Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Kenya, Algeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe and a number of other African nations joined a new Chinese-backed international mediation body that experts say could offer a faster and cheaper way to resolve disputes between states and businesses, privately-owned newspaper The Standard reported on May 30th. The International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed), which includes 32 founding member states, was formally established on May 30th at a ceremony in Hong Kong, where it will be headquartered. Backers see IOMed as a potential remedy to the bureaucratic delays often associated with traditional judicial bodies like the International Court of Justice and the World Trade Organisation, The Standard said. (The Standard 30/5) Separately, Chinese company, Xinxing signed on May 14th $47m worth of four new export contracts from its newly operational plant in Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), marking a key milestone in the country's industrial localisation drive. The agreements cover ductile iron pipe shipments to infrastructure projects in Kuwait, Iraq, Tunisia, and Jordan. They follow a separate $39m contract signed a day earlier for a project in Saudi Arabia, bringing Xinxing's total confirmed exports from the site to $86m. Egypt is positioning the SCZone as a key hub for regional trade and production, with the Xinxing factory seen as a flagship investment in the zone's growing industrial base. Sisi's time in power has witnessed a leap in Sino-Egyptian relations, with China being Egypt's biggest trade partner for 12 consecutive years. (Egypt State Information Service 14/5; BBC Monitoring 22/5) Additionally, a delegation of Chinese investors has said it would invest over CFA francs 600bn ($103m) in Guinea-Bissau, targeting the mining, energy and fisheries sectors, privately-owned O Democrata reported on May 21st. Junyi Ye, president of the China-Africa Working Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development, made the announcement during a press conference in the capital Bissau. (O Democrata website 22/5)
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4412117694