Madagascar Development

Philippine firm International Container Terminal Services has started rolling out investment at its new terminal in Madagascar through its subsidiary, Madagascar International Container Terminal Services. Independent shipping analysts forecast that container traffic through the city, which totaled 104 000 TEUs in 2004, is expected to double by 2009. The next 24 month period will see significant investment in infrastructure, including the rehabilitation of 280 meters of quay; the strengthening of the terminal's berth C2 so as to be able to accommodate mobile harbor crane operation; on the landside, the rehabilitation of 12 hectares of container stacking area; and the construction of a gatehouse, operations control center and administration building. The total investment in civil works alone over the next 24 months is expected to exceed $13-million. Significant investments in container handling equipment have also been undertaken including three reach stackers and 17 terminal tractor...

Environment officials from around the world agreed in Beijing on Tuesday to work to increase reliance on renewable sources of energy, underscoring a commitment to renewables after oil prices hit record highs. The draft statement stopped short of setting a firm goal but it recommended the UN Commission on Sustainable Development consider the launch of a 10-year framework to "substantially increase the use of renewable energy". The Beijing Declaration was the culmination of a two-day international conference that was a follow-up to meetings in Johan-nesburg in 2002 and last year in Bonn that aim to promote cooperation on renewable energy. "The 10-year framework is much more specific than Bonn. They now have an official request of the UN Commission that feeds back into the UN system," Christine Woerlen, of the Global Environment Facility, told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting. The statement also did not set a target for investment in the renewables sector, thoug...

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Wednesday it will spend $24 billion in Africa over the next decade as it seeks to boost production from the continent by 50 percent. ADVERTISEMENT "Over the last five years we have invested $12 billion in the African continent," Kevin Biddle, the company's vice president for Africa, said at the Africa Upstream oil conference in Cape Town, South Africa. "We plan to double that over the next decade." The company will focus mainly on Nigeria and Angola, he said. Next year, Exxon Mobil plans to drill its first deep-water well off Madagascar, where it owns four exploration blocks. Irving-based Exxon Mobil is expanding projects in West Africa and Russia to make up for drops in U.S. production. The company gets about 650,000 barrels of oil a day from Africa. "Africa is becoming more and more important," Biddle said. "By the end of the decade, planned developments in several Afr...

AMERICAN oil giant ExxonMobil plans to boost its African output by 50 per cent by the end of the decade as it expands in Nigeria and Angola and steps up exploration in Madagascar. "By the end of the decade, planned developments in several countries are expected to increase our African production by about 50 per cent," Kevin Biddle, vice president for Africa, told an oil conference in Cape Town. ExxonMobil currently produces about two million oil equivalent barrels per day in Africa.

Madagascar will offer around 70 small oil exploration blocks in a bid round due to close in September next year, a top official said on Thursday. "We will start a roadshow in Houston and London in March and we will launch the bid round then, which will close in September," Elise Razaka, director general of the African island state's Office of National Mines and Strategic Industries, told Reuters. Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island located off Africa's southeast coast, is known to have oil and gas reserves but they are inadequately mapped and drilling is only at an exploratory stage. But interest is growing amongst the oil majors as international prices stay high. In July, US oil major Exxon Mobil boosted its oil and gas presence in Madagascar by taking a 70 percent interest in two licences held by small UK-listed oil explorer Sterling Energy. Speaking on the sidelines of an Africa oil and gas conference in Cape Town, Razaka said the government would off...

PAN AFRICAN MINING CORP. (Vancouver:PAF.V - News) (the "Company") is delighted to announce that it has now entered into a formal agreement with L'Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques ("OMNIS"), for the establishment of a joint venture with respect to exploration, development and exploitation of certain prospective uranium properties 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. ADVERTISEMENT Entitled Convention D'Associes Pour la Recherche et L'Exploitation de Gisements d'Uranium a Madagascar, dated November 7, 2005 (the "Agreement"), it supercedes the prior preliminary agreement between the parties dated February 3, 2005. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company has now organized a new operating subsidiary in Madagascar named PAM Atomique Sarl, which will be 20% owned by the Malagasy Stat...

The South African Development Community has a potential for tourism growth. This according to research conducted by Grant Thornton - an international audit firm - that was tasked by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to assess potential tourism growth in the SADC region. Addressing delegates from SADC countries at the Tourism Investment Promotion Conference here, spokesperson for the audit firm, Gillian Saunders said the potential growth in the SADC region was enormous. She said however the levels and types of tourism activities were varied. "The size of the industry, its relative importance, its stage of development differs from one country to another," said Ms Saunders. This, she said, has had a barring on the type of investment promotion activities appropriate for a particular country. She said the research found that South Africa and Mauritius were advanced countries regarding tourism with 2.9 and...

