Madagascar Development

PAN AFRICAN MINING CORP. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:PAF - News) is pleased to announce that L'Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques ("OMNIS") has now approved the Company's formal Exploration Program and Budget for uranium projects in Madagascar. OMNIS is a government agency of the Malagasy State charged with oversight and administration of the country's strategic resources of uranium and hydrocarbons. On January 25, 2005, the Company entered into a preliminary agreement with OMNIS for the establishment of a joint venture with respect to exploration, development and exploitation of four prospective uranium properties in Madagascar. In accordance with the terms of said agreement, the Company organized a new operating subsidiary named PAM Atomique Sarl, of which 20% is to be owned by the Malagasy State through OMNIS and 80% by the Company. Approval of the Company's formal Exploration Program and Budget was specified in the agreem...

The recent history of the world’s second largest continent has been plagued by internal conflict, famine and disease. But recent economic prospects for Africa are looking more favourable than they have for a number of years. Although 2004 was a tough year for Africa, with the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, strife in Zimbabwe and conflict in Côte d’Ivoire, the continent nonetheless managed to post a 5% increase in economic activity. The rise represents an eight year high for growth across Africa. A closer look suggests this might not be just a one-off. The latest African Economic Outlook from the OECD Development Centre, which looks at prospects for 29 countries, accounting for some 90% of output, points to a number of factors to explain the region’s strong performance. Higher prices for oil and metals played a significant part, while a notable increase in official development aid as well as improved economic stability also helped. This is hardly just luck. Take infl...

In June finance ministers of the Group of 8, the world's wealthiest industrialized nations, agreed to cancel at least $40 billion in debt owed by the world's poorest nations, many of them in Africa. The move certainly sounds generous, but researchers caution it is unlikely to result in large benefits for the struggling countries. "The good news is that the G8 announcement focuses attention on the economic problems of the highly indebted poor countries, but you have to understand the tradeoffs," says Peter Henry, associate professor of economics. "Debt forgiveness isn't free." In research funded by the National Science Foundation and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Henry and economist Serkan Arslanalp of the International Monetary Fund analyze the tradeoffs and demonstrate that debt relief may not be the most efficient way to help these very poor nations. The researchers say their work shows that these poorest countries would realize ...

Reducing Poverty through Economic Growth.

ASHLEY JUDD has been left scarred for life after filming a harrowing documentary about Madagascar's young prostitutes for MTV. The actress agreed to fly out to the African nation to report on the problem after hearing how teenage hookers slept with men, who often refused to wear contraception, in make-shift streetwalk shacks. And she discovered the sex industry was as dark as she'd feared, leaving her visibly shaken during scenes in upcoming film TRACKING THE MONSTER. She says, "I thought I couldn't be shocked any more. I can be moved, I can be distressed but I can't be shocked; I've seen it all. Bullc**p. "They (hookers) have sex with their clients on the sidewalk under a piece of plastic they have pooled their resources to buy." Judd goes on to report that relief groups fear Madagascar will become the site of the next AIDS epidemic because unprotected prostitution is so rife as 70 per cent of the nation is forced to live below the poverty line.

ANKALONTANY, Madagascar, July 4 (Reuters) - When loggers came to hack up centuries-old ebony trees from their sacred forest, the people of Ankalontany village knew something was wrong. They just didn't know how to stop it. "Some strangers from outside our village came here. They started cutting ebony and they clearly had no right," said village chief Justin Zara, gesturing towards dead branches and freshly-cut tree stumps deep in the Madagascan rainforest. "We asked for their authorisation but they said they didn't have to show us papers. They said they had police clearance and we can't stop them. They just took what they wanted." Environmentalists say such scenes are common in Madagascar, a huge Indian Ocean island whose dwindling rainforests shelter some of the world's most treasured wildlife. Last month police seized 520 tonnes of illegally logged hardwood from two ports in the northeastern Sava region after receiving tip-offs from local leaders i...

US President George W. Bush will seek to present himself at the G8 summit in Scotland this week as the leader who crafted a move to boost aid to developing countries. In the last few weeks, Bush has made multiple appearances to discuss the issue, as have many of his top officials. On Sunday, Andrew Natsios, administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) defended Bush as a president who has moved aggressively to reduce the suffering of the world's poor. "The first president to dramatically increase assistance to Africa was President Bush," Natsios said, speaking on CNN television. "I've been doing this sort of work for 16 years now. We've had the same budget, until four years ago, when there's been a tripling of assistance, and then the president will double it again over the next few years. "This is billions of dollars of increased aid," he said. And like others in the administration he insisted that at least some o...

