POLITICS

The prime minister of Cape Verde urged the international community to keep up the pressure on the junta in Guinea Bissau to cede power it had seized in an April 12 coup (Wall Street Journal).

The Cape Verdean parliament approved by a majority vote the proposed law for the new Investment Code, which sets out the basis for attracting and facilitating investments in the country (Macauhub).

The government denied that Cape Verde’s financial system is exposed to money laundering, affirming that the cases detected do not involve commercial banks and are being dealt with by the courts (A Semana).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

US military personnel have been in Cape Verde since March 28 as a part of the AMLEP operation, led by Cape Verde, in which ships passing through Cape Verde’s Exclusive Economic Zone are approached in order to promote maritime security and to combat drug trafficking and illegal fishing (A Semana).

AMLEP is the operational phase of Africa Partnership Station (APS), a program that aims to strengthen maritime partnerships to improve safety and security in Africa (Jacksonville).

Ten ships from 12 host nations kicked-off Saharan Express 2012, a multinational exercise in support of Africa Partnership Station (APS), at the pre-sail conference in Dakar April 23.  The countries met to coordinate maritime operations prior to the exercise, which focuses on combating illicit activities -such as illegal fishing, trafficking and piracy – that are endangering the maritime security in many of the participant nations (Defpro).

INTERNATIONAL

Cape Verde is preparing an action plan for a possible evacuation of its citizens residing in Guinea Bissau. The plan is being elaborated by a crisis group, which estimates the number of Cape Verdeans living in Guinea Bissau at approximately two thousand (A Semana).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

Read The Grand Tour of Cape Verde, Atlantico Weekly’s travel guide to the country’s main islands.

SAO VICENTE

The Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Management, the São Vicente municipal chamber and the United Nations Program in Cape Verde discussed the “Urban Profile of Mindelo”. The purpose was to carry out a quick assessment of the city’s needs and gaps in order to develop policies aimed at reducing urban poverty (A Semana).

AGRI ETC.

The company Fogo Coffee Spirit has so far purchased between 22 and 23 metric tons of coffee produced in Mosteiros, on the island of Fogo – the equivalent of 40% of the year’s entire production. The target, according to Licínio Andrade, president of the Mosteiros Association of Coffee Producers (Procafé), is 25 metric tons (A Semana).

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CAPE VERDE IN 2030

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Check out our Cape Verde in 2030 with a realistic glimpse of where and how Cape Verde will look like in the next decades …!

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. This week with Alexandre Abade of Oasis Atlantico Hotels….

REAL ESTATE

Canadian company Bitumen Capital plans to buy 100 percent of two tourist resorts in Cape Verde – Fortim Mindelo and Monte Gordo – from Cape Verde Development, owned by Irishman Tom Sheehy (Macauhub).

TELECOMS

The Prime Minister of Cape Verde wants to make the new concession contract between the state and CV Telecom “more competitive”, in order to “further expand the services that exist” in the country. The subject was discussed between PM Jose Maria Neves and Zeinal Bava, the CEO of Portugal Telecom, which owns 40 percent of CV Telecom. CV Telecom and the state of Cape Verde are in the process of renegotiating the concession contract (Telecompaper).

POLITICS

The number of new voters who have registered to participate in this year’s July 1st municipal elections has already surpassed 13,000, according to Arlinda Chantre, of the Directorate General of Support for the Election Process (DGAPE). Only those who have registered to vote by April 27 will be able to participate in the election (A Semana).

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INTERNATIONAL

Brazil’s new ambassador to Cape Verde announced that his country’s president will visit the archipelago before the end of the year. The announcement was made during the ceremony in which the new Brazilian and French diplomats in Praia presented their letters of credential to President Jorge Carlos Fonseca, who called on the two ambassadors to continue cooperation with Cape Verde, particularly in the realm of the fight against piracy, organized crime and drug and human trafficking (A Semana).

Cape Verdean immigrants in the United States will now pay a lower United States visa processing fee. According to the readjustments made by the US Department of State the cost of an immigrant visa is now 19,500 escudos – considerably below the previous 28,050-escudo fee. Non-immigrant visa processing fees, on the other hand, went from 11,900 to 13,060 escudos (A Semana).

