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In the spirit of spearheading trade across emerging economies, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi is in Uganda, the first visit by an Indian prime minister in over 20 years to promote bi-lateral relations between the countries. He addressed Uganda&#8217;s parliament and spoke on the Indo-Africa trade.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses Ugandan Parliament

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As the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa gather in Johannesburg for their annual meeting, the issue of trade protectionism is set to dominate talks amid Trump&#8217;s proposed tariffs on the European Union and Beijing. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Lubabalo Mashiqana spoke to Onkar Kanwar, Head of Brics Business Council, India.

Brics Business Council’s Onkar Kanwar optimistic about summit

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President Paul Kagame and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the signing of seven bilateral pacts to further boost existing cooperation. Joining CNBC Africa to discuss this is Sameer Hussein, CEO of Sameer Hussein TVS Rwanda.

Rwanda, India sign 7 bilateral pacts

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has concluded his two-day state visit to Rwanda, a visit that saw 15 agreements between the two countries signed. Indian PM Narendra is also in the country as the both nations seek to strengthen bilateral ties.

Rwanda signs 22 bilateral pacts with India and China

This week a handful of the most powerful people on the planet will tread the pavement in Africa’s richest square mile to plot the way forward for the emerging economies of the southern hemisphere.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi, Brazil’s Michel Temer and China’s Xi Jinping lead a group of presidents to the BRICS conference at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on July 25,26 and 27. These are the strident leaders of the emerging economies armed with aggressive, long term, foreign economic policy, rich in resources and determined to see a shift of world power south from the northern hemisphere.
South Africa, which joined the south-to-south political and economic cooperation group in 2011, is chairing the group this year and has high hopes for it.
South Africa is very much the junior partner in the BRICS group that did R462 billion ($34 billion) in trade among themselves, in 2017, and garnered more than R554 trillion in foreign direct investments. In 2015, India gathered 38.9% of world foreign direct investment, Russia 26.1% while South Africa managed a mere 0.8%.
Yet South Africa will be hoping to use the gravitas of the organisation to help funnel investment in from Russia to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in search of fulfilling President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pledge of $100 billion in foreign investment.
South Africa plans to lead the way in talks over manufacturing, minerals process, science and technology. Tourism is also likely to be a topic for South African government officials with the country hosting around 200,000 tourists a year from BRICS countries, as will the fourth industrial revolution and peacekeeping.
“I think we may see a few infrastructure deals and trade agreements, especially with Russia, as South Africa tries to achieve Cyril Ramaphosa’s $100 billion foreign investment pledge,” says George Glynos, of ETM analysts.
“There will be a good deal of sharing of ideas and technology transfer, but I don’t think we will see too much concrete emerging from this conference,” says Azar Jammine, of Econometrix.
On the political front the big expected meeting will be between Putin and Xi Jinping to discuss the fall out of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
President Modi plans to make a dash across the African continent to arrive in time for proceedings on Wednesday. At 9 am CAT the Indian premier will address the Parliament of Uganda, in Kampala, an address that will be carried live across the continent by CNBC Africa.

