for medical treatment at the hospital situated in Navrangpura area.
DeshGujarat reported that the hospital mainly dealt with patients of prostate, kidney stone and bladder surgery. President Sata is accompanied by first lady Dr Christine Kaseba and press aide George Chellah. Security at Taj Gateway Hotel near the Ahmedabad airport where he staying has been tightened.
And Wynter Kabimba says UPND members of parliament and their president Hakainde Hichilema have been wishing President Sata dead from the time they negotiated their way into the pact with the PF.
Commenting on UPND members jubilating over President Sata's health condition and his trip to India, Kabimba wondered how long it would take for the UPND to realise that banking on the President's death for them to ascend to power was a wish in futility.
He said even if the PF was to go for a campaign under a different leader, UPND would not win because the people of Zambia would not entrust their lives into their hands.
"I don't know how long it should take for UPND to learn a lesson, that that kind of campaign in a Christian nation like Zambia just alienates voters from you. It is not a political issue; it is a sentimental and emotional issue for those people that love Sata. I don't know how it can grant them UPND any mileage if they were experienced politicians. That wish is a wish in futility," Kabimba said.
Kabimba said Hichilema during the campaigns last year went round telling people that President Sata would not last the campaign period but to his disappointment, he went on to win the election.
"Mr Hichilema is the healthiest human being on earth; he has never suffered from any disease. He is somebody who is mortal, that's how he portrays himself and that's what he wants the people of Zambia to believe in order to confer power on him. For the UPND to bank the success of UPND on Michael Sata's death, will not take them anywhere. Let them plan the way we did it, that's how you win an election and not by wishing another person dead," said Kabimba.
Well-placed sources said there was excitement in the UPND following President Sata's trip to India because they believe the President was unwell.
"We warned the people of Zambia that President Sata was not fit and unwell and will not complete his term of office. He's a sick man whose return we doubt because the operation he's undergoing is serious and chances of survival are fifty-fifty. Most of our members are happy because this gives us an opportunity to lead the country," one UPND senior member said.
Some of the members said President Sata should not have contested the September 20 elections because he knew his health was failing.
And UPND Southern Province vice-chairman John Chidyaka said President Sata's trip to India left room for speculation.
He said it was wrong for the President to leave the country without telling the nation what he had gone to do and how long he would be there.
"We need to know so that we know whether he's gone to bring investors or what. Going secretly will make people think otherwise and some will start preparing for elections because we are told he's unwell and anything can happen. When one travels, people can pray for you otherwise people may start preparations. Why go in secrecy?" he asked.
Chidyaka said people of Zambia needed to know what the President had gone to do in India.
And Felix Mutati yesterday said it was "unpleasant" to bring politics into the perceived ill-health of President Sata.
Mutati, also leader of the opposition in Parliament, said whatever speculations were taking place, people should rise above pettiness of wishing anybody ill.
He said whatever the case regarding President Sata's private visit to India, all Zambians should send a message of good will.
"He is not the first President that may have gone out of the country for medical treatment and I think there must be national maturity and avoidance of pettiness. All of us as human beings we get into unfortunate situations. Let's not celebrate another person's misfortune," Mutati told journalists during a press briefing at the National Assembly yesterday.
"What we must do is pray for his quick recovery from the national perspective and as leader of opposition. I think that's what is fundamentally important. Let's not bring politics to play in an issue that deals with health. I think that's unpleasant."
And MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu says the government should give full details whenever President Sata traveled out of the country.
Nyangu said when President Sata was an opposition leader, he also criticised heads of state whenever they travelled out of the country unannounced.
"We don't want to rejoice in one being sick; he is our President. But we deserve to know where he goes because is our President. For the purpose of information for the Zambians to know where their President is, that man is not a common man; he's no longer a cadre or what, he's a Republican President," Nyangu said.
"For us we don't wish him bad, what we want is just to know that our President is not okay, he's gone for medication. And if you recall very well the same President said there will be no Zambian going abroad for treatment; nobody will go for treatment, they'll be treated here in Zambia."
Nyangu said his message was meant to remind President Sata of what he said when in opposition.
"It's just a reminder that Mr President you said this, Zambians have not forgotten. You criticised ba Mwanawasa, again you criticised ba Rupiah, but what are you doing? Are you correcting the wrongs which your predecessors were doing? That's what we are saying. Well, he's privileged he's the President he can go out, but why not stick to what he said because people are doubting him to say is this the man of action, the man of truth? Is this the man we voted for? But here is the man who said nobody will go abroad for treatment; he sneaks out into India to go and get treatment."