Cape Verde is contributing toward the reinforcement of West Africa’s positive image with regards to the increase in tourist traffic, with the dynamics of the sector showing strong growth in recent times. In 2011, for example, more than 400,000 tourists visited the islands (A Semana).

Cape Verde and China have agreed to carry out research projects in the areas of renewable energy, information technology, health, and the sea, opening up a “new door” in two-way cooperation, Cape Verde’s Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister said in Beijing (Macauhub).

NATURE

Researchers with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) have arrived in Cape Verde to continue their studies on the North Atlantic humpback whale (Afloat).

An international group of scientists have researched an age-old problem of genetic diversity on islands: E. Gomez-Dıaz, J. Morris-Pocock, J. Gonzalez-Solıs and K. D. McCoy write in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. The brown booby, Sula leucogaster, and the Cape Verde shearwater, Calonectris edwardsii, along with two other birds, were used to detect how island genetic divergence is affected by animals that have ready access to “travel” (Earth Times).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

The Portuguese Immediate Reaction Force that departed from Lisbon last weekend for Guinea Bissau will remain stationed on Sal Island. The objective of the mission is to remain on standby relatively close to Guinea Bissau in order to be able to evacuate Portuguese citizens, as well as citizens of other nationalities, from the country in case of an emergency (A Semana).

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray E. Mabus visited Praia recently. Mabus was to conduct office calls with the local government to reinforce the United States’ commitment to supporting and training the host nation to defend the freedom of trade within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that encompasses the waters around Cape Verde (Jacksonville.com).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

Read The Grand Tour of Cape Verde, Atlantico Weekly’s travel guide to the country’s main islands, updated recently.

SANTIAGO

The unregulated use of vehicles equipped with loudspeakers that circulate through the streets of Praia blaring both commercial and institutional advertisements has led the Praia municipal chamber to pass deliberation prohibiting the practice in the capital city (A Semana).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the five star Oasis Atlantico Salinas Sea hotel, currently under construction in Santa Maria, on Sal Island.

ECONOMY

Creating the first American school in Cape Verde is among the proposals being brought by a group of US entrepreneurs. The businesspeople also intend to invest in the finance and construction sectors (A Semana).

Almost all of the U.S. development money spent by Cape Verde has gone to contracts with European companies, not American ones. The Metro South Chamber of Commerce, at the prompting of the Cape Verdean consulate in Boston, wants to change that. The delegation includes James Blake, president of Harbor One Credit Union; Brockton Councilor-at-Large Jass Stewart; Sheila Sullivan-Jardim, executive director of the Brockton Area Workforce Investment Board; and Peter Vlaco of Brophy & Phillips, and Ken DeDominici of Churchill Linens (Entreprise News).

The price of electricity supplied by water and electricity utility Electra and by Águas e Energia de Boa Vista will go up. The new prices, which are an average of 1.5 escudos higher per KWh, have been set by the Economic Regulation Agency (ARE) (A Semana).

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign.

This week with a strong believer in Cape Verde’s tourism sector: Alexandre Abade of Oasis Atlantico Hotels.

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AGRI ETC.

More than 40% of work on the Faveta dam on Santiago Island has been concluded. The Faveta dam will have a total storage capacity of 670,000 cubic meters of water. The underground water it will help accumulate, however, will total some 1,200,000 cubic meters, and will be used to irrigate more than 908 hectares of farmland (A Semana).

The government is investing 75,716,569 escudos to dig 12 wells for the extraction of underground water on the island of Brava. The ultimate objective is to mobilize more water to modernize and expand agriculture on Cape Verde’s smallest inhabited island (A Semana).

CAPE VERDE IN 2030

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TOURISM

Hiacemar is the latest sea-going vessel intended to transport tourists between the islands of São Vicente, Santo Antão and São Nicolau. The vessel was blessed by Mindelo Bishop Ildo Fortes in Mindelo sea port in a ceremony attended by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Energy Humberto Brito (A Semana).