BRICS in Africa, what you need to know

The <a href="http://www.brics2018.org.za/">10th BRICS summit</a> to be hosted by South Africa is going to be closely watched. It comes at a time when extraordinary global political and economic challenges are facing the world.
The BRICS bloc is made up of 5 of the leading countries in the global South — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The challenges facing the world range from country specific problems relating to domestic poverty, inequality and unemployment to climate change and a global economic system that is biased in favour of corporate interests, particularly in finance and technology.
One of the most immediate political challenges relate to the changing dynamics in global economic governance. The current global powerhouse, the US, appears intent on starting trade wars with both China and the European Union. Africa can’t avoid being adversely affected by a trade war between these three economic powers, which are its three largest trading partners.
The US is also pulling back from multilateral governance arrangements that it created. For example, it withdrew from the upcoming United Nations (UN) <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/03/donald-trump-pulls-us-out-of-un-global-compact-on-migration">conference on migration</a> and from the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/withdraws-human-rights-council-180619173311272.html">UN Human Rights Council</a>. And Washington is effectively paralysing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by refusing to agree to the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/trade-wars-us-blocking-appointment-of-members-of-wtos-appellate-body/articleshow/63177200.cms">appointment</a> of new judges at the WTO Appellate Body.
These developments are creating a volatile and unpredictable situation for all countries. Small players on the global stage, like South Africa and other countries on the continent, face the prospect of becoming collateral damage in the destruction of the current global governance arrangements.
Given all these complex challenges, how should we judge the success of the BRICS Summit?
We can use three tests: is BRICS being strengthened? What benefits will accrue to Africa? And how is the bloc planning to influence global economic governance reform?
<h2>BRICS strengthening</h2>
One goal of the upcoming summit should be to strengthen the relationship between the BRICS partners.
A concrete way of measuring this will be to look at the number and quality of agreements to emerge out of the summit. A successful summit will result in a range of substantial agreements being reached. The world will be able to scrutinise the outcome in the communique released at the end of the meeting.
It is important to note that the summit is the apex event in a year-long process. During the year various groups of BRICS government officials, civil society groups and technical experts meet to discuss issues of common interest. They have included technical groups such as the BRICS water forum and a committee looking at customs cooperation. Others have involved political matters, such as meetings of foreign affairs ministers and government officials who help guide their leaders to the summit (known as Sherpas).
The participants in these meetings try to reach agreements on issues of mutual interest – such as establishing a BRICS vaccine research centre – or finding ways to collaborate in sectors like tourism. Their job is also to try and resolve differences.
These efforts feed into the work of the summit as the Sherpas prepare the statement of what has been agreed. Details of the agreements that have been struck will be released in a statement at the end of the summit.
<h2>BRICS in Africa</h2>
Given that the theme for this year’s summit is: “BRICS in Africa: Collaboration for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity in the 4th Industrial Revolution”, it’s reasonable to expect the BRICS summit to produce benefits for Africa.
One area that would be beneficial for the continent would be a signal from the leaders that the BRICS members are willing to commit to funding infrastructure projects on the continent. This is important because Africa is in the process of putting in place an ambitious new <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/continents-free-trade-deal-a-game-changer-for-africa-15795779">Continental Free Trade Agreement</a>. Successful implementation will require constructing infrastructure that can link the continent both internally and with other parts of the world.
BRICS could position itself for a critical role in the funding of these infrastructure projects.
Two obvious vehicles for such funds are the BRICS’s New Development Bank and the funds that China has created to support its <a href="https://qz.com/983460/obor-an-extremely-simple-guide-to-understanding-chinas-one-belt-one-road-forum-for-its-new-silk-road/">One Belt One Road Initiative</a>.
Thus a test for summit success will be whether it generates new financing for sustainable infrastructure in Africa, and the nature of the financing.
<h2>Global governance reform</h2>
One goal shared by all the BRICS states is reforming global economic governance structures like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The bloc hasn’t been particularly successful in this mission. But this year may be an opportune time to promote reform.
Actions by the US have undermined its leadership position in the world and may have made other countries more open to governance reforms in key international economic organisations. This is particularly relevant for the IMF which is reviewing its quota allocations. A shift would lead to the world body being more responsive to the concerns of its poorer member countries.
There is a longstanding call for the inclusion of a third African chair on the IMF board. It is unconscionable that the 46 sub-Saharan African countries have the lowest level of representation of any region on the IMF board. South Africa should push BRICS to stand behind this call.
The BRICS should also support making the IMF more <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-job-for-south-african-gives-african-countries-sway-at-the-imf-90700">accountable</a> to countries affected by its operations. This could be done by demanding that the IMF create an independent accountability mechanism. It is currently the only multilateral financial institution without one.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99526/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />A key benefit of the BRICS is its potential to lead efforts to meaningfully reform the global economic system. It therefore behoves the citizens of BRICS countries to hold their governments accountable for fulfilling this potential.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/danny-bradlow-168878">Danny Bradlow</a>, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-pretoria-1645">University of Pretoria</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-judge-the-success-of-the-brics-summit-three-questions-will-do-the-trick-99526">original article</a>

The questions to ask when measuring the success of the BRICS summit

Karen Gilchrist
Source: <a href="http://https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/17/billionaire-population-grows-faster-in-asia-than-us-europe-wealth-x.html">Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America</a>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/105213585-GettyImages-514475757_1.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="elwynn1130 | Getty"/>

