Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Tourism’ Category

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on September 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

CV Fast Ferry’s first vessel Kriola nearing completion at the Singapore facilities of Damen Shipyards of the Netherlands (Source: FORCV)

AGRI

With the latest rains registered over the past two days, farmers on the islands of Fogo and Brava are even more hopeful regarding the prospects for a good harvest. In some of the higher-altitude regions of the two islands, agricultural workers have begun harvesting the first fruits of their labor (A Semana).

AVIATION

Tropical storm Julia, which has been lashing Cape Verde with rain and winds since Sunday afternoon, has already forced TACV Cabo Verde Airlines to cancel a number of domestic and international flights (A Semana).

Praia International Airport has a new parking lot with a total of 429 parking spaces (A Semana).

The tourism industry in Cape Verde and Boa Vista has received a further boost with the news that Cape Verde Experience plan to run flights from Stansted and Bristol.  The sister company of Gambia Experience will also add flights between Cape Verde and Banjul, Gambia, opening up possibilities for multi-centre holidays (Assetz)

REAL ESTATE

Commercial bank Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde acquired 89.8% of the future bonds issued by state real-estate company IFH, for the first time achieving a position of leadership in a Stock Exchange operation in Cape Verde. With the funds from the bond issue, IFH expects to be able to complete the infra-structuring of its Palmarejo Grande real estate project in Praia by March of 2011 (A Semana).

Cape Verde is rapidly attracting visitors and investors alike looking to capitalise on what promises to be the world’s next property hot spot. Nestled 400km off the coast of West Africa, the Cape Verde islands boast a year-round temperate climate, meaning there’s no low season, leading to exceptionally high occupancy rates and rental yields for investors (Assetz).

TELECOMS

Cabo Verde Telecom has suspended salary negotiations and unilaterally decided to grant a 2.5% wage increase, retroactive to January of this year (A Semana).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Hotels, Ports, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism on September 3, 2010 at 8:35 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Vista Oceano residential complex, under development in the town of Ponta do Sol on Santo Antao (Source).

PORTS

Portuguese construction consortium Somague/MSF/Etermar is to carry out the second phase of work to expand and modernise the port of Praia, worth 72 million euros (Macauhub).

HOTELS

Hilton appears to be developing at least one hotel in Cape Verde, among other countries (Reuters).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

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AGRI

Brazil’s Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) will set up a pole of its rural development studies center in Cape Verde. The initiative was announced during a visit by Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Guilherme Cassel to the University (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Labor union SITTHUR claims that more than 90% of the employees of Cabo Verde Telecom have joined the two-day strike called at the company. The walk-out began this morning throughout nearly all of Cape Verde’s territory – Brava was the exception – and is scheduled to last until midnight Friday (A Semana).

AVIATION

The strongest growth, in terms of absolute numbers, in Portugal’s charter flight market is for destinations in Cape Verde. Charter flights departing from Lisbon and Porto took transported nearly 8,000 passengers to the archipelago in July of this year, 3,800 more than in the same month last year (A Semana).

POWER

Acts of sabotage perpetrated by employees of water and electricity utility Electra or by unknown individuals may be behind a serious technical problem that took place in one of the main generators at the Palmarejo power station in Praia. The problem has since been resolved (A Semana).

Cape Verde Politics & Islands

In Cape Verde, Elections, Politics, Security, Tourism on August 27, 2010 at 8:35 am

ELECTIONS

November 26, 2010 is the date agreed to by Cape Verde’s two largest political parties, the governing PAICV and opposition MpD, as the conclusion of the voter registration process in Cape Verdean communities abroad (A Semana).

ATLANTICO WEEKLY POLL

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

For the first time in history, relations between the Republic of Cape Verde and the Vatican will be regulated by a Concordat. Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves will travel to Rome next month to sign the treaty, which will make Cape Verde the third Portuguese-speaking country, after Portugal and Brazil, to enter into this type of protocol with the Holy See (A Semana).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

You can now follow Atlantico Weekly on Twitter at atlanticoweekly.

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DEFENCE

Minister of Defense Cristina Fontes Lima has assured the President of Guinea Bissau that Cape Verde is willing to train military personnel on any level Guinea Bissauan authorities deem necessary (A Semana).

SANTIAGO

If the jewel in the crown of Santiago’s tourist industry is Tarrafal, its beach is even more so (A Semana).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Telecom, Tourism on August 27, 2010 at 8:34 am

ECONOMY

President Pedro Pires has signed a law decree setting the basic social pension at 5,000 escudos per month. The measure is retroactive to July 1 of this year (A Semana).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Impression of the Tropical Resort under construction on Sal (Imobrisa)

WANTED:

Architects, please send in your projects in Angola and Cape Verde and help us continue the Building of the Week feature….

