South Africa's President Visits Washington; Stays Neutral on Russian Invasion of Ukraine

 Foreign Policy published on 21 September 2022 a commentary titled "South Africa Doubles Down on Russia Ties" by Nosmot Gbadamosi.  

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met last week in Washington with President Joe Biden.  Ramaphosa reportedly held to South Africa's neutral position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and objected to proposed US legislation that would sanction Africans doing business with Russian entities that are under US sanctions.  

Ethiopia Wants to Reduce Trade Deficit with China

 Development Reimagined posted on 26 March 2021 an interview with Teshome Toga Chanaka, Ethiopia's ambassador to China, titled "Adding Value to Agricultural Exports to China Will Be Key to Ethiopia's Post-COVID Recovery."

Ambassador Teshome discussed China-Ethiopia relations in the post-COVID-19 era.  He focused on Ethiopia's trade deficit with China--37 to 1 in favor of China--, suggesting Ethiopia needs to export more agricultural products, especially coffee, to China to narrow the trade deficit.

Huawei Skill Transfer in Kenya and Nigeria

The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies China Africa Research Initiative published in March 2020 a working paper titled "How Huawei Succeeds in Africa: Training and Knowledge Transfers in Kenya and Nigeria" by Henry Tugendhat.

The study compares Huawei's skill transfer efforts in Kenya and Nigeria. It argues that Huawei treads a fine line between training local engineers and keeping control of its intellectual property.

Ethiopia and the World Trade Organization

An official in Ethiopia's Ministry of Trade announced on 10 July 2013 that Ethiopia expects to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) by 2015.  Ethiopia first applied in 2003 and reopened negotiations in 2011.  There have been several sticking points, including Ethiopia's unwillingness to permit international banking and to open up the telecommunications sector. 

BBC radio interviewed me on 15 July 2013 concerning Ethiopia's request to join the WTO.  While I emphasized that negotiations are continuing between Ethiopia and the WTO Working Party, I thought it unlikely the Ministry of Trade would make such an announcement unless there had been significant progress in resolving the concerns about Ethiopia's request for membership.

For additional background on this subject, see Reuters' 10 July 2013 "Ethiopia Expected to Join WTO in 2015: Ministry" by Aaron Maasho and the Financial Times' 10 July 2013 "Ethiopia: We Live in WTO Hope" by Rob Minto.  For an update on this topic, see Bloomberg's 15 July 2013 article titled "Ethiopia Plans to Make WTO Offer on Services by September" by William Davison. 

For a list of the 159 current members of the WTO, click "Members and Observers."