The governor of the Bank of Cape Verde, Carlos Burgo, will be summoned to parliament to testify on the health of the country’s economy and the credibility of its financial institutions. The initiative comes from opposition party MpD and is aimed at clarifying the evidence pointing to dangerous connections between some commercial banks, drug trafficking and money laundering (A Semana).

Fernando Moeda, a member of the PAICV National Council and the current executive administrator of commercial bank BCA, will be the party’s mayoral candidate in this year’s municipal elections in Praia (A Semana).

The female trio of PAICV mayoral candidates on the island of Santo Antão is complete. Leonesa Fortes, the current board of directors chair at the National Social Security Institute (INPS), has been chosen as the party’s candidate in the 2012 municipal elections in Ribeira Grande de Santo Antão (A Semana).

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INTERNATIONAL

Cape Verde and the United States will sign the accord for the second Millennium Challenge Account financial compact on February 10. The signing will take place in Praia and will be attended by a delegation headed by the executive director of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Daniel W. Yohannes (A Semana).

Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves met with U.S. Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) to discuss relations between Cape Verde and the United States, as well as the rich cultural contributions made by Cape Verdeans living in Rhode Island’s First Congressional District (Go Local).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

Cape Verdean Armed Forces Chief of Staff Colonel Alberto Fernandes said at the end of the Falcão 12 military exercise that the country’s Armed Forces are prepared to combat any illicit acts that may come to occur in Cape Verde. São Nicolau is expected to be the stage for next year’s edition of the military exercise, which took place under the command of French troops (A Semana).

FOGO

São Filipe district court ordered Henrique Teixeira Nogueira (better known as Dickie), the main suspect in last week’s murder of businessman João da Rosa (better known as Djon Boca Pato), held in preventative custody pending trial (A Semana).

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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, recently updated.

SAL

A guard at the Sal municipal chamber auto repair garage was brutally murdered Sunday afternoon while on duty. Pedro da Cruz, better known as Ti Piras, was found dead with a belt around his neck and various cuts and bruises all over his body (A Semana).

The Cape Verdean government should maintain a posture of austerity in order to preserve the fixed exchange rate between the escudo and the Euro and protect the economy against external shocks. These are the recommendations made by the deputy managing director and acting chair of the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board, which has just concluded its second and final assessment of Cape Verde’s performance within the context of its Policy Support Instrument (A Semana).

Cape Verde,  the country with no recession and huge tourism growth! Check the charts.

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AGRI ETC.

Minister of Rural Development Eva Ortet is hoping to obtain support from Germany in order to expand the cultivation of jatropha in Cape Verde. Cooperation between the two countries in this domain is expected to begin in the coming days, with the planting of more than 37,000 jatropha plants on the island of Fogo (A Semana).

AVIATION

Passenger traffic at Cape Verde’s airports and aerodromes rose 11.2 percent year on year in 2011, from 1.6 million to 1.78 million, the country’s airport management company, Empresa Nacional de Aeroportos e Segurança (Asa) said in Praia (Macauhub).

Cape Verde is currently under a dense cloud cover, which has made flights to several of the country’s islands, particularly those whose airports feature limitations, such as São Nicolau, difficult. The high levels of dust in the air have further aggravated the situation. On Wednesday, February 1, for example, domestic flights to Boa Vista, Sal and São Vicente were cancelled (A Semana).

Despite the conflicting information being broadcast in the Cape Verdean media, the government has apparently maintained its decision to name Praia International Airport after Nelson Mandela, according to cabinet spokesman and Defense Minister Jorge Tolentino, who reacted to the apparently inaccurate news that the decision had been annulled (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 Jose Pedro Oliveira, aka Djopan, of Hotel Pedracin Village.

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

REAL ESTATE

Cape Verde’s popularity with UK overseas property investors rocketed at the start of the year according to an internet portal. The multi-island nation jumped 18 places in the portal’s latest Top of the Props report, becoming the seventh most popular destination on the chart (OPP).

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UTILITIES

The government of Cape Verde is planning to add a further eight desalination plants to boost drinking water capacity and meet booming demand from increased tourism (Water World).

Portuguese construction company Soares da Costa is due to hand over the Sana Luanda Royal Hotel, which will be inaugurated on 4 February (Macauhub).