PORTS

Cape Verde’s ports are projected to grow from 150/200 to 400/500 ships and to increase the number of re-exported containers from 2,000 to 4-5,000, whilst also serving as a platform for oil company ships in the mid Atlantic (Macauhub).

TELECOMS

Cape Verdeans continue to show a preference for mobile phones over land lines, according to data from the National Communications Agency (ANAC), whose figures indicate that the number of mobile phone service subscribers grew by 5% in the first half of 2010 (A Semana).

TOURISM

Some of the world’s main cruise ship companies have begun including the island of São Vicente on their routes, namely Saga Cruises and Noble Caledonia. Cape Verde is described on Noble Caledonia’s website as an “incredibly intriguing archipelago” with beaches and “extraordinary sand dunes,” and an aridness that contrasts with “exuberant mountainous islands” (A Semana).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Brazil, Cape Verde, Tourism, Travel on August 20, 2010 at 8:04 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Render of the Vila Verde resort project to be built on the island of Sal (source).

TOURISM

“Cape Verde is an ideal winter-sun destination and a place of great contrasts, as each of the 10 islands offers a slightly different experience,” says Serenity. “It reflects an exotic blend of African, Brazilian and Portuguese cultures, and the beaches are among the best in the world” (TTG Live).

TWITTER & LINKEDIN

You can now follow Atlantico Weekly on Twitter at atlanticoweekly.

Also be welcome to join our Atlantico Weekly networking and discussion group on Linkedin.

AVIATION

Figures provided by PressTur reveal that Cape Verde is the third most sought-after destination for charter flights departing from Porto, Portugal’s second-most important city. Numbers for July indicate that 2,513 passengers traveled to Cape Verde on charter flights, 75% more than in the same month last year (A Semana).

HOUSING

The Cape Verdean government aims to build 3,000 houses by the end of 2011 under the “House for All” programme, financed by a 200 million euro credit line from Portugal, the Minister for Decentralisation, Housing and Territorial Planning has indicated (Macauhub).

DIASPORA

More than 17,000 took in Saturday’s Onset Cape Verdean Festival, which was a peaceful jubilee of music, sun, heritage, and food until a stabbing marred the otherwise festive celebration late in the afternoon (South Coast Today).

The US are entering prime time for the “Cape Verde hurricanes.”  An average of two of these storms form each year, most in August and September, and usually within 600 miles of the Cape Verde islands, off West Africa. They gain strength as they cross the Atlantic. Some move into the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico (Ike 2008). But others sweep up the Atlantic Coast, threatening coastal communities from Florida (Andrew 1992), the Carolinas (Hugo 1989) to New England (1938) (Baltimore Sun).

CLOSED POLL

Cape Verde business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism on August 8, 2010 at 10:01 am

TRADE

Cape Verde’s exports and imports increased 59.3% and 8.3%, respectively, in the first six months of 2010 in comparison to the same period last year. Portugal and Spain were the main destinations for Cape Verdean exports (A Semana).

TOURISM

Cape Verde is the second-most-popular destination for charter flights departing from Portuguese capital Lisbon. A total of 19,600 passengers flew from Lisbon International Airport to Cape Verde in the month of June, an 18.7% increase over the same period last year (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Regulations are in place for the sending of advertisements via SMS to mobile phones.  Cape Verde’s mobile providers of late have been filling their clients’ mobile phones with advertisements of all types and at all hours without the consent of the users themselves (A Semana).

The National Communications Agency (ANAC) launched a public tender for the attribution of three licenses for the use of IMT-2000, also known as third-generation (3G) mobile land frequencies, on a nationwide scale. Meanwhile, the government will begin negotiations with Cabo Verde Telecom aimed at coming up with a new model for the management of the country’s land-line network (A Semana).

EDUCATION

The government made a “ decisive “ step toward the next phase in the school computerization program, which could receive some 25,000 computers by the end of the year (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Cape Verde business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Oil, Tourism, Travel on August 1, 2010 at 8:47 am

TOURISM

“The State should play the role that belongs to it as an incentive-provider, promoter and leader of the tourism development process in Cape Verde,” according to Praia mayor Ulisses Correia e Silva, who spoke at the closing session of the Private/Public Forum on Residential Tourism organized by Promitur (A Semana).