Nyangu however constantly said he wished President Sata good health and success during his tenure.
He said Zambians would continue to demand full information about President Sata for as long as he remained their leader.
And Lusaka Province youth secretary Mulenga Kayula said the UPND was a silly party that thrived on misfortune.
In a walk-in interview, Kayula said it was ridiculous for UPND to think that they would ascend to power through other people's misfortunes.
"The best way to describe their behaviour is absurd. It's ridiculous to think that one will ascend to power through other people's misfortunes and UPND is known for its failed marriages of conveniences. They have realised that they will never have chance to form government now so they hope President Sata would die and we go for a by-election. It will never happen. They should stop forthwith their foolish behaviour of thinking that they will rule through other people's misfortunes," said Kayula.
He advised the UPND to concentrate on reviving their dwindling political relevance in the country.
He warned that next time they will not tolerate UPND's silly behaviour because they were alarming the nation.
"The next time they do this, we are going to march to their offices and we are going to take them head-on. We are not going to condone such kind of behavior. This is nonsense," he said.
In a separate interview, MMD Copperbelt information and publicity secretary Yotam Mtayachalo said UPND should find a civil way of disagreeing with the PF government instead of wishing the President death.
He said even if they had a good working relationship with the UPND, it was unAfrican and a taboo for them to jubilate over a person's perceived ill-health.
He said politicians should engage in issues that would uplift the lives of the majority suffering Zambians.
"Today you will be celebrating your friend's illness, tomorrow it will be you. It must not be an eye for an eye and this kind of politics in Zambia must come to an end. We must elevate our politics to a much higher level. To those people that are celebrating over the illness, it's totally unacceptable and sending a very wrong signal on the people of Zambia because honestly how can people trust you if you are celebrating other people's illnesses?" he asked.
"When Mr (Anderson) Mazoka was ill, politicians were celebrating. When (Levy) Mwanawasa was ill again politicians were celebrating. Now President Sata is unwell again people are celebrating," he said.
Mtayachalo said people of Zambia still want President Sata to continue ruling so that he fulfils his political promises.
On Thursday morning, President Sata left on an unannounced trip to India.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, INDIA, MICHAEL SATA
Read more...
COMMENT - I guess compliance with the Kimberly Certification Process was just an excuse to starve Zimbabwe from funds from it's own diamond reserves. Because Zimbabwe has now been declared compliant - as if they were ever non-compliant - with this 'industry driven' process. Not only is Zimbabwe under sanctions, but anyone who would not comply with the international credit freeze of Zimbabwe is retaliated against. Like Malawi, when it had it's budget support suspended after extending a loan to the Zimbabwean government, and here, for all to see, India is retaliated against for the very legal act of buying Zimbabwean diamonds. This is the vindictiveness of the US government, Hillary Clinton and her State Department at work for all to see. Behind all this is erstwhile diamond monopolist Anglo-American De Beers, which started this Kimberly Process to begin with.
US puts pressure on India over Marange gems
23/03/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
THE US chair of the Kimberly Process (KP) has told Indian diamond dealers to stay away from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamonds claiming
the gems are still under sanctions for undermining democracy in the country."I consider Zimbabwe diamonds as products under sanction," Gillian Milovanovic said during two-day visit to India’s Surat region where 92 percent of the world's diamonds are cut and polished.
Milovanovic took over as KP chair in January, replacing Mathieu Yamba of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who successfully pushed for the resumption of Marange rough diamond sales despite opposition from the West.
The KP decision was welcomed by India’s US$43 billion diamond industry where Zimbabwe’s gems are in high demand because they are low-priced compared to stones from other producer-countries.
The US backed the KP decision but then unilaterally slapped two of the companies operating in Marange with sanctions, punishing them for going into joint ventures with the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC).
Indian media reports said local dealers were shocked by the US decision adding most companies were now wary of exposing their links with Marange diamonds.
Industry experts say the sanctions make it virtually impossible to conduct U.S. dollar transfers to Zimbabwe, to legally pay for purchased diamonds, or to secure insurance coverage on diamond shipments, or even to get the courier services to pick up goods that were legally bought with duly signed KP certificates.