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of the Santa Barbara II residential project for Ribeira Grande on Santo Antao Island.

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CULTURE

After launching the first edition in 2009 and the success of 2010 and 2011 editions, Kriol Jazz Festival – Praia will make the streets of the Cape Verdean capital resonate again from April 12th to the 14th 2012. Meet a panel of creole artists for a human and musical exchange around this 4th edition’s schedule. After giving tribute to Horace Silver and Code di Dona, it is Cesaria Evora who will be honoured this time (Kriol Jazz Festival Praia).

Morna is the national music of the Cape Verde islands, off west Africa. The Guardian finds it in the bars and cafes of Mindelo, capital of São Vicente.

Lusafrica announced the release of No Amá, the fourth album from Cape-Verdean artist Nancy Vieira. No Amá opens with Maylen, a very charming song written by Mario Lucio – poet, musician, historian of African Creole culture and current minister of culture in the government led by José Maria Pereira Neves (World Music Central).

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THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

Read The Grand Tour of Cape Verde, Atlantico Weekly’s travel guide to the country’s main islands, updated recently.

ECONOMY

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Cape Verde’s Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B+’ and Long-term local currency IDR at ‘BB-’. The Outlook on the Long-term IDRs is Stable. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed Cape Verde’s Country Ceiling at ‘BB-’ and Short-term foreign currency rating at ‘B’ (Reuters).

Fuel prices were readjusted, with the price of all petroleum products up. Gasoline broke all previous price increase records, leaping from 175.10 to 192.80 escudos per liter. Diesel, for its part, went from 128.20 to 134.30 escudos per liter (A Semana).

BANKING

Bank of Cape Verde governor Carlos Burgo spoke in parliament, guaranteeing that the country’s financial system is solid and credible and that the recent arrest of former Cape Verde Stock Exchange president Veríssimo Pinto as a result of the Operation Speed Boat drug trafficking investigation did not affect the institution’s credibility (A Semana).

Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios (BCN) has a solvency ratio of 11,5% and is therefore in good health, acoording to a BCN spokesperson in reaction to the news that Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde (BVC, the Capeverdean Stock Exchange) has suspended the BCN’s trading registration (AW).

CAPE VERDE IN 2030

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Check out our Cape Verde in 2030 with a realistic glimpse of where and how Cape Verde will look like in the next decades …!

OPINION

All investors who are interested in the Cape Verde market, should be take good note of recent developments when the Cabo Verde Fast Ferry, which operated with stable prices for one year, announced a minor price adjustment in the face of a 20% increase in the price of fuel. The media screamed bloody murder and appeared to have fabricated the extent of the price change. The residents of Brava followed suit and accused the company, which had provided high-quality, modern service, of gouging (InvestinCV).

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. For instance with Djopan Oliveira of Pedracin Village…!

REAL ESTATE

Two managers of the real estate company Arck LLP were detained by British police for international fraud for selling appartments of Paradise Beach Resort on Sal Island (FT Advisor).

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POLITICS

President Jorge Carlos Fonseca visited Dakar, Senegal, as that country’s new president was sworn in. Mr Fonseca also met the large local Capeverdean community in the presence of the Ambassador to Senegal, Francisco Veiga (Facebook).

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INTERNATIONAL

The program “Reinforcement of Energy Production, Transportation and Distribution Capacity on six Cape Verdean islands,” co-financed by the Cape Verdean government and by the African Development Bank, received financial reinforcement of 6 billion escudos from Japan, which signed a loan agreement with Cape Verde’s Ministry of Foreign Relations (A Semana).

DIASPORA

Well known Rotterdam hairdresser Carlos Ramos was nominated out of thousands of competing colleagues for the Dutch Coiffure Awards 2012. The Awards ceremony will take place on May13th (Coiffure Awards, in Dutch). Being nominated is already a great victory, a happy Carlos told Atlantico Weekly.

A 29-year-old man is facing a murder charge in connection with a Brockton man gunned down on a porch in 2011. Herico Andrade was arraigned on one count of the murder of Jose Lobo,23, in Brockton District Court (Entreprise News).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

Read The Grand Tour of Cape Verde, Atlantico Weekly’s travel guide to the country’s main islands, updated recently.