The President of the Cape Verdean Association of Real Estate Tourism Promoters (PROMITUR), Olavo Correia, stressed the need to increase financial resources for the promotion of the destination Cape Verde (Inforpress).

BUSINESS

Multinational Vitol-SA, which specializes in the commercialization of fuel, is negotiating the purchase of 19 of Shell’s regional subsidiaries in Africa, including the company’s operation in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Cape Verdean fuel company Empresa Nacional de Combustíveis (Enacol), which is majority-owmed by Portugal’s Galp Energia, at the end of May had a market share of 60 percent (Macauhub).

A Cape Verdean delegation led by the president of the Leeward Islands Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services participated in the 5th Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Business Forum in Angolan capital Luanda, where it showed investment opportunities in the archipelago (A Semana).

AVIATION

The Cape Verdean government is negotiating the possibility of an open skies agreement with the European Union. Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa revealed that the process “is not easy,” but did not deny the government’s hope of achieving an agreement, following the signing in June of a horizontal accord integrating all of the other accords entered into with the EU (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s TACV airline began a regular weekly flight to Madrid, meant to “attract Spanish tourists to the island country,” said the company’s director, Georgina Melo (Macauhub).

OIL

Brazil will support Cape Verde’s efforts to prospect for oil and gas in ultra-deepwater areas around the island country, the Brazilian president and Cape Verdean prime minister announced in Santa Maria (Macauhub).

POLLS

Cape Verde politics & regional

In Agriculture, Airports, Brazil, Cape Verde, Elections, Infrastructure, Investments, Politics, Tourism on June 27, 2010 at 7:31 am

ELECTIONS

Praia’s Jorge Barbosa National Auditorium proved too small for the crowd of youths and batuko singers who made their way there to express their support for a possible presidential bid on the part of David Hopffer Almada. With a relative scarcity of major political names, the event was attended, among others, by former Minister of Culture Manuel Veiga (A Semana).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will begin a trip to the African continent on July 3. The trip, which will begin in Cape Verde, will also take him to Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa (A Semana).

Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva will visit Cape Verde from July 4th  to 7th at the invitation of his Cape Verde counterpart, Pedro Pires, in order to participate in the commemorative ceremonies of the 35th anniversary of Cape Verde’s independence.

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reiterated his government’s willingness to “reinforce the European Union’s strategic relationship with Cape Verde” during a meeting with Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves. Madrid will maintain the financial support it has given Cape Verde, particularly in the fight against the threats posed by organized crime and drug trafficking (A Semana).

Cape Verde will participate in the implementation of a “One Stop Shop” for the tourism sector in five provinces of Mozambique, following the signing recently of a cooperation protocol between Cape Verde’s NOSi and Mozambique’s Ministry of Tourism (A Semana).

DEFENCE

The commander of the United States African Command Africom has affirmed that “trafficking of all kinds robs Africa of its economic potential” and cited Cape Verde’s fight against drug trafficking and maritime security program as “an example to follow” (A Semana).

SAL

The mortality rate of sea turtles on the island of Sal dropped by approximately 10% in 2009 as a result of the protection and preservation campaigns carried out last year (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

Prime Minister José Maria Neves presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Porto Novo port dock on the island of Santo Antão (A Semana).

The next major investment planned for Cape Verde’s Santo Antao Island will be the airport, whose studies have already been completed, Cape Verdean Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves said (Macauhub).

About 15 thousand pines, grevillea and acacias will be planted during July and August in the forest perimeter of Planalto Leste, in Santo Antão.

SANTIAGO

The Capeverdean government signed the contract for the construction of three dams on Santiago, as part of the programme for  infrastructure for the agricultural sector and water management. The dams are widely believed to spark of an agricultural revolution on the island.

SAO NICOLAU

The first dams to be built on São Nicolau will be in Ribeira Brava, in the Valley of Fajã, Tucudo, in the valley of Queimadas , and Ribeira de João (Inforpress).

Cape Verde business & economy

In Agriculture, Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Infrastructure, Investments, Politics, Real estate, Tourism on June 27, 2010 at 7:30 am

ATLANTICO WEEKLY ON VACATION

Please note that the Atlantico Weekly team will be on holidays during the month of July. There will be therefore no new editions until August. And yes, we will be swimming in the Atlantic…

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Ponta Bicuda resort on Santiago (Ponta Bicuda).

PICTURES WANTED!

Please help us develop this Building of the Week feature and send us your pictures of interesting buildings or developments…

ECONOMY

A new study revealed that Cape Verdean emigrants’ remittances sent to their families are used largely for consumption, especially in food and the education of their children (Inforpress).