Central Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America, according to the latest study from ultra high net worth research firm Wealth-X.
The region&#8217;s billionaire population shot up by almost a third last year (29.2 percent) to 784 individuals, <a href="https://www.wealthx.com/report/the-wealth-x-billionaire-census-2018/?utm_campaign=billionaire-census-2018&amp;utm_source=press&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_term=bc-2018-press&amp;utm_source=press&amp;utm_medium=referral"> Wealth-X&#8217;s Billionaire Census 2018</a> found. North America, meanwhile, experienced more modest gains of 11.2 percent, taking the number of billionaires who reside there to 727.
The uptick marks the first time Asia&#8217;s billionaire population has exceeded that of North America.
To be sure, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105209356?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
 the U.S. remains the country with the greatest number of billionaires 
</a> – 680 individuals – but the increase in Asia marks a broader shift in regional wealth trends.
Asia is now home to 28.5 percent of the world&#8217;s 2,754 billionaires, slipping in just behind Europe , which is top with 29.8 percent.
North America now ranks as the world&#8217;s third most populous continent for billionaires — moving down from second place — staking claim to 26.4 percent.
The Middle East is home to the fourth largest proportion, with 6.9 percent, while Latin America and Caribbean house 5.7 percent. The number of billionaires in Africa and the Pacific both fall under 2 percent.
<h4>China leads the way</h4>
In the past year, the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/105164386?__source=cnbcafrica|inline|story|&amp;par=cnbcafrica &amp;doc="> 
total amount of wealth in Asia 
</a> also shot up by a greater degree than any other region in the world.
Wealth in the region grew by 49.4 percent in 2017 to $2.3 trillion, well ahead of the gains of North America&#8217;s 22.8 percent and Europe&#8217;s 14.9 percent.
The sudden surge was led largely by China, which alone saw its billionaire wealth swell by 61 percent to $1.1 trillion.
However, India and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, also saw noticeable gains over the period.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Asia is now home to more billionaires than North America

Expats in Mumbai are the world’s highest-paid, earning over twice the global average

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Yofi Grant, CEO Ghana Investment Promotion Center joins CNBC Africa from Accra to discuss the country&#8217;s investment space in 2018.

Investors have confidence in Ghana’s economy – GIPC CEO

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The Consul General of India, Dr KJ Srinivasa weighed in on Shubhankar&#8217;s achievement and spoke to CNBC Africa about what his win meant for India&#8217;s golf culture.

What Shubhankar Sharma’s win at Joburg Open means for Indian golf

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The City of Joburg&#8217;s &#8216;Corridors of Freedom&#8217; and Jozi@Work development programme have been recognised by the Indian government as best practices initiatives for improving service delivery within cities.

India looks to city of Joburg’s programmes to improve own service delivery

Danny Bradlow | University of Pretoria
The formation of the BRICS – the bloc made of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was supposed to be the harbinger for a new approach to global economic governance. The leading emerging markets and developing countries were becoming major players in the global economy. And they expected to play a commensurate governance role.
BRICS leaders have now been meeting annually for nine years. They recently met for the ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China. They have positioned themselves as a force for transforming global economic governance so that it’s more responsive to the concerns of developing economies. They are seeking a more just and equitable global economy.
The question is: how effective have they been in reforming global economic governance and the fairness of the global economy?
The honest answer is that as a group, BRICS hasn’t been an effective force at all. This is for a number of reasons.
<h2>What’s not happened</h2>
The following examples illustrate the point.