Mbada Diamonds, one of the companies added to the US sanctions list, this week warned that the move would likely imperil the livelihoods of some 100,000 people benefiting directly and indirectly from its operations.
"Mbada Diamonds cannot ignore the fact the US, the biggest global consumer of cut and polished diamonds, has selectively sanctioned the biggest mining revenue generating entity in Zimbabwe..." the company said.
Officials said the sanctions were not justified adding the US had imposed the measures "without giving due process, armed only with rumuors and bad intelligence”.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti – who expects diamond revenues to contribute US$600 million to his budget this year – has also said Zimbabwe should be allowed to freely trade its diamonds.
"Zimbabwe is a poor fragile economy and must therefore be allowed to sell and benefit from its resources,” Biti said.
He said although there had been concerns over transparency and accountability regarding the Marange operations these have since been addressed adding the country no longer operated “outside the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.”
Labels: INDIA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS, SANCTIONS
Read more...
The Indian Land Grab In Africa
By GOI Monitor
20 December, 2011
Goimonitor.com
Joining the neo-colonial bandwagon, Indian companies are taking over agricultural land in African nations and exporting produced food at the cost of locals
Indian companies venturing abroad is always regarded as a healthy trend, an indicator of India's new-found economic status. But little is known about how these companies are flexing their imperalistic muscles in poorer countries, grabbing the land and giving little in return. A report ‘India’s Role in the New Global Farmland Grab’ by researcher Rick Rowden brings forth these atrocities which are shockingly similar to what India used to blame rich western countires for.
Joining the race with China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, South Korea and the European Union, Indian and Indian-owned companies are acquiring land in Africa at throwaway prices, indulging in enviornmental damange and exporting the food while locals continue to starve. The origin of this unhealthy practice can be traced back to the food crisis of 2008 when rich countries were forced to confront the reality of how fragile the global food scenario can be, especially for those without sufficient cultivable land. To ensure more direct control over food, these countries started acquiring land in poorer African countries and shipping the produce back home. A recent World Bank report found that 45 million hectares of large scale farmland deals had been announced between 2008 and 2009.
The initial support to such forays was based on the belief that the world is facing scarce food supply because of long-term under-investment in the agricultural sectors of many developing countries. However, as stressed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, "the diagnosis and remedy are incorrect…Hunger and malnutrition are not primarily the result of insufficient food production; they are the result of poverty and inequality, particularly in rural areas, where 75 per cent of the world’s poor still reside.”
Outsourcing farming, the Indian way
There are various factors driving the “outsourcing” of domestic food production in India. Primary among these are stagnation or drop in crop yield due to "green revolution fatigue”, government’s concerns related to long term food security besides the allure of much cheaper land and more abundant water resources in African countries. The subsidies being offered by governments of African countries is another enticement. In many cases, the companies have been offered special incentives, including the offer to lease massive tracts of arable land at very generous terms with access to water and the ability to fully repatriate the profits generated.
According to figures provided by governments of various East African countries in 2010, more than 80 Indian companies have invested around $ 2.4 billion in buying or leasing huge plantations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique to grow food grains and other cash crops for the Indian market. The high input cost of farming is also driving these companies to explore Africa. Talking to news agency IANS earlier this year, S.N. Pandey, an executive with Lucky Group, one of the companies which have invested in Africa, stressed on the price factor. “The cost of agricultural production in Africa is almost half that in India. There is less need for fertiliser and pesticides, labour is cheap and overall output is higher,” he was quoted as saying.
Indian agriculture companies also complain that India’s small and fragmented land holdings are unsuitable for large-scale commercial farming, and there are too many bureaucratic hurdles to investment. Recent offers by African governments allow Indian farmers to acquire much larger tracts of contiguous land on lease for 50 years, and in some cases even up to 99 years at throwaway prices. According to a news report in the Indian Express, “The land lease rate in Punjab’s Doaba region is a minimum of Rs 40,000 per acre. In contrast, in most African nations, the land lease rate in terms of Indian currency comes to Rs 700 per acre. This means that for every one acre in Punjab, Indian investors can own 60 acre in Africa. With a per capita land holding of 1.5 acre in Punjab, agriculture is ceasing to be a sustainable activity.”