AVIATION

Cape Verdean state airline, TACV is to buy two aircraft to increase its fleet and has launched a new class, between economy and executive, for improved passenger comfort (Macauhub).

TOURISM

The doors to the second edition of tourism trade fair Expotur opened last Friday. Some 50 stands and 31 exhibitors – 10 of them foreign – are inside São Filipe Fort in Cidade Velha. Some 15 international journalists have also come to Cape Verde to give “greater projection” to the event, the theme of which this year is “Back to the Origins.” Expotur will run until June 27 (A Semana).

All of Cape Verde’s islands show potential for the development of rural tourism, according to a study carried out at the request of the National Union of Tourism Operators (Unotur). The study investigated the available tourist products and their diversity in rural areas of all of the country’s municipalities (A Semana).

The municipality of Porto Novo on the island of Santo Antão is the site of Cape Verde’s first youth hostel, which was officially unveiled by Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

BANKING & FINANCE

The net results of Banco Interatlântico (BI) of Cape Verde (part of the Portuguese Grupo Caixa Geral de Depósitos) decreased around 2 percent in 2009 compared to 2008 (Inforpress).

The City Hall of Sal has earned 200 million Cape Verdean escudos (US$2.2 million) from its bond issue, carried out from 7 to 18 June by the Cape Verdean Stock Exchange (Macauhub).

MEDICAL SECTOR

The Italian Ettore Sansavini Foundation for the promotion of health in the world, that runs the management of the Hospital São Francisco de Assis in São Filipe since  Ferbuary, aims to make this hospital a reference for the Islands and for the West coast of Africa (Inforpress).

Cape Verde: business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Tourism, Travel on June 6, 2010 at 7:47 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The new hotel at Fortim Mindelo, Sao Vicente

ECONOMY

The “great economic synchronisation” of Cape Verde with Europe, in particular the Euro Zone, “where there are serious problems”, will constrain the Cape Verdean economy in case of a deepening of the crisis, the Governor of the Bank of Cape Verde (BCV) warned (Inforpress).

TOURISM

Portuguese and Cape Verdean businesspeople are interested in carrying out the cruise liner terminal project in Sao Vicente, the chairman of port management company Enapor said in Praia (Macauhub).

UTILITIES

The Council of Ministers has authorized water and electricity utility Electra to transfer rights and obligations to a private Cape Verdean corporation for the transportation and distribution of electricity and water on the island of Boa Vista (A Semana).

PICTURES WANTED!

Please send us your pictures of new developments and buildings on Cape Verde so we can continue our feature Building of the week…

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Brazil, Economy, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Tourism, Travel on June 6, 2010 at 7:47 am

ECONOMY

Grinding poverty, human rights abuses and police detentions are fuelling tension in Angola’s oil-rich province of Cabinda, but for now, international oil companies have little to fear (News24).

AVIATION

Beginning this week, Atlas Air is operating three weekly nonstop flights between George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Luanda, Angola. The newly customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft, provided by the Angolan SonAir company, feature 10 First Class, 143 Business Class and 36 Economy Class seats with the latest in-flight entertainment and comfort (Reuters).

OIL

Sonangol SA, Angola’s state oil company, will seek partners to help fund the development of Brazilian offshore blocks after buying exploration company Starfish (Bloomberg).

TRANSPORT

Angola’s Moçâmedes Railroad is to receive more locomotives and carriages for first, second and third class travel this year, which are due to start operating from the city of Lubango, Huila province (Macauhub).

ENTERTAINMENT

Angolan casino company Casinos de Angola plans to invest US$55 million over the next three years in opening three new casinos and refurbishing another (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL


Cape Verde business news

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Economy, Real estate, Tourism, Travel on May 30, 2010 at 11:17 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Jacaranda Lodges project in the town of Paul on Santo Antao island (Imobrisa).

ECONOMY

The vice-director of the International Monetary Fund’s Africa Division, Valerie Cerra, affirms that Cape Verde’s economic performance has been “very positive” and that the “prudent” policies used resulted in a “quick reaction to the crisis” (A Semana).

AGRI

Cape Verdean producers of grogue, a brandy distilled from fermented sugarcane juice, attended the 13th edition of the Expocachaça trade fair at the Expominas pavilion in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (A Semana).