Farmers in Madagascar are going all out to produce an environmentally friendly fuel from a shrub they hope can be used to meet five percent of diesel needs within a couple of years, a local energy firm has announced. ADVERTISEMENT The project aims to see the Jatropha tree, which originates from Latin America and was imported into Madagascar early in the 20th century, used for five percent of diesel consumption by 2008, the D1 Oils Madagascar firm and its partners have said. About 1,500 farmers will be involved in planting to begin in three regions of Madagascar in early December across more than 1,630 hectares (4,030 acres). But much more is planned. "We intend to plant, in collaboration with farmers' associations, 5,000 hectares of Jatropha by 2007, and 15,000 in 2008," said Sally Ross, director of D1 Oils Madagascar, which is behind the scheme in the large Indian Ocean island. Since the price of a litre of Jatropha fuel is expected to be about the same as a litre o...

Madagascar’s economy is expected to grow by 5.9 per cent in 2006, up from this year’s projected 5.3 per cent but lower than the 7 per cent previously forecast, according to a leaked draft budget. Sources at the Finance Ministry would not comment on the budget, which was submitted to parliament on Thursday for approval. A leaked copy was published in Friday’s local press. Local media said the budget report attributed the lower GDP forecast to power cuts that have crippled business this year as the state energy company grapples with huge debts and rising fuel costs. Inflation should fall to 8 per cent from this year’s expected 15 per cent, according to the report. Inflation was 27 per cent in 2004, spurred by high oil prices, cyclone damage to food crops and a sharp fall in the currency. The total budget for the fiscal year January to December 2006 is 5,285.8 billion ariary ($2.49 billion), up from last year’s 3,849.8 billion ariary. Much of the money will go on infrastructure, education...

Ms. Anne O. Krueger, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement today after a meeting with the Republic of Madagascar's Minister of Finance and Budget, Benjamin Radavidson, and a visiting Malagasy delegation: "Today, I held very open and constructive discussions with Minister Radavidson and a visiting delegation from Madagascar. The discussions, part of our ongoing dialogue with the authorities, covered key macroeconomic aspects of the government's program, which aims at strengthening economic growth and accelerating poverty reduction in coming years. In addition, the focus was on fiscal developments in 2005 and on the 2006 budget. "I welcomed recent steps to address the sizable tax revenue shortfalls earlier in 2005, and preliminary data for October indicate that these steps are beginning to bear fruit. I was also reassured that the authorities are developing an action plan for addressing the severe financi...

Southern African nations are maintaining their plan to eventually set up a single currency in order to facilitate trade, Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza said on Wednesday in an interview published here. The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) would first establish the free movement of people and a common market before moving towards a single currency, he told Portuguese daily newspaper Diario de Noticias. "Later we will think of the question of a single currency. Because it is a complex process. But the final objective is to set up a single currency," said Guebuza who is on an official visit to Mozambique's former ruler Portugal. The regional grouping has called for the establishment of a SADC-wide customs union by 2010 and a common market by 2015, and eventually the adoption of a single currency and central bank by 2016. But some economists have called into question the feasibility of this timetable because of the vastly different economic ...

PORT operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said it would invest more than 30 million dollars in the next two years to upgrade facilities at its new container handling concession in Toamasina, Madagascar. ICTSI subsidiary Madagascar International Container Terminal Services Ltd. (MICTSL) is handling the Madagascar venture. In a statement, ICTSI said a comprehensive plan to develop the Toamasina facility into a world-class container terminal has been laid out, which requires significant investments in container handling equipment, IT systems, infrastructure, and human resources. "While we are rolling this out, we are already developing detailed plans for the further development of the terminal over the longer term. This will necessitate further sizeable investment in all key areas," said Jan Mors, ICTSI senior vice-president. Citing the forecast of independent shipping analysts, MICTSL chief operating officer Christian Gonzalez said that container tr...

Ghana would soon ratify the United Nations and African Union (AU) Conventions on Preventing and Combating Corruption and related offences following Parliament's receipt of Government's documents on the issue. So far only 10 nations, including Nigeria, Burundi, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar and Mali have ratified the African Convention but 15 nations are required to make it operational and enforceable. On the other hand, only five African countries - Libya, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda - have ratified the UN document. Speaking at the opening of a day's roundtable on the AU Convention, Mr Ebenezer Sekyi-Hughes, Speaker of Parliament, underscored the importance of the two conventions coupled with their impact on reducing poverty in Africa and called on African governments to show their commitment by ratifying them. He called on the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) in collaboration with the local chapters of Transparency International to imp...