A sample of Indian companies investing in agricultural land overseas
Nobody bothers about locals
In some countries such as Ethiopia, where there is a lack of effective governance and democracy, local populations have reportedly suffered evictions with no recourse. Of all the land-grabbing deals in recent years, perhaps none has received as much attention as that of Karuturi Global's massive land leases in Ethiopia’s Gambela region. While the East African country claims the entry of foreign investors would help develop the large tracts of wastelands, experts say there is no such thing as “waste or idle land” in Ethiopia, or anywhere in Africa.
Several studies have shown that local competition for grazing land and access to water bodies are the two most important sources of inter-communal conflict in most parts of Ethiopia populated by pastoralists. Indeed, in almost every case of recent land leases involving foreign enterprises, locals have complained that they lost access to grazing land and water due to these projects. This has also been the case, for example, with foreign investments in both the Bako and Gambela regions of Ethiopia where many Indian firms operate. Proponents of the new land rush also often claim that the foreign investments in land will create jobs for locals, improve living conditions and increase national GDP. In Ethiopia, over 3 lakh families have been potentially displaced but only about 20,000 people are expected to get jobs on the new highly-mechanised farms.
According to a news report on BBC online, “there have allegedly been a number of arrests and killings of local people who oppose the recent land investments.” The indigenous Mazenger people of Gambela have been struggling to protect their ancient forest-covered lands along tributaries to the White Nile that have come into conflict with the lease given to the Indian company Verdanta Harvests Plc., which plans to clear their land and use it for a tea and spice plantation. According to the documents available with Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), the locals were made aware of the plan to lease out their ancient lands and “secret forests” only in early 2010. They approached the Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis, who mostly has representative powers, and won his support. The Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia (EPAE) also recommended that the lease project be stopped since the short-term benefits of leasing would not outweigh the long-term costs to the country. However, the local Governor announced that the 3,000 hectare of forests had already been leased out for 50 years. Despite another intervention by the President, the project is moving forward and the forests are being cleared.
“If what is going on in Gambela was happening in New Delhi, India, or in Oxford, England, Bismarck, North Dakota, or in Saskatoon, Canada, this would be unthinkable. If it is not allowed in these places, why is it justified in Ethiopia," asks Obang Metho of SMNE.
Environmental concerns and contracts
One of the most significant concerns about the trend of overseas investors relates to environmental impacts of establishing increasing numbers of large-scale, mechanised mono-cropping farms that are dependent on high levels of water usage besides heavy doses of pesticides and herbicides which impact both the soil and the underground water. “The ecological sustainability of land and water resources is an important concern, especially considering the relatively short-term orientation of the foreign investors versus the long-term outlook needed in considering the environmental impacts of land uses,” says D Byerlee, who presented a paper on “Drivers of Investment in Large-Scale Farming: Evidence and Implications,” at a World Bank conference in 2009.
Amid growing controversy around investments in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development recently made public the 12 Land Rent Contractual Agreements for land leases including five contracts with Indian companies. All these contracts specified that the companies were to ensure that environmental impact assessments were undertaken and submitted to the authorities shortly after assuming operations and that the investors would otherwise abide by current Ethiopian conservation laws. They did not specify who exactly would undertake the environmental impact assessments, the quality and scope of such assessments and transparency of the process by which they are to be undertaken. Regarding water usage, each of the five contracts specified that the companies had the right to build dams, water boreholes and irrigation systems as they see fit. Only the smallest contract for Verdanta Harvests PLc.’s tea plantation did not mention water rights. Interestingly, only the biggest contract for Karuturi Agro Products Plc. included the additional clause that the company also had the right to “use irrigation water from rivers or ground water.” However, there was no mention of payment for this water usage, the quantity of water to be used and over what period of time.
All five contracts stated that the Indian companies have the “right”- not the obligation- to provide power, health clinics, schools, etc. It was not specified to whom these services might be provided –the local population or just the company workers. Yet, the provision of such facilities had been a high-profile claim made earlier by the government as to why the investors should be allowed to undertake these projects. None of the five contracts of the Indian companies mentioned labour laws or specified any wages or working conditions for their local employees. Nor did the contracts seem to justify the claim made by the companies and government regarding the increase in agricultural productivity and transfer of such new technologies to local farmers. If the omission suggests that the Indian companies alone shall retain the higher value technology, it is unclear how this will help local farmers in Ethiopia in the future.
Indian government's role play
Following a 2009 visit by Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, the then Minister for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said: “We are now in talks with Namibia after their President's visit, to use land for our purposes.”