AVIATION

Cape Verde is soon due to sign a “horizontal air agreement” with the European Union (EU), the first step in a process that will lead to an “open skies” policy with the 27-country block, Minister Manuel Inocêncio de Sousa said (Macauhub)

TOURISM

“Surfari Cape Verde” is a vacation package to the island of Sal being promoted by Portuguese travel agency Entremares this summer. As a part of the package, TACV Cabo Verde Airlines has offered to transport surfboards of up to 1.5 meters in length at no additional fee (A Semana).

Cape Verde received 92,000 tourists in the first quarter of the year,. a rise of 5.5 percent against the same period of 2009, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Cape Verde political and regional news

In Cape Verde, Elections, Politics, Tourism on May 24, 2010 at 7:41 pm

POLITICS

The opposition MpD asked the president of the National Statistics Institute (INE), António Duarte, to provide an explanation to the parliament’s Specialized Finance and Budget Commission regarding the figures presented by the institute on unemployment last week. INE data point to a 3.1 percentage point increase in Cape Verde’s unemployment rate (A Semana).

The leader of the  ruling PAICV’s parliamentary benches, Rui Semedo, admitted that unemployment rose in Cape Verde in 2009, but he justified the worsening because of the international crisis situation affecting the country in recent years (Inforpress).

ELECTIONS

Presidential candidate Jorge Carlos Fonseca met with a group of supporters in Lisbon in Portugal to speak of his run in next year’s presidential elections in Cape Verde. During the meeting, he affirmed that he expected the support of opposition party MpD (A Semana).

PRAIA

The Prime Minister has challenged the Praia local authorities to create a “monumental complex” paying tribute the city near Gamboa beach and serving to remind locals and tourists of the passage of Vasco da Gama (A Semana).

The municipalities of Praia and Ribeira Grande de Santiago have signed a sister-city protocol aimed at the joint development of the two districts in areas such as territorial management, culture and the economy. The foundation was also laid for the future creation of a metropolitan region that would also encompass the municipality of São Domingos (A Semana).

The 18th edition of Praia’s Gamboa Festival has begun, marked by a number of innovations. In categories ranging from the stage to the assistance area, the organization stands out for its creativity, diversity, comfort and safety during the two-day music festival (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

Low-intensity tremors have been felt in the northern part of the island of Santo Antão, in the municipalities of Paúl and RIbeira Grande (A Semana).

SAO VICENTE

Tambla Almeida presents on Friday May 28th, at the Academy music Jotamont in São Vicente, his second short film, entitled “Ulime” (Here I am) (Inforpress).

FOGO

Five breeders from Chã de Caldeiras and Cabeça Fundão in Fogo, were offered a set of equipment for installation of family cheese production (Inforpress).

Cape Verde business news

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Tourism, Travel on May 24, 2010 at 7:40 pm

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The Copacabana residential complex in Mindelo on Sao Vicente (Tecnicil).

ECONOMY

Credit rating agency Fitch this month maintained its rating on Cape Verde and the country’s outlook as “stable” despite warning of rises in public and foreign debt levels (Macauhub).

ENERGY

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a 15 million euro loan to Cape Verde to finance a wind energy project on four of the country’s islands (Santiago, Sao Vicente, Sal and Boavista), the institution announced (Macauhub).

CRUISE

Based on its dimensions and the number of people and amount of money it involves, cruise-ship tourism in Cape Verde is in need of a socio-economic impact and tourist satisfaction study (A Semana).

WINE

Recently created Vitalsum, an Italian-Cape Verdean company based on the island of São Vicente, has begun to produce three brands of red and white wine for the Cape Verdean and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets. Various types of juice are also in company’s plan for the next 12 months (A Semana).

AVIATION

The May/June issue of trade magazine Airports of the World has dedicated four pages to the island of Boa Vista and its international airport in a report entitled “Boa Vista: African beach paradise” (A Semana).

TOURISM

The second edition of the Cape Verdean tourism trade fair Expotur will take place in São Filipe Fort in Cidade Velha between June 25 and 27. With a “much larger” budget than last year, Expotur already has a 26% occupation rate for its stands, and this year’s theme will be “Back to the Origins” (A Semana).

MICRO CREDIT

US organization Africare has committed itself to help Cape Verde in the microcredit, small business, education and agricultural sectors, according to one of its founders, Curtir Winsor. The fact that the Cape Verdean community in the United States is made up largely of “good, hard-working and honest people” was a major contributing factor in the decision (A Semana).

