RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 22 (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, agreed on Monday to take a common EU-Brazil position to the next G20 summit dealing with the global financial crisis.
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Lubango – The African Investment Bank (BAI) has USD 150 million for the concession of loans to its clients in 2009 in the central Huila Province, the institution’s executive officer, Luis Lélis, revealed on Friday in Lubango city (provincial capital).
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Luanda – The new factory of the Dairy Firm of Angola (Lactiangol) will start being built as from May 2009, in Viana district, in Luanda, its CEO, José César Macedo, informed.
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Luanda – The Sao Tomean MP, Aurélio Martins, encouraged Angolan business people to invest in his country, in a moment that Sao Tome and Principe records a political stability, he says.
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This large retailer plans new stores as consumers look set to get more money in their pockets.
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The Buenos Aires government has started to focus on the growing minerals sector, believed to be the next pillar of Argentina’s economy.
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SAO PAULO, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Brazilian steel maker Usiminas said on Thursday it had reached a deal to purchase the country’s leading tube manufacturer, Zamprogna, for 160 million reais ($68 million) in a deal to be concluded by March.
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LISBON, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Millennium bcp (BCP.LS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Portugal’s largest bank, said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell its 9.69 percent holding in rival Banco BPI (BBPI.LS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 164 million euros.
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SAO PAULO – The symbolism was clear. With the United States at the fag-end of a disastrous presidency, Brazil assembled 33 countries from across the Americas to discuss a host of issues ranging from defence to the economic slowdown. The two-day gathering, at a resort near the northeastern city of Salvador, marked the first time that every country in Latin America and the Caribbean had met without the presence of the United States or Europeans. The message: it is Brazil, with a growing economy and a popular president in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and not the United States that is now the leading power in the region.
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South African growth is slowing sharply, while the rand appears vulnerable to further devaluation. The picture isn’t entirely gloomy—inflation appears to have peaked, for example—but nervousness about the political situation could intensify the slowdown.
Read the analysis in The Economist Intelligence Unit
PRAIA – About 900 Cape Verdeans have been deported back to the islands since 1992. Rejected by their host country after they committed crimes, the group of mostly young male deportees said they have returned home only to find plentiful drugs, unemployment and discrimination.
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South Africa is not facing a recession, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Tuesday, despite major industrialised countries like Japan and the euro zone slipping into negative growth.
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The Congress of the People vowed to rewrite history as the new movement’s mammoth battle with the ANC for votes kicked off at competing party rallies in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
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JOHANNESBURG, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Neotel [NEO.UL], South Africa’s second-biggest fixed-line phone operator, has secured a total of 7.5 billion rand ($733.7 million) in funding after raising an extra 4.4 billion rand in project finance, it said on Wednesday.
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JOHANNESBURG, Dec 11 (Reuters) – South Africa’s state-owned oil company PetroSA said on Thursday it has put on hold its option to build a coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant, saying its feasibility needed more study.
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JOHANNESBURG, Dec 11 (Reuters) – ArcelorMittal South Africa (ACLJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it would stick to its 5-year plan to expand liquid steel capacity to 10 million tonnes by 2012, but has cut 1,000 of its contract workers.
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Dec 12 (Reuters) – Lonrho Plc (LONR.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the British-based conglomerate with various business interests in Africa, said on Friday its e-Kwikbuild unit received two contracts worth $5 million for its prefabricated buildings in Angola.
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JOHANNESBURG, Dec 17 (Reuters) – South African-based Teal Exploration and Mining (TELJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) (ARIJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday they had agreed for ARM to buy all outstanding shares it does not own of Teal.
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NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Crude oil refiner Tesoro Corp (TSO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with Petroterminal de Panama (PTP), allowing it to transport crude oil from Europe, Africa and the Atlantic region through Panama to its Pacific refineries.
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BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s center-left government for long hoped that the new generation of socialist leaders in South America would help it emerge as the dominant regional power by challenging U.S. influence.
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