At least formally the G20, which consists of 20 major economies including the five in BRICs, has supplanted the G7, made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, as the premier forum for global economic governance. But the agenda in these meetings is still largely set by the most powerful countries which now include China but not the other BRICS.
The IMF and World Bank have both changed their voting arrangements to give a louder voice to developing economies and emerging economies. This has particularly benefited China, India and Brazil. But BRICS hasn’t supported South Africa’s call for a third African seat on the board of the IMF. This has left Africa as the most underrepresented region on the board.
BRICS countries, together with other G20 developing countries, have become more active participants in organisations responsible for developing international financial regulatory standards. This means that they now can participate in the writing of standards that guide the international financial system. But the system continues to be more responsive to the interests of the rich and powerful than those of the developing world.
New international financial institutions have been created, including the BRICS’ New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which provides financial support for BRICS countries experiencing balance of payments problems. Unfortunately, the New Development Bank operates in a less transparent and less accountable way than other multilateral development banks. For example, it’s harder for outsiders to access information on the operational policies and practices of the bank than those of the World Bank or the African Development Bank. Unlike those other banks, there isn’t yet a mechanism to hold the New Development Bank accountable if it causes harm.
The New Development Bank also risks repeating the tragic mistakes of these other institutions, which for many years concentrated only on economic issues in their operational decision making. Following a number of scandals they began to pay more attention to the social, human rights and environmental impact of their operations.
Members of the New Development Bank seem to share this concern. The BRICS leaders have reiterated their commitment to achieving
<blockquote>sustainable development in its three dimensions &#8211; economic, social and environmental- in a balanced and integrated manner.</blockquote>
But it’s hard to see how they expect the bank to meet this commitment if it continues to place more emphasis on speed in project implementation than on identifying and managing the adverse environmental, human rights and social effects of its projects. To fulfil their commitment to promote a more just and equitable global economy the BRICS will need to up their game.
<h2>How to fix the problem</h2>
Achieving a just and equitable international economic order requires governments to take seriously their commitment to protect and promote human rights as set out in the UN Charter and other human rights treaties.
The starting point is a commitment to respect and promote the rights of each individual affected by each project, programme or policy that governments undertake or support. This requires developing a good system to forecast the impact of a project on the environment, society as well as human rights. And to have a plan to manage them.
Another element is accountability. Any person adversely affected by a project should have access to a mechanism that can provide them with an effective remedy.
Finally, the relevant decision makers must be able to show how their proposed activity is using the maximum available human and financial resources to fulfil the human rights of all the people affected by their decisions. This suggests that the relevant decision makers bear the burden of explaining why the proposed allocations are the most feasible. This includes governments, international organisations as well as private parties.
There are reasons to think the BRICS leaders could be persuaded to adopt a human rights based approach to making global economic governance more democratic and responsive to the needs of developing countries and for a more just, equitable and sustainable global economy. They, and their colleagues in other developing countries, are governing societies with continuing, and some cases worsening poverty, inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation levels. And they don’t seem to have an effective strategy for meeting this challenge.
&nbsp;
This article was first published in The Conversation.