Cape Verde Business & Economy

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Ports, Real estate, Security, Stock exchange, Tourism, Travel on May 16, 2010 at 10:14 am

ECONOMY

Bank of Cape Verde governor Carlos Burgo has confirmed forecasts predicting a slight recovery for the nation’s economy, which is expected to grow between 4% and 5% this year, with a “significant” reduction of the risks predicted in initial forecasts. Burgo also forecasts growth in Cape Verde’s GDP and slight improvement in public revenues, but alerted to “existing risks and uncertainties” (A Semana).

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Cape Verde Thursday as part of the evaluation of the Policy Support Instrument (PSI) (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Portuguese travel agency Entremares is promoting its “Cape Verdean Triangle” program, which offers tourists three nights on the island of Sal, two nights on São Vicente and two nights on Santiago, with prices starting at 949 euros per person in double rooms (A Semana).

FINANCE

Sal will be the first municipality in Cape Verde to issue future bonds on the Stock Exchange to obtain financing. The Sal municipal assembly has approved the technical details of the public offer totaling 200 million escudos. Praia is likely to follow close on Sal’s heels, with a 450 million-escudo bond issue (A Semana).

PORTS

The scanners purchased by port management company Enapor from Chinese firm Nuctech to heighten shipping container traffic security at Praia, Mindelo and Palmeira sea ports are expected to be operational starting next month (A Semana).

Cape Verde news update, May 2nd

In Airports, Banking, Cape Verde, Energy, Politics, Real estate, Tourism, Travel on May 2, 2010 at 10:51 am

POLITICS

Praia mayor Ulisses Correia e Silva said that the search carried out by the Judiciary Police in the São Vicente municipal chamber building was an excessive show of force. According to Correia e Silva, if similar measures had been taken regarding acts committed by the previous administration of the Praia municipal chamber, war tanks and bazookas would have been needed (A Semana).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Cape Verde is in the race to host the headquarters of the Institute of West Africa (IWA) (Inforpress).

REAL ESTATE

Construction and real-estate company Sogei has unveiled its headquarters in one of the two buildings it has completed in Praia’s Chã d’Areia district, where two more business towers – one to serve commercial bank BAI and the other the future headquarters of the bank Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde – are under construction, making up what is already being called Praia’s financial district (A Semana).

The workers of the company Construções de Cabo Verde (CVC) that went  on strike for a period of 24 hours, demanded a salary readjustment around 20 percent, retroactive salary accumulated and better balance between the various sectors within the company (Inforpress).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

The BAI offices in downtown Praia (Sogei).

AIRPORTS

The Cape Verdean airline company TACV started weekly flights connecting São Vicente and Lisbon (Inforpress).

During the first quarter of 2010, passenger traffic in Cape Verde’s airports grew 9.1% in relation to the same period last year. Amílcar Cabral International Airport on the island of Sal, with a total of 161,007 passengers and growth of 6% in comparison to the first quarter of 2009, accompanied the upward trend that appears to be spurring the world economy and the Cape Verdean tourism sector (A Semana).

Minister of Internal Administration Lívio Lopes presided over the unveiling of the Secure Automatic Exit and Entry Process system (known by the Portuguese-language acronym PASSE) at Boa Vista International Airport (A Semana).

The projects planned for the Sal, Boa Vista and Praia airports could come to be financed by the African Development Bank, according to an announcement by Airport and Air Security company ASA administrative council president Mário Paixão at the end of a brief visit by African Development Bank president Donald Kaberuka (A Semana).

The volume of air cargo moved in Cape Verde registered an overall reduction of two percent in the first trimester of 2010 (Inforpress).

INTERNET

Users of Internet services provided by Cabo Verde Multimédia, a subsidiary of Cabo Verde Telecom, have been experiencing frequent problems, with no explanations provided by the company (A Semana).

PRAIA

Praia mayor Ulisses Correia e Silva said that the municipal chamber is going to build a new central market in the city. The new market is to be located on the current site of the Coco soccer field in order to improve sanitary and organizational conditions. Correia e Silva presented the project for the market to Praia’s saleswomen (A Semana).

ENERGY

Germany is to invest 40 million euros in four wind farms on four islands in the Cape Verdean archipelago, Cape Verde’s Tourism Minister said (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, April 25th

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Media, Politics, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on April 25, 2010 at 1:18 pm

POLITICS

The National Assembly has approved the new journalists’ statute, which consecrates the mandatory need to have a degree of higher learning in journalism in order to practice the profession in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Former Portuguese president Ramalho Eanes admits that the decolonization process carried out by Portugal in 1975 “was not the best,” but even so considers the idea that Cape Verde should not have become independent, voiced several days ago by his successor, former Portuguese president Mário Soares, “not very reasonable” (A Semana).