POLITICS

Angola’s president has moved the head of state oil firm Sonangol into the government to coordinate economic policy, state news agency Angop reported, a move likely to fuel speculation that Manuel Vicente has been selected to succeed Eduardo dos Santos (Reuters).

A fierce political row is brewing in Angola where opposition parties accuse the ruling MPLA of exerting too much influence over the organisation of the country’s upcoming general election (News24).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

Damen Shipyards Galati is building the Ngola Kiluange, a Fishery Inspection Surveillance Vessel (FISV) 6210, for the Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. With another two ships under construction, the Angolan government is set to strengthen its knowledge of and control over its rich fishing grounds (Forbes).

ECONOMY

When you think of the world’s most expensive cities, the dusty Angolan capital of Luanda seems an unlikely contender. Potholed, chaotic and still scarred by decades of civil war, the city has little of the glitz and glamour of Tokyo, New York or Moscow, and an estimated half of Angolans live on less than $2 a day. But despite the obvious poverty and sprawling slums, Luanda still manages to boast some eye-wateringly high prices (BBC).

The Angolan government paid debts in the amount of US$2.653 billion to Angolan and foreign creditors between 2003 and 2010, the Finance Minister, Carlos Lopes said (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

Shareholders in Portuguese-pay TV provider Zon Multimedia have abandoned limits on voting rights, opening the way for investors to increase their stakes and raising the chances of a merger deal. Analysts said the move could open the way for Angolan investor Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s president, to boost her 10 percent holding in Zon (Reuters).

Two American music promoters were detained for fraud in Angola after US rap star Nas failed to pitch up for a New Year’s concert, their business partner’s lawyer said. Patrick Allocco and his son are being held responsible after Nas didn’t perform though he was paid up front, said Joao Barros, who represents their long-time Angolan business partner Henrique Miguel (News24).

BANKING

Portugal’s Competition Authority has approved the acquisition by Angolan bank Banco Internacional de Crédito (BIC) of 100 percent of Portuguese bank Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) (Macauhub).

Angola’s state-controlled oil company Sonangol — the largest single shareholder in Portugal’s Millennium bcp — wants the bank to gain global scale in a restructuring that involves a management shakeup (Reuters).

OIL & GAS

Sonangol Starfish has made its first discovery of traces of oil in the sea, in Brazil’s Campos Basin, in a block that had already been unsuccessfully drilled, the company said in a statement sent to the National Oil Agency (ANP) (Macauhub).

The International Criminal Court (ICC) held a ceremony on 19 January 2012 at the seat of the Court in The Hague to welcome Cape Verde as the 119th State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty. Cape Verde is also the 33rd African State Party, the first Lusophone country in Africa and the 12th member of the Economic Community of West African States to adhere to the Rome Statute, which took effect in the country on 1 January 2012 (ICC).

Cape Verde has risen to an amazing 9th place on the Reporters Without Frontiers Press Freedom Index 2011. Norway, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, Austria, Iceland, Luxembourg and Switzerland are leading the top 10, with Canada trailing Cape Verde at 10th place.

A Boston University’s fellowship has served a different but perhaps very important purpose: to highlight the small but growing group of countries in Africa that have already built successful democracies. It has served as a kind of think-tank and support system for well-run nations you almost never hear about: Cape Verde, Botswana, and Mauritius (Boston.com).

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DEFENSE & SECURITY

A 17-year-old male was killed in the early morning hours of Saturday in the capital city during a confrontation between rival gangs from the Praia neighborhoods of Várzea and Achadinha. The boy was hit in the neck by a bullet fired from a homemade pistol (A Semana).

CULTURE

Most anyone who knows the music of Cape Verde, an archipelago nestled 500km off the coast of West Africa, first learned of these sublime sounds through the music of Cesária Évora. She popularised morna, the melancholy strains that are unmistakably the Cape-Verdean style of blues. Évora passed away last month, but the emotional essence of morna lives on through one of the country’s most celebrated sirens—27-year-old Mayra Andrade (The Economist).

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BOA VISTA

Current Boa Vista mayor José Pinto Almeida has beat José Luís Santos in the internal party dispute of which the two were protagonists, and is now the MpD’s candidate in this year’s municipal elections on the island (A Semana).