At the sixth Agriwatch Global Pulses Summit in New Delhi in 2010, India's Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar asked the delegates to ponder over the “viability of Indians leasing land abroad for growing pulses and exporting it back to India.”
Both these statements point towards India's objective to ensure food security by acquiring land in lesser developed countries. The Indian government acts as a facilitator to the whole process rather than the main player. It is supporting the conventional new greenfield foreign direct investments, merger and acquisition purchases of existing firms; public-private partnerships ; specific tariff reductions on agricultural goods imported to India through the negotiation of regional bilateral trade and investment treaties and double taxation (avoidance) agreements.
Another major way the Indian government has financially facilitated the process is by giving concessional lines of credit to various developing country governments, banks, and financial institutions, as well as to regional financial institutions, through the Indian Export- Import (Exim) Bank. Often such lines of credit are for the purpose of national development projects and where these projects involve agricultural development, Indian foreign investors stand ready to win concessions and contracts for agricultural development in the form of their foreign direct investment.
The largest single line of credit approved by the Exim Bank so far has gone to Ethiopia ($ 640 million) for its Tindaho Sugar Project and it is also widely expected to facilitate Indian investments. The soft loans, with an annual interest rate of 1.75 per cent, are to be repaid over 20 years.
In trade policy, a number of economic incentives such as duty-free tariff preference schemes have been put in place by the Indian government in order to encourage private companies to invest in land abroad. For example, Ethiopian farm produce entering Indian markets is now taxed less than produce from India, according to Anand Seth, the deputy director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
The defence put up by companies
Indian companies reject their characterisation as neo-colonials and insist they are just doing business. Many companies claim the land acquisitions are simply strategies for their expansion and vertical integration. Raju Poosapati, the vice president of India's Yes Bank, which advises Indian investors in Africa, said a government ban on non-Basmati rice exports had driven Indian companies to go abroad in order to be able to grow and sell it in global markets.
Karuturi Global Ltd. clarified that it pays its workers at least Ethiopia’s minimum wage of 8 birr, and abides by Ethiopia’s labour and environmental laws. Speaking to Bloomberg, Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, founder and head of Karuturi Global Ltd., said, “We have to be very, very cognisant of the fact that we are dealing with people who are easily exploitable,” adding that the company will create up to 20,000 jobs and has plans to build a hospital, a cinema, a school and a day-care center in the settlement. “We’re going to have a very healthy township that we will build. We are creating jobs where there were none,” he said. However, Metho says so far there has been no sign or mention of any of this according to reports from the local people.
The situation seems quite similar to what foreign corporates are doing in tribal areas of Orissa and Chattisgarh in India. Metho believes a close coordination between Indian and African activists can help serve the cause of marginalised communities in both the worlds.
The research report ‘India’s Role in the New Global Farmland Grab’ can be accessed here
Labels: INDIA, LAND RIGHTS
Read more...
India to offer Zimbabwe $100m credit
Posted by By Our reporter at 10 January, at 17 : 34 PM
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks to African leaders during the first India-Africa Forum Summit in April 2008
India has mooted a $100 million line of credit (LoC) for improving health infrastructure in Zimbabwe, saying that Indian
public sector undertakings (PSUs) would assist in reducing the infrastructural deficit and contribute to the African nation’s economic development.
“India would assist Zimbabwe in reducing its infrastructural deficit. Indian PSUs like IRCON, RITES and WAPCOS which had earlier also executed infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe could participate in executing fresh projects,” said Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma in a meeting with Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti at Harare Monday, an official release said here Tuesday.
“A team from India would be visiting Harare next week to discuss the proposal for LOC of $100 million for strengthening of health infrastructure,” Sharma added.
The two ministers also agreed to speed up the execution of the Pan-African e-Network project.Sharma also expressed concern over Zimbabwe’s Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act, as it could deter further investments by Indian companies in Zimbabwe and also urged on the need for simplifying the process for issue of business visas to Indian businessmen.
“It was suggested that a one-year multiple entry visa could be issued to encourage potential Indian investors visiting Zimbabwe,” the statement said, citing Sharma.
Sharma also said that Indo-Zimbabwe ties would get further strengthened through the setting up of a rural technology park and a food testing laboratory in Zimbabwe by India. This was one of the commitments made by India during the India-Africa Forum Summit held at Addis Ababa in May 2011.
Indian Times
Labels: DEBT, INDIA, LOANS, ZIMBABWE
Read more...
