POLITICS

National Assembly speaker Aristides Lima received a petition this week from a group of approximately 160 citizens of European Union and other European countries expressing their concern with a series of phenomena and problems affecting their lives and their investments on the island of Boa Vista (A Semana).

ECONOMY

A lack of workers is making this year’s sugar cane harvest difficult on Santo Antão island and jeopardizing the deadlines of some of the public works under way in the northern portion of the island (A Semana).

In 2008 the Cape Verdean market had 3,689 Portuguese companies exporting goods and services, or 7.5 percent more than in 2003, the delegate of the Portuguese trade and investment promotion agency, AICEP said (Macauhub).

ENERGY

The Alentejo Regional Development Agency (ADRAL), a Portuguese-Cape Verdean consortium, is preparing a small-scale solar and wind energy generating project for the island of Fogo in partnership with the Portuguese town of Ferreira and the company Open Renewables (A Semana).

The blackout that left Praia without electricity also paralyzed the capital city’s international airport. The situation was chaotic, with those in the terminal in utter darkness, while passengers arriving on TACV flight 6070 from Portugal were retained inside the aircraft for more than 40 minutes (A Semana).

BUSINESS

Anglo-Dutch corporation Shell has announced that it is in the process of selling its 21 affiliates in Africa, including that in Cape Verde. According to website Visão News, the decision is aimed at eliminating less profitable business dealings and concentrating capital in large-scale projects liable to increase the company’s stock and distribution of petroleum and gas (A Semana).

DEFENCE

The Armed Forces (AF) will in May recruit for the first time 10 to 12 women to attend the first course of female corporals (Inforpress).

REAL ESTATE

The Tecnicil company, owner of the Vila Verde resort on Sal, will start a  sales campaign aimed at Cape Verdean families to buy flats in the resort (Inforpress).