DEFENCE

Cape Verde may be chosen to host the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Naval Logistics Base (A Semana).

ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected 5% growth in the Cape Verdean economy for this year, a figure expected to improve to 5.5% in 2011, according to the institution’s World Economic Outlook (A Semana).

ENERGY

The island of São Vicente experienced several power outages Wednesday, April 21, particularly on the outskirts of the city of Mindelo and other villages, where the blackout lasted for more than 16 consecutive hours. According to water and electricity utility Electra, the power cuts were caused by a technical problem in the main generator at the Lazareto power station (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

“The lifting of the embargo on agricultural products from the island of Santo Antão is scheduled to take place in July,” according to Minister of the Environment, Rural Development and Marine Resources José Maria Veiga (A Semana).

The City hall of Ribeira Grande de Santiago joins today to the Earth Day with a programme of distribution and planting fruit trees, in the Cidade Velha (Inforpress).

TELECOM

The project for the extension of Cabo Verde Telecom’s fiber optics network in Chã das Caldeiras on the island of Fogo will move forward with the placement of aerial rather than underground cables, despite recent protests by local residents, who feared the aerial cables would jeopardize the area’s natural beauty (A Semana).

HEALTH

Cape Verde is among the 10 countries oin Africa that have managed to decrease malaria prevalence in its territory by approximately 50 percent between 2000 and 2008, as WHO data show (Inforpress).

TRAVEL & TOURISM

The certification process is delaying the arrival of new plane ATR of the private air carrier Halcyonair (Inforpress).

The confidence indicator for the Tourism sector in Cape Verde in the first quarter posted its lowest level since 2002, the year in which the archipelago’s National Statistics Institute (INE) first launched the series of Company Economic Climate Surveys (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, April 18th

In Agriculture, Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Infrastructure, Investments, Politics, Real estate, Telecom, Tourism on April 18, 2010 at 2:30 pm

POLITICS

Former Portuguese President Mário Soares expressed his opinion that Cape Verde “should not have been independent” and that the archipelago “would have a lot to gain” in having avoided breaking away from Portugal. “I always thought that Cape Verde should not have been independent, and that’s why I didn’t watch Cape Verde’s independence,” he said (A Semana).

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, called the development of special partnership between the EU and Cape Verde a “remarkable success”, highlighting the ongoing negotiation for the visa facilitation agreement (Inforpress).

TRANSPORT

The second Cabo Verde Fast Ferry vessel is to be called “Liberdadi”. The name of the first vessel is Kriola. Construction of the first of the two ferries is expected to be concluded by October of this year. The second ferry, according to Cabo Verde Fast Ferry, is slated to be finished in January of 2011 (A Semana).

TELECOMS

Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa presided on April 17 over the launch of the company Cabo TLC at the headquarters of the Windward Islands Commercial Association in Mindelo. Cabo TLC is a telecommunications company that will use VoIP technology to provide clients with communication at a relatively low cost (A Semana).

Seven out of every 10 cape Verdean inhabitants have a mobile phone according to figures presented Wednesday by the National Communication Agency (ANAC), according to which mobile telephone service subscribers now total 350,000, out of a total population of 500,000 (Macauhub).

LAND

Minister of Decentralization and Territorial Management Sara Lopes said that the government wants all of the municipal land management instruments elaborated by 2011 and that the country’s municipalities should conclude their Municipal Directive Plans by that time (A Semana).

TOURISM

Portuguese tourism company Soltrópico, which specializes in vacations to Cape Verde, has launched a travel package for the islands of Santiago and Fogo between May 1 and October 24 (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

A small technical team led by the hydrogeology technician Mota Gomes is on Santo Antão, conducting studies to build at least three small dams on that island (Inforpress).

The cultivation of grapes in Chã de Caldeiras and in the uplands of the municipality of Mosteiros, Fogo Island, doubled in the last 30 years. In the year 2009  over 50 thousand new vine plants haven been planted (Inforpress).

EDUCATION

The Prime-minister, José Maria Neves, said that the Government created the Business and Governance School at the University of Cape Verde (Uni-CV) with the objective to train new enterprise leaders (Inforpress).

ENERGY

Construction work on the solar power plants in Praia and on Sal have begun, the Cape Verdean authorities have said. The two facilities will reduce CO2 emissions by 13,000 tons per year and provide around 4 percent of Cape Verde’s entire electricity production capacity (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, April 4th

In Brazil, Cape Verde, Hotels, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on April 4, 2010 at 1:46 pm

POLITICS

The Cape Verdean government does not have enough diplomats to place in all of the countries where Cape Verdean communities exist, Minister of Foreign Affairs José Brito, admitted (A Semana).