India lends government $50m for health centres
By Moses Kuwema
Wed 04 Jan. 2012, 13:25 CAT
THE Indian government has given the Zambian government a credit line of $50 million to finance prefabricated health centres in all the provinces.
Foreign affairs minister Chishimba Kambwili who disclosed this at a briefing at his ministry yesterday, said the rate of interest for the credit was 1.75 per cent and the repayment would run for a period of 20 years.
"I wish to inform the nation that on Saturday, I had a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner to Zambia and I am glad to report to the nation that the Indian government has approved a credit line of $50 million to finance prefabricated health centres in all the nine provinces of Zambia. This will improve the health service delivery as opposed to what the MMD did, the disused mobile hospitals," Kambwili said.
Kambwili said the PF government was keen on insisting on infrastructure development in the health sector that could stand the test of time.
"You know that prefabricated health facilities are used all over the world as a way of quickening up the erection of health centres - one way in which you can build a health centre within a very short period of time to offer health services to the community," he said.
Kambwili said the government was grateful to the Indian government for the credit line.
"So you can see that this is a very good credit line and it is going to go a long way in actually helping the people in the rural areas more especially to receive medical attention," said Kambwili.
Labels: CHISHIMBA KAMBWILI, DEBT, HEALTHCARE, INDIA
Read more...
$153m Zim diamonds cleared for India
Posted by By Our reporter at 22 August, at 21 : 16 PM Print
THE commerce ministry in India has given the go-ahead for the import of a shipment of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe valued at over $153 million. The diamonds, mined in the Marange fields, were purchased at an auction in November 2010 and shipped to Dubai.
The consignment was kept pending a decision by the Kimberley Process to reinstate the embargo against diamonds from Zimbabwe. Following the nod from the Kimberley Process’ working group on monitoring, the UAE released the shipment of diamonds on June 29 this year, and the diamonds made their way to India.
However, they were again held up at the ports, pending a final approval from the Indian government.
The last nod has finally come through and importing Kimberley Process certified rough diamonds from the Marange mines is soon to become a reality for Surat diamantaires.
The president of the Surat Diamond Association, Rohit Mehta, said an agreement had been reached by the Kimberley Process during the recently concluded World Diamond Congress, which would enable Zimbabwe to carry out exports of diamonds from its Marange deposits.
Traders said consumers in India are looking at diamonds as an alternative to gold, where prices have risen strongly.
The conversion rate in diamond buying, that is converting from low carat to high carat diamonds, has gone up to 30% in India, of which 18% are first time buyers. The new cache of diamonds from Zimbabwe could well help this trend.
India’s Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, which is the country’s import and export authority, has instructed traders to stop trading in Zimbabwe’s diamonds.
It had also asked relevant departments to keep a close watch on the import of diamonds without the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme certificates.
“The deposits in Marange diamond mines are valued at close to $2 billion,” said Mehta, adding it would open huge opportunities for the diamantaires at Surat.
With close to 4,500 diamond polishing units, Surat is a major importer of rough diamonds in India. The state also polishes almost 95% of the world’s diamonds.
Mehta added that the influx of rough diamonds is expected to ease the pressure faced by the local diamond industry in light of the spiraling rough prices.
According to statistics release by the Kimberley Process, Russia produced 34 million carats of rough diamonds in 2010 worth $2.38 billion, while Botswana dug out 22 million carats in 2010 worth $2.59 billion. Botswana has reclaimed the diamond producer top spot.
Other top diamond producers by volume in 2010 included the
Democratic Republic of the Congo with 20.17 million carats,
South Africa with 13.67 million carats,
Canada with 11.8 million carats,
Zimbabwe with 8.44 million carats and
Angola with 8.36 million carats.
Europe was the top rough importer in 2010 with $13.59 billion worth of goods, followed by India at $11.23 billion, Israel with $4.43 billion, Dubai with $2.06 billion and China with $2.02 billion.
Mineweb
Labels: DIAMONDS, INDIA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS
Read more...
Indian firm displaces 400 Masaiti families
By Darious Kapembwa in Kafulafuta
Thu 09 June 2011, 03:59 CAT
OVER 400 families at Alitoni village in Kafulafuta Cons-tituency in Masaiti district of Copperbelt rural have been displaced from their land without compensation by an Indian firm to pave way for the construction of a Lime plant. Nikant Mining Limited has already graded a huge chunk of villagers’ fields destroying the farming area claiming that they have authority of senior chief Chiwala.