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

BOAVISTA

The National Civil Protection Service (SNPC) tested the response capacity of the Municipal Civil Protection Services of the three municipalities on the island of Santo Antão. The exercise was denominated “Santo Antão 12” (A Semana).

Santo Antão Regional Jail, currently located in the town of Ponta do Sol in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, will be relocated to the sparsely habited region of Aguada de Janela, in the municipality of Paúl (A Semana).

ECONOMY

Portuguese development financing company Sofid has six financing projects in the work for Cape Verde, a market in which it intends to enter the controlled-cost housing, parking, tourism and agriculture sectors. The company’s investment portfolio in the country involves some five million Euros (A Semana).

The vessel Vicente, owned by the Tuninha -Transportes Marítimos SA company, will start operating on the São Vicente/ Santo Antão route from next week in order to fill up the gap left by the Sal Rei vessel that now only operates on Sundays on that route (AW/A Semana).

CAPE VERDE IN 2030

Atlantico Weekly is looking ahead!

Check out our Cape Verde in 2030 with a realistic glimpse of where and how Cape Verde will look like in the next decades …!

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Render of a Coladera villa, part of the Ponte Bicuda project for Santiago (source).

BUSINESS

The Business Initiative Directive (BID) has highlighted Boa Vista-based business Oásis in its “gold” category, in which some 77 companies throughout the world have been classified, including the firm that built the world’s tallest building. The associates of the Cape Verdean company admitted their “surprise” at the distinction, and affirmed their hope to consolidate their business in Cape Verde and expand internationally (A Semana).

The process to certify some traditional products in Cape Verde such as cheese, rum, wine, and coffee from Fogo Island, are currently underway, the minister for Rural Development, Eva Ortet said (Macauhub).

AGRI ETC.

Both farmers and Minister of Rural Development Eva Ortet confirmed the existence of an unknown disease attacking banana and papaya tress on the island of Santiago. The area of greatest concern is Ribeira dos Picos Engenhos, in the municipality of Santa Cruz (A Semana).

BANKING & FINANCE

The Cape Verde Stock Exchange has suspended the registry of Cape Verdean commercial bank Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios (BCN) as an operator at the institution. The Cape Verde Stock Exchange did not specify the reasons that led it to adopt the drastic measure, but rumors have long been circulating about the bank’s alleged lack of liquidity (A Semana).

Angolan bank Banco BIC is considering acquiring BPN IFI, a unit of the former Portuguese bank, Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) in Cape Verde. Cape Verde was one of the countries in which Banco BIC planned to be present and  regardless of the acquisition of the Cape Verdean bank BIC is already preparing a request for a license to operate in the market through an international financial institution (IFI) (Macauhub).

FISHERIES

Spain plans to fund projects in the fishing sector in Cape Verde and the Spanish council of ministers has already approved a loan of 12.8 million euros. The loan will pay for two projects to design and build facilities for processing, freezing and canning fish, and the coordination centres for these activities, which will be based in Mindelo on the island of São Vicente, will also provide support to Spanish companies operating in Cape Verde (Macauhub).

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TELECOMS

The Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Neves, said the government will negotiate a new concession agreement with Portugal Telecom and CV Telecom at a meeting in Lisbon on 23 April. He told a press conference that he will meet that day with the board of directors of Portugal Telecom, ahead of CV Telecom’s general meeting at the end of the month. Portugal Telecom owns 40 percent of CV Telecom. Neves denied that the negotiation of a new contract has anything to do with plans for Angolan investment in CV Telecom’s main rival, T + (Telecom Paper).

TOURISM

“In terms of medium-haul destinations, the star is Cape Verde, if we have to choose just one,” according to the president of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (APAVT), Pedro Costa Ferreira, in an interview with website PressTur about the most sought-after destinations on the part of Portuguese tourists (A Semana).

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. For instance with Helen Hutchings and Steve Cooling of Blu bar, Santa Maria…!