BRICS needs a new approach if it’s going to foster a more equitable global order

Patrick Bond |University of the Witwatersrand
At the BRICS summit in Russia two years ago, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping invoked physics when asking fellow leaders “to boost the centripetal (unifying) force of BRICS nations through cooperation in innovation and production capacity to boost competitiveness.”
That was the theory, but the economic reality of the once-feted Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa alliance is contradictory.
Instead of centripetal strengthening, the world is witnessing much more powerful centrifugal dividing forces, including overproduction, over-indebtedness and deglobalisation of capital. These elements have been spinning out of control even before the chaotic era of US President Donald Trump began.
Over production is mostly found in the coal, steel, non-ferrous metals, cement and chemicals industries. It’s largely driven from China where over-capacity is more than 30%, according to a new International Monetary Fund report that also raised worries about the country’s vast debt.
Over borrowing by companies, states and households represents a global crisis in the making. The Institute of International Finance has just reported that world debt is now USD$217 trillion (327% of world GDP), up from USD$149 billion (276%) in 2007.
Deglobalisation is simply the reversal &#8211; mostly since 2008 &#8211; of prior rapid growth in cross-border trade, investment and finance. Should that be viewed as a bad thing? Rather than fear globalisation’s unravelling, leading scholar-activists including Samir Amin in Africa, the late Ruy Mauro Marini in Latin America, Walden Bello in Asia and the 20th century’s most important economist, John Maynard Keynes, have all advocated national economic sovereignty. If pursued cleverly, deglobalisation could be the basis for restoring links between once vibrant sectors subsequently destroyed by imports.
Could BRICS leaders evolve in this direction? Their summit next week will be distracted by geopolitical tensions. Although a welcome deal on Monday prevents the feared Sino-Indian border war, a much more durable geo-economic battle is unfolding in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which in May left Prime Minister Narendra Modi boycotting China’s Belt and Road mega-conference three months ago.
Beijing’s BRICS logo designers, perhaps being unconsciously subversive, have illustrated how the once overlapping, interlocking BRICS are now being wedged apart as paper thin subjects of centrifugal forces. For Africa, fewer illusions in these economies would be welcome, given how exploitative the BRICS and their firms have become against societies, democratic movements and environments.
<h2>A counter-summit challenges the BRICS</h2>
This argument is made by the Hong Kong People’s Forum, initiated by the city’s progressive labour, intellectual and faith leaders to question the BRICS. Their meeting this weekend follows in the counter summit traditions of the 2013 brics-from-below in Durban, the 2014 Dialogue on Development in Fortaleza, and the 2016 Goa People’s Forum on BRICS.
According to the Hong Kong People’s Forum:
<blockquote>Instead of offering an alternative, the BRICS actually offer a continuation of neo-liberalism. On top of BRICS there is also China’s new mega project, the Belt and Road initiative whose main purpose is to export China’s surplus capital.</blockquote>
These surpluses are vast, as witnessed in China’s foreign reserves which recently topped USD$4 trillion, though then fell 20% due to bouts of capital flight and two stock market crashes in 2015-16.
<h2>Deglobalisation</h2>
Global trade, finance and investment were meant to be the motors for the advancement of BRICS. But according to the World Bank, global trade peaked at 61% of world gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 but retreated to 58% in 2015.
During the 1990s each BRICS country raised its trade to GDP ratio by at least 10 points. But trade has receded in importance in each of the BRICS. Russia peaked first at a 69% trade/GDP ratio in 1999, and then fell steadily to 45% today. Brazil rose to 30% in 2004 and fell to 25%. China soared to 66% in 2006 and has since plummeted to 36%. South Africa’s 2008 ratio was 73% but is now back to 60% and India peaked last, in 2012 with 56%, and is now at 40%.
On top of this, the ratio of world financial assets that are held overseas compared to GDP fell from 58% in 2008 to 38% in 2016, even as overall financial assets increased in line with soaring debt.
Finally, another deglobalisation symptom is the halving of relative global foreign direct investment: from 3.7% of world GDP in 2008 to 1.7% in 2016.
Leading financiers now talk of an imminent world recession, given over priced stock markets and corporate debt. This is not just due to wild New York share speculation, as also occurred before the crashes of 1987, 2000 and 2008. Three BRICS stock markets are also bubbling: South Africa’s stock market is 90% higher than in 2010, India’s market is up 70% and Russia has risen by 50%.
<h2>Centrifugal realities crowd out centripetal fantasies</h2>
These dangerous centrifugal forces cannot be easily regulated or reversed. The only recent relief came from the Chinese state’s massive urban construction investments (albeit leaving scores of near-empty cities) and the Indian service sector boom. But since 2015 the other three BRICS have suffered recessions as the crash in commodity prices hit home.
As the Hong Kong People’s Forum statement explained:
<blockquote>China has now evolved into a global engine promoting a neo-liberal agenda from free trade agreements to corporate led integration across borders.</blockquote>
The BRICS had promised to challenge an unfair global economic system. But in December 2015 their main multilateral reform strategies failed:
<ul>
<li>the Paris Climate Accord was non-binding, unambitious and outlaws climate-debt lawsuits by victims of Western and BRICS emissions;</li>
<li>the World Trade Organisation phased out any semblance of food sovereignty; and</li>
<li>IMF voting shares were shifted to favour BRICS at the expense of poorer countries.</li>
</ul>
Adds the Hong Kong People’s Forum: “The 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos was one site where Xi clearly took the lead in promoting world corporate power, as Trump leads the US-UK retreat into crony-capitalist protectionism.”
South African President Jacob Zuma pronounced last month at his party’s policy congress, “The ANC is part of the global anti-imperialist movement. We are historically connected with the countries of the South and therefore South-South cooperation such as BRICS is primary for our movement.”
If centrifugal economic forces now pressuring the bloc overwhelm Xi’s desired centripetal capitalism, then we can expect yet more talk-left walk-right politics, as the BRICS sub-imperialists desperately try to pretend they’re anti-imperialists.
&nbsp;
This article was first published in The Conversation.