According to representatives from the village committee constituted to speak on behalf of the affected villagers, the chief forcibly notified them about the need to relocate to the rocky lake Chilengwa area.
“They have evicted us from our ancestral land to Chilengwa area, where there is no farming land, no water for our gardening and we have animals…we need compensation for our land so that we can find alternative land of our own not the chief’s choice,” said Goodson Chepeshi, a committee member.
Another committee member Livius Langeni said the villagers were being threatened so that they don’t raise any questions over their land.
“We have sent emissaries to the palace so that we can meet the chief to discuss the matter but nothing has come out and people have been threatened in all means possible so that they don’t raise questions about the behavior of the chief.
The chief has refused to talk to us apart from commanding us to obey his orders but we are ready to die for our land,” said Langeni, who is also the eldest son to the village head woman at the same village.
The villagers said they were not opposed to development but contended that development should take on board concerns of the local people.
“We can’t be living like refugees in our own land and this government is quiet, let them pay us money before we vacate so that we can find land maybe in Kasama because here our own chief with whoever he is working with has sold us for three pieces of silver,” they said.
Two site supervisors, Tharon and Mohan, who were in the company of the chief’s retainer Fidelis Kasongo, said they had nothing to do with the villagers because as far as they were concerned, they were dealing directly with the chief.
“We will create employment here for the villagers what more do you want?” asked Tharon.
But Kasongo sided with the people saying their concerns were genuine as nobody had been compensated, which ignited more anger from the two Indians.
“What I can say is that the chief is in the fore-front of this project, people’s complaints are genuine because I have also heard just a rumour that they will relocate to another area but no compensation,” said Kasongo.
There was no comment from chief Chiwala as he has returned back to Nairobi, Kenya where he is first secretary at the Zambian embassy.
A similar situation is obtaining at Majaliwa village a Kilometre apart in the same locality where a cement firm, Dangote of Nigeria, is developing a factory.
Labels: CHIEFS, FDI, INDIA, KAFULAFUTA, LAND RIGHTS, MASAITI DISTRICT, NEOLIBERALISM
Read more...
Strengthening Zim–India relations will catapult growth
By: Garikai Chengu
Posted: Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:21 pm
AS the global economic balance of power shifts from the West to the East, it is becoming increasingly evident that we are living through the tail end of half a millennium of Western supremacy.
Consequently, Zimbabwe must perfect the art of benefiting from India, one of Asia's emerging giants and a country that may become its most important trading partner.
A few years ago the United States, with only five percent of the world's population, accounted for about a quarter of the world's economic output, was responsible for nearly half of global military expenditures, and had the most extensive educational and cultural soft power.
However, as it stands the American Empire is falling rapidly. Much like the demise of the Roman Empire, America's Empire is decaying from the inside rather than from barbarians or despicable terrorists at the gates.
Watching America's unipolar moment end is rather like watching a drunken giant begin to loose its footing. A sobering reckoning of some sorts seems inevitable; and it is difficult to see how the U.S. can regain its footing.
Five current trends are the root cause of this decay and the seemingly inevitable crash: imperial overreach; domestic battles over culture and foreign protracted battles; economic stagnation and unsustainable reliance on debt.
Five hundred years ago, what had given the West the edge over the East were five key features: the capitalist enterprise, the scientific method, global imperialism, the 'Protestant' ethic of work and finally, the consumer society and capital accumulation as ends in themselves.
India has clearly replicated the first and the second and may be in the process of adopting others with some alterations (consumption and the work ethic). Only the third – imperialism - shows little sign of emerging in India towards Africa.
In-fact, quite the contrary, India does a great deal of good in Africa: Thanks to the trade winds that gust across their common ocean, to the delight of merchants and shark fishermen, Africa and India have enjoyed close relations since time immemorial. India has helped out many UN missions across the continent, with some 9,000 blue helmets now in the field. Over the past five years India has invested heavily in African infrastructure and technology.
In part, large domestic investments in innovation and technology, have led most economists to believe that India will grow faster than any other large country over the next 25 years. Rapid growth in a country of 1.2 billion people is exciting, to put it mildly. According to Goldman Sachs, India will become the second largest economy in the world, ahead of the US, by 2050.