The outcome of that debate could well determine the success or failure of the gathering and of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's association with the cause. Blair, who will host the 6-8 July summit of the planet's richest countries, has insisted with that industrialised nations can no longer escape responsibility for the plight of Africa's millions. "The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world, but if the world as a community focused on it we could heal it," he declared in a landmark address as he took up the G8 presidency last year. He and his finance minister, Gordon Brown, have since then pushed an ambitious programme of trade, aid and debt cancellation for Africa that could flourish or flounder depending on what happens at this week's gathering in the Scottish resort of Gleneagles, near Edinburgh. Cause for concern The initiative risks running headlong into the Bush administration's scepticism that more official developme...

NANCY ROMAN: Hello. Good evening, welcome everyone. I think we are going to go ahead and get started, just a little bit late. I am Nancy Roman, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations and director of the Washington program here. And first and foremost, I would just like to thank HBO and [HBO Executive Vice President] Richard Plepler and I think everyone should give a round of applause for that incredible movie. [Applause] It has been an awful lot of fun teaming up with HBO twice. This is the second time we have done it and many of you in this room were here when we aired Dirty War, or screened Dirty War here at the French embassy in February. And I would just say that, you know, sometimes you don't know what happens after, but that movie really has been inspirational to a lot of the work that we are doing here in Washington, and we have had meetings with [the Department of] Homeland Security and [the Department of] Defense and, in fact, I have one tomorrow morning that g...

Pressing lightly on the button of the central-control computer, Marie Ramampy from Madagascar surprisingly found the air-conditioner behind her was turned on immediately. "That's amazing," said Ramampy. "I only learned about the home network from the news before, but who can imagine that I'd see the real example here in Haier!" As a member of the delegation of ruling parties from nine African countries, Ramampy and her friends were visiting the Qingdao-based Haier Group Monday, a leading Chinese home appliance manufacturer. The delegation toured around 11 exhibition halls in Haier Group, seeing with their own eyes various kinds of household electrical appliances, such as TVs, refrigerators, air-conditioners, computers, mobile phones and DVDs. The African guests were greatly impressed by the smart designs and advanced technology of the products, and expressed their appreciation. "It is really incredible that Haier can manufacture almost anything we can i...

Washington -- President Bush is not a rock star or a producer but he has used the power of his presidency to aid Africans beset by the seemingly intractable challenges of poverty and disease more than anyone on the planet, according to two celebrity activists who are dedicated to keeping Africa's plight in the forefront of world attention. "[Bush] has actually done more than any American president for Africa," British producer Bob Geldof, who is the leading organizer of the "Live 8" concerts that are being held worldwide on July 2 to raise awareness of Africa's development needs, told Time Magazine recently. Bono, lead singer of the Irish band U2 and longtime activist for aid to Africa, echoed Geldof’s praise for President Bush as he told an American television interviewer June 26, "[Bush] has already doubled and tripled aid to Africa .… I think he has done an incredible job, his administration, on AIDS. 250,000 Africans are on anti-viral drugs; th...

Is it possible that the lemurs in Madagascar party it up during all-night raves? Even though the current box-office hit, "Madagascar," is an animated film, Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks, the creators of "Madagascar" have definitely helped to promote the "island oasis" of the real Madagascar. In addition to the movie phenomena, a priority of a project funded by the US-AID called Business And Market Expansion (BAMEX) is ramping up to help promote and increase the market presence of Madagascar spices, essential oils and handicrafts. Madagascar is the leading exporter of vanilla in the world and is an important producer of cloves, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, as well as endemic medical plants. By promoting these products and creating market linkages and innovative partnerships between U.S. and Malagasy companies, the biodiversity of Madagascar may be protected and celebrated by others around the world. Additionally, Madagascar small farmers and businesses may...

The prospects are there, but now it is a question of turning them to account. That is what faces Jubilee Platinum, which is listed on AIM (code JLP, market capitalisation £25 million or approximately $46 million) and whose strategy is to add shareholder value by bringing new platinum operations into production by way of successful exploration or acquisition, has announced the results of its latest geophysics programme over its platinum group metals deposit in Madagascar. And it looks as if there is the potential for a world-class prospect and drilling is to commence immediately. Jubilee recently raised £1.6 million in a conditional placing with a view to stepping up its drilling on the Tjate project in South Africa to run concurrently with the exploration work in Madagascar, where the company is to undertake geochemical and geophysical exploration as well as trenching and drilling at its three prospective sites; at Londokomania, at Pachoud and at Lanjanina. It is in respect of the firs...

China and Africa share a great potential of cooperation in such fields as investment, trade, technology, sustainable growth and human resources, senior officials of ruling parties of some African countries said in Beijing Wednesday. Officials of the ruling parties of Cameroon, Djibouti, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Seychelles and Togo attended a seminar on enhancing Sino-African cooperation in Beijing. The seminar, slated for June 20-23, is organized by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The African attendants cited China as a reliable partner that African countries can count on, and said win-win for every side is the key feature of Africa-China cooperation. Marie-Louise Cecile Potter from the Seychelles People's Progressive Front said Africa is faced with both opportunities and challenges in the process of globalization. He said Africa has to take advantage of the process while avoiding disadvantages. He s...