Render of a new Aparthotel for Mindelo, Sao Vicente, boasting 120 apartments and a rooftop swimming pool (source).

ECONOMY

The World Bank plans to loan Cape Verde US$1 million for its Growth and Competitiveness Fund (FCC), which is focused on supporting Cape Verdean companies, said the FCC’s representative at the Sotavento Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCISS) (Macauhub).

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ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

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And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

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TOURISM

Thirty-five percent of the funding to build a cruise terminal and ancillary services in Sao Vicente has been approved, the National Administration of Ports of Cape Verde (Enapor) reported (AW).

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The Parliament of Angola canceled a session that would have sworn in the head of a national elections commission whom opposition parties have rejected (Bloomberg).

Angola’s ruling MPLA party defended the re-appointment of the electoral commission chief and said opposition criticism was aimed at causing instability before an election this year (Reuters).

INTERNATIONAL

The strategic plan to set up the Cross-border Maiombe Forest Conservation Area, between Angola, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, requires US$40 million in investment, the project’s regional coordinator said (Macauhub).

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ECONOMY

The economy of Angola grew 3.4 percent last year with “prudent” policies, the International Monetary Fund said in a review of a $1.4 billion loan program (Bloomberg).

Angola is making “concerted efforts” to explain a $32bn gap in the government’s accounts, which apparently was caused by undocumented spending on infrastructure projects, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said (BusinessDay).

The Angolan government does not plan to take out another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when its US$1.4 billion loan under the terms of a stand by agreement is concluded this year, Angola’s Economy Minister said (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol EP and some of the country’s banks are interested in stakes in Portuguese companies, Angolan Economy Minister Abraao Gourgel said (Bloomberg).

AGRI ETC

Angolan state company Mecanegro will be the target of a modernisation programme that will be funded by a US$40 million loan provided by the Export Import (ExIm) Bank of China, the chairman of the company said (Macauhub).

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MINING

Prospecting work to re-open the iron ore and manganese mines in Kassala-Kitungo, in Angola’s Kwanza Norte province, began last week. The project, which is part of public-private partnership involving state mining company Empresa Nacional de Ferro de Angola (Ferrangol) and Angola Exploration Mining Resources (AEMR), was launched in the first half of 2011 (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

March loading cargoes of Angolan crude oil have nearly sold out, following relatively strong demand from Asia and a fall in the export volume for the month, traders said (Reuters).

Angola plans to reduce its daily crude oil exports in March by 12 percent to 1.61 million barrels a day, the lowest in nine months, according to a final loading program obtained by Bloomberg News.

Engen Petroleum Limited, the African downstream petroleum products refiner and marketer, has acquired the assets of Chevron in seven countries in sub-Sahara Africa, namely Nigeria and Angola. “We have completed the integration process, now the sky is the limit as we seek to become the champion in Africa,” Henry Akwaboah, managing director of Engen, Ghana, stated at an award ceremony in Accra (Businessdayonline) .

TELECOMS

Vodacom Group Ltd. plans to pull out of the Democratic Republic of Congo by selling its 51 percent stake in a local mobile-phone business to MTN Group Ltd. or Unitel SA of Angola (Businessweek).

TOURISM

Angola is expected to register until 2020 a movement of four million tourists, the minister of Hotel and Tourism, Pedro Mutindi, said in Luanda  (ANGOP).

Prime Minister José Maria Neves affirmed he was unaware of any request for information regarding possible secret CIA flights used to transport terrorism suspects through Cape Verdean airspace (A Semana).

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INTERNATIONAL

The United States will continue to support Cape Verde and the entire ECOWAS region in the fight against drug trafficking, organized crime, illegal migration and money laundering, affirmed Prime Minister José Maria Neves in a press conference following his meeting of nearly one hour with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton made a stopover on the island of Sal at the end of a visit to four West African countries (A Semana).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

Secret police from the United States and various European countries believe there to be Cape Verdeans both inside the country and abroad who have converted to Islam and are recruiting individuals for military training in Yemen, one of Al Qaeda’s main bases. The suspicions have gained strength with the recent visit to Cape Verde of eleven members of the radical Islamic faction Tabligh Jamaat – considered the largest