The world's largest diversified miner BHP Billiton and Jubilee have agreed to carry out a large-scale helicopter Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetics (VTEM) geophysical survey over each other's adjacently held properties in Madagascar. The survey, to be funded by BHP Billiton, will see the data from both properties shared with Jubilee on an exclusive basis. Based on the results the parties may agree to enter into a joint agreement for further development of any or all of their propertie. BHP Billiton's Marolambo and Jubilee's Ambodilafa concessions together form a large property, which is part of an extensive ultrabasic system. The properties are located some 160 kilometres southeast of the Madagascan capital Antananarivo. The VTEM method is state-of-the-art and is acknowledged as an excellent prospecting tool for identifying anomalies related to massive sulphides. Jubilee CEO Colin Bird said: “We are delighted that BHP Billiton has undertaken to fund the airborne geo...

The Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques in Madagascar (OMNIS) announced today the opening of a new License Round over the Morondava Basin, offshore west Madagascar. In anticipation of the License Round, a new seismic survey of 10,300 kilometers is being acquired by TGS-NOPEC. Seminars will be held in London and Houston during Q1 of 2006 to present the bid round and the acquired geophysical data to the industry. OMNIS has scheduled the closing date for applications to be September 25, 2006 and it is anticipated that licenses will be granted soon thereafter. Companies will be required to purchase 25% of available seismic data in order to participate in the License Round. Contacts OMNIS, Antananarivo Elise Razaka, +261 (20) 22 244 39 Fax: +261 (20) 22 229 85

Amnesty International welcomes the entry into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Protocol) as an important step in the efforts to ensure the promotion and respect of the human rights of women in Africa. On 26 October 2005, Togo became the fifteenth state to ratify the Protocol. As a consequence, the Protocol will enter into force on 25 November 2005, 30 days after the deposit of the fifteenth instrument of ratification. The Protocol fills a major gap in the regional human rights system by providing a comprehensive framework for the promotion and protection of women’s human rights. The Protocol recognizes and guarantees a wide range of women’s civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights. These rights include the right to life, integrity and security of person; protection from harmful traditional practices; prohibition of discrimination; and the protection of women in armed conflic...

Amid the turmoil swirling around the administration of President George W. Bush, there is one positive Bush legacy Democrats ought to recognize: the increase in bipartisan support for U.S. aid to fight AIDS and global poverty. For most of the 1990s, the Republican leadership was either cool to foreign assistance or bent on cutting it. After seizing control of Congress in 1994, the Republican majority won a 10 percent reduction in foreign aid. During this period, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms referred to aid as ``money down a rat hole,'' while as late as 2000, former House Majority leader Tom DeLay accused Democrats who voted for aid of ``putting Ghana over Grandma?'' The year 2000 was a turning point. The Reverend Pat Robertson and Republican members of Congress such as Spencer Bachus and John Kasich -- buoyed by the multi-denominational ``Jubilee 2000'' grassroots movement dedicated to canceling the debt of developing nations -- joined with P...

The SADC Secretariat will take all the necessary steps to help Madagascar integrate into the organisations programmes and activities. Addressing a media conference at the end of his visit to Madagascar, the new SADC executive secretary, Tomaz Salomao said Madagascar should exploit the existing benefits under the SADC programme of action. The technical team led by the executive secretary was in the country from October 12-14 to assist Madagascar with critical information regarding accession to protocols, the role and functions of the SADC national committee and internalisation of Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. Salomao acknowledged that there is need to strengthen capacity at member states level in order to effectively implement regional programmes and activities. Opportunities for Madagascar in SADC include an attractive regional market of 216 million people and a regional GDP of approximately US$230 billion, creating opportunities for investment, economic growth and de...

World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations are aimed at creating market access opportunities and reform in agriculture and expanding opportunities for manufactured goods and services, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). There are four major areas of focus within the negotiations, formally called the Doha Development Agenda, that can deliver market access opportunities, according to a USTR policy brief released October 18: agriculture, nonagricultural goods, services and trade facilitation (issues such as customs reforms). WTO negotiators are preparing for a crucial December WTO ministers' meeting in Hong Kong that aims to make possible a successful conclusion of the Doha round a year later. (See related article.) The World Bank, according to the policy brief, has reported that per capita real income grew almost three times faster for developing countries that lowered trade barriers (5.0 percent per year) than for developing countries that did ...

Press freedom shrank more in Madagascar last year than in many other countries, according to an international media survey. The country is ranked 109th by the Western watchdog Reporters Without Borders among 167 countries in giving the freedom to journalists and media houses. Last year, it was rated 82nd. The Paris-based body gives no explanation for the drop in Madagascar's standing, saying only that "unjust laws and repressive governments held back some countries where there is genuine news diversity." It places Madagascar in a group that includes Kenya, Guinea, Chad, Mauritania and Ethiopia. A few African countries are among the top performers. Benin, in 25th place, is top-ranked in black Africa, followed by South Africa (32nd), Mauritius (35th), Mali (37th) and Mozambique (49th). Tanzania ranks 75th and Uganda 80th. The 10 countries said to have the greatest press freedom improvement are all European, led by Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Reporters Without Frontiers s...