ECONOMY

2010 began with a 10.2% drop in remittances from Cape Verdean émigrés in January, in comparison to the month before. And those remittances coming from the United States and the Euro Zone saw even more drastic drops, of 11.8% and 11.1%, respectively, in comparison to December 2009 (A Semana).

ATLANTICO

The 4th General Cape Verdean Population and Housing Census will be carried out in 2010 with the support of Brazil, which will make 150 handheld computers, known as PDAs, available for census-taking activities. The technology, which was developed by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE), will be used to count the population and in the training of Cape Verdean census-takers (A Semana).

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Service is preparing three business missions in April,  to China, Brazil and Canary Islands (Inforpress).

HOTELS

Six of Cape Verde’s hotels have been nominated for the 17th edition of the World Travel Awards. The Oásis Atlântico Novorizonte, Oásis Atlântico PraiaMar, Dunal del Sol, Foya Branca, Morabeza and Migrante Guest House have been nominated in the Cape Verde’s Leading Hotel category (A Semana).

The proposed 7star Palm View Resort on Boa Vista was awarded building licenses by the Cape Verdean authorities. The luxury will be constructed on the  exclusive beach front of Chaves Beach (Visao News).

TELECOMS

Cape Verde jumped from 107th to 102nd place on the list of countries in terms of the development of information and communication technology. Cape Verde occupies fourth place in Africa (A Semana).

Cape Verde news update, March 14th

In Cape Verde, Economy, Hotels, Investments, Politics, Security, Tourism on March 14, 2010 at 11:22 am

POLITICS

Nearly half of the residents of Praia (48%) believe current municipal chamber president Ulisses Correia e Silva to be a better mayor than his predecessor, Felisberto Vieira, according to an Afrosondagem survey carried out in December. The survey also found that 75% of Praia resident gave a positive evaluation of Correia e Silva’s work. Among individuals with a college education, the mayor’s approval rating stood at 39% (A Semana).

Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa will participate will travel to Portuguese capital Lisbon for a dinner scheduled to take place on March 20 in support of his possible presidential bid (A Semana).

The United States State Department report on human rights for the year 2008 says that, in general, the Cape Verdean government “respected the human rights of its citizens.” However, problems were reported in areas such as “police abuse of detainees, police impunity, poor prison conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, excessive trial delays, violence and discrimination against women, child abuse, and some instances of child labor” (A Semana).

ECONOMY

Representatives from two Indian communication technology companies, NIIT and Angelic International Limited, are visiting Cape Verde as part of the implementation of a project financed by the Indian government to produce software and business incubators in the archipelago (A Semana).

Spanish company Ramon Vizcaíno has been selected to build a cold-storage infrastructure on the island of São Vicente (A Semana).

Prime Minister José Maria Veiga announced in Mindelo, at a meeting with ship-owners and fishermen’s associations, that there are eight million dollars from the World Bank,  1 million Euros of the Spanish cooperation and a million and 146 thousand dollars of FAO to boost the fishing sector (Inforpress).

Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil plans to increase its turnover six-fold in Cape Verde over the next three years from 20 million euros at the moment to 120 million, the group’s chief executive said in Praia (Macauhub).

The placement of a bond issue by Cape Verde’s Tecnicil tourism property company has surpassed expectations, the president of the island country’s stock exchange stated (Macauhub).

TOURISM

Stays in Cape Verde’s hotel establishments rose 10.6% in 2009. Data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveals that most of the tourists came from the United Kingdom. English tourists were also those that spent the most time in the country. Sal continues the most visited island by foreign tourists (A Semana).

Cape Verde will make its presence felt between March 16 and 18 at Seatrade Miami, in the United States. Seatrade Miami is the world’s largest cruise-related trade fair (A Semana).

INFRASTRUCTURE

A tender has been launched to select the company that will carry out asphalting work on the São Domingos (Variante)-São Miguel road, according to Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa (A Semana).

The government has unveiled the new and improved Cruz Grande-Calhetona road, an infrastructure that will facilitate travel between the municipalities of Santa Catarina and São Miguel, on the island of Santiago. The official ceremony was presided over by Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

EDUCATION

The University of Santiago (US), headquartered in Assomada, made the public presentation of the first five postgraduate courses that will start in May (Inforpress).

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