BRICS is being battered by global crises: why this might not be a bad thing

There is no shortage of quality wind projects coming to market in Africa right now, and the will, capital and technology are in place to create a wave of wind project development across the continent.
However, amidst all the talk of renewable energy in Africa, not one utility scale wind project reached financial close in 2016. This may come as a surprise to many in the industry given how prominently renewables have factored into recent national government plans, as well as in the plans and projections of transnational organisations on the continent.
To provide some context, IRENA’s ‘Renewable Scenario for Africa’ predicts that the share of renewables in Africa will increase from 17% in 2009 to 50% in 2030, and nearly 75% by 2050. Total installed renewable capacity would grow from 28 GW in 2010 to around 800 GW by 2050, with solar photovoltaic accounting for 245 GW, and wind at 242 GW.
So what is the hold up?
The main obstacles to renewable energy projects being built in a timely manner in Africa today, have been governance and politics, and in particular an excess in bureaucracy and a lack of technical capacity in key government departments.
However, there are bright spots. Kenya’s flagship Lake Turkana wind farm – the largest in Africa is set to be fully operational later this year with investment from global tech giant Google and others. There is also strong momentum in countries like Egypt and Morocco who are second and third behind South Africa in terms of installed wind capacity.
What is driving change?
There is growing consensus among the investor community and society at large that the ‘tipping point’ from fossil fuels to renewable energy has been reached. For Africa in particular, the stakes are high. The ‘renewable energy revolution’, provides Africa with a one off opportunity to leapfrog fossil fuels and the 20th century model of energy development and move towards a clean, efficient system based on 21st century technology the same way Africans skipped ahead to mobile phones over fixed telephony &#8211; and embark on a different industrial development path.
The political will is there. It seems one government after another have been setting ambitious clean energy targets in an initiative to transform their energy mix in favour of a more sustainable future. East Africa is a good example beginning with Uganda’s 61% renewable goal by 2017, followed by Kenya’s 42% by 2033 and Tanzania’s 70% by 2026. Not to be outdone, Ethiopia was among the most daring signatories to the Paris Agreement on climate change, committing to cut carbon emissions by 64% by 2030.
The most powerful factor influencing policymakers is that renewables and wind in particular make solid financial sense. The costs of developing solar in Africa fell 50% from 2010 to 2014 and continue to fall, but the cost of wind on the continent is on a very interesting trajectory as the recent tender in Egypt resulted in bids as low as USD 0.041/kWh, a new record for Africa. We have seen the cost of offshore and onshore wind drop dramatically where scale has been reached in places like Europe, China and the USA, demonstrating a way for Africa to follow suit.
Solar paves the way for Wind?
The barriers to entry for utility scale wind projects, are higher than with solar, but the potential of wind is not to be underestimated, especially where it can complement solar power. Recent studies, namely in India and Brazil, revealed how wind and solar projects can complement each other by minimising the variability of the power output and easing pressure on the grid.
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has released a draft national Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy targeting 10GW by 2022. In a similar move, Brazil&#8217;s Senate Committee for Environment has approved a bill that allows hybrid renewable energy projects to take part in the country&#8217;s energy auctions.
Using similar logic, certain African countries that initially welcomed solar projects on their home soil are now turning to wind power, as the technology gains ground and its symbiotic relationship with solar becomes clearer.
Two telling yet very different examples come to mind, Egypt and Zambia.
Egypt’s target of 7.2 GW of wind power by 2022 will lead to considerable investments in the near future. The North African country’s estimated investment potential for wind power is $11 billion by 2020, compared to just $5 billion for solar projects.
Zambia, on the other hand, made headlines as the home of Africa’s cheapest solar just over a year ago. Now, the Southern African country known more for its formidable solar and hydropower, is turning to wind with the help of the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) grant funding for a 130MW wind farm that Access Power will develop with EREN Renewable Energy.
Only the beginning…
 Things are going in the right direction, so there is reason to believe in the potential of Africa’s wind industry as certain countries, whether likely or unlikely, are showing the way. The next couple of years should see a lot exciting wind projects come to fruition, and it seems inevitable that the current constellation of goodwill, capital and innovation will allow Africa to take the opportunity to chart its own industrial path, towards a clean energy future.
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<li>This article was written by <a href="http://www.access-power.com/">Access Power</a>&#8216;s Executive Chairman <a href="http://www.access-power.com/our-people">Reda El-Chaar</a> </li>
</ul>

Op-Ed: Africa is on the cusp of a wind energy revolution, it’s time to grasp it

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70 years ago on the stroke of midnight on August 14 1947, a partition came into effect, dividing British India into two new, independent countries: India and Pakistan. Yesterday Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day and today India. New Indian High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho Her Excellency Ruchira Kamboj and Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, Consul General of India joins CNBC Africa to discuss the India- South Africa relations.