Despite these protracted time-frames Zimbabwe must waist no time in perfecting the art of benefiting from India's colossal rise. In order to do so, Zimbabwe must recognise and expand mutually beneficial areas of political, economic and social cooperation between the two nations.
Firstly, India and Zimbabwe already have a long history of close and cordial relations. During the era of the Munhumutapa Kingdom, Indian merchants established strong links with Zimbabwe, trading in textiles, minerals and metals.
India also supported Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. In fact, Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who attended Zimbabwean independence celebrations in 1980, provided Zimbabwe's guerillas with training, logistical and material support to wage the Liberation Struggle.
Indian authorities’ associations with the Second Chimurenga, and subsequent cordial political relations, have resulted in the crucial formation of an ideological alliance with an increasingly influential member of the international community and a probable permanent member of the UN Security Council. Pretty much everyone agrees that the Security Council’s permanent, veto-wielding membership reflects a bygone age, when what mattered was who won the second world war. An increasingly unrepresentative, anachronistic Security Council speaks with diminishing authority.
Another nation at the UN Security council siding with the people of Zimbabwe on illegal sanctions will be invaluable, given the likely outcome of upcoming elections, and given some quarters' penchant to cry foul when democracy doesn't go their way.
Secondly, quite aside from India potentially becoming a strong political ally in the international community, India has a great deal to offer Zimbabwe on the economic front. India tends to provide no-strings-attached soft loans for investment in infrastructure including schools, clinics and transport routes. A far cry from IMF and World Bank 'reforms' which require a reduction in spending on the aforementioned infrastructure.
In-fact, over the past five years India has offered lines of concessionary credit to Africa worth $2.5 billion. Currently it is mulling a $10 billion investment fund for the continent and Zimbabwe is high up on its list of target nations.
Why then should the Mugabe Administration look West and agree to voluntary lower its people’s living standards on the back of high interest loans, when it can seek out soft loans and improve people’s lives, by simply looking East?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, diamonds will become Zimbabwe's most important resource and the nation is set to produce 1 in 4 of the world’s rough diamonds. The Indian diamond manufacturing industry accounts for 14 out of every 15 rough diamond stones cut and polished in the world. Therefore, the importance of India to Zimbabwe and indeed vice-versa is crystal clear.
Currently, total bilateral trade between the two countries is a paltry US$60 million while Indian investments into Zimbabwe are worth less than US$50 million. However, the Zimbabwe Diamond Consortium has signed a US$1.2 billion annual rough diamond supply commitment with its India counterparts. The value of the deal is almost 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s annual budget. However, where Zimbabwe can benefit the most from India is learning how to cut and polish diamonds locally.
Such fundamental differences in knowledge as well as the labour, capital and resource endowments of Zimbabwe and India make them complementary business partners - meaning that the trend of increased trade is likely to be sustained. This is good news, because India’s boom is a potentially pivotal opportunity for Zimbabwe to move beyond its traditional over-reliance on commodity exports and move up from the bottom of the international production chain. Especially if growth-enhancing opportunities for trade and investment with the West continue to be stifled due to sanctions.
The shift of economic power eastward may have taken all of 500 years, but the Zimbabwe Government must waste no time in perfecting the art of benefiting from India, by focusing on strengthening Zimbabwe-India relations on all fronts.
By Garikai Chengu.
Garikai Chengu is a scholar at Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at chengu@fas.harvard.edu. The views expressed herein are solely those of Garikai Chengu.
Labels: DIAMONDS, INDIA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS
Read more...
India to resume Zimbabwe diamond imports
By: Sify-TZG
Posted: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:18 pm
INDIA says it will resume diamond imports from Zimbabwe as the country has agreed to abide by the Kimberley Process terms. A large part of Zimbabwe's rough diamonds will go to India for processing and polishing.
Two consortiums of processors and exporters are readying to negotiate and import rough diamonds from Zimbabwe, on behalf of their members. Rajiv Jain, Chairman, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said, "It is good that the issue with Zimbabwe has been resolved.
"Imports of roughs from there will provide a boost to processors in India and help provide additional work to their labour (force)."
Article continues below
A couple of consignments were earlier contracted and were held up at the Dubai free trade zone, pending a Kimberley Process certificate.
These can now be released.
Spokespersons of two consortiums, Diamond India Ltd and Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing Company, have confirmed they would be negotiating further imports from Zimbabwe.
Labels: DIAMONDS, INDIA, KIMBERLEY PROCESS
Read more...