India celebrates Independence Day

BEIJING (Reuters) &#8211; Foreign ministers from BRICS nations called for the use of &#8220;preventative diplomacy&#8221; to tackle the situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to a communique on Monday.
The ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in Beijing for a two-day conference that ended on Monday. BRICS leaders will meet in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen in September.
&#8220;The foreign ministers support the use of political and diplomatic means to resolve disputes in Libya and on the Korean Peninsula, and the promotion of preventative diplomacy built on common consensus,&#8221; the communique said, according to a version posted on the Chinese foreign ministry website.
The document also condemned unilateral military interventions and economic sanctions that violate international law or internationally accepted norms.
Addressing the ministers after the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that BRICS cooperation was entering a &#8220;golden decade&#8221;.
&#8220;At present the international situation has complexities and also factors of instability and it is right for the BRICS to speak their voice,&#8221; he said.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have escalated over North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile tests and its vow to develop a nuclear-tipped weapon capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. The United States has called for greater action from China to pressure Pyongyang into abandoning its weapons programmes.
China has said repeatedly that it adheres to United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea but does not support unilateral sanctions, instead calling for restraint and diplomacy.
China&#8217;s top diplomat Yang Jiechi is due to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington on Wednesday in talks that the United States says will focus on curbing North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile programmes.
Last week, Tillerson said Washington was considering imposing &#8220;secondary sanctions&#8221; on foreign firms doing business with North Korea and had been in discussions with Beijing about the activities of entities inside China.
Libya fell into turmoil following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and now an array of armed groups and competing governments are vying for control.
(Reporting by Christian Shepherd: Editing by Neil Fullick)

BRICS foreign ministers call for diplomacy to tackle Korean tensions

Rajendra Jadhav |MUMBAI
The price of tea is likely to climb further this year after dry weather slashed production of the commodity in key suppliers India and Kenya, while recent deadly flooding could disrupt shipments from Sri Lanka, another key exporter.
Output in top tea shipper Kenya dropped by over a third from a year ago in the first quarter after drought ravaged parts of the country, while production was down over 16 percent during that period in India, the world&#8217;s biggest black tea producer.
Flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka over the weekend that have killed over 150 people were expected to interfere with tea transportation in the major exporter, although an industry official in the country said the impact on production would be limited.
Stronger prices will help support tea companies such as India&#8217;s McLeod Russel and Goodricke Group Ltd, as well as African producers like Kapchorua Tea Company Ltd and Williamson Tea Kenya Ltd.
&#8220;We are expecting prices to remain firm this year. Already globally prices are up 15 to 20 percent compared to the last year,&#8221; Kamal Baheti, chief financial officer at McLeod Russel, the world&#8217;s biggest tea producing company, told Reuters.
The maximum price of the highest grade of Kenyan tea rose to $3.92 per kg at auction last week, up 22.5 percent from a year ago.
&#8220;We will see a downturn in the amount (of tea) that will come to auction (in Sri Lanka),&#8221; said Rohan Pethiyagoda, chairman of Sri Lanka&#8217;s state-run Tea Board. He added that transportation would be hit as roads were blocked by the flooding and landslides, which he said had killed nine plantation workers.
&#8220;Crops are already down all over the world. It will keep prices firm throughout the year,&#8221; said A N Singh, managing director of Goodricke Group, a producer based in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.
India&#8217;s production in 2017 is likely to be 15 to 20 million kg lower than last year&#8217;s output of 1.24 billion kg despite rising consumption, said Singh.
BETTER WEATHER?
In Kenya, improved weather could lead to higher production in the second half, Alfred Busolo, director general of the state-run agriculture and food authority, said earlier this month.
&#8220;Kenya is not losing crop anymore, but they have lost already in the past few months. They can&#8217;t recover that in the rest of the year,&#8221; said McLeod Russel&#8217;s Baheti.
A dealer based in Mombassa added that prices would be sustained at current levels and could rise further depending on &#8220;Kenya&#8217;s production in the next few months&#8221;. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.
A Kolkata-based dealer with a global trading firm added that global production needed to recover in the next few months or &#8220;prices could rise above $4.50&#8221;.
India is likely to get normal monsoon rains in 2017.
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal in COLOMBO; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses Ugandan Parliament

Brics Business Council’s Onkar Kanwar optimistic about summit

Rwanda, India sign 7 bilateral pacts

Rwanda signs 22 bilateral pacts with India and China

BRICS in Africa, what you need to know

The questions to ask when measuring the success of the BRICS summit

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India looks to city of Joburg’s programmes to improve own service delivery

BRICS needs a new approach if it’s going to foster a more equitable global order

BRICS is being battered by global crises: why this might not be a bad thing

Op-Ed: Africa is on the cusp of a wind energy revolution, it’s time to grasp it

India celebrates Independence Day

BRICS foreign ministers call for diplomacy to tackle Korean tensions

Drop in India, Kenya tea output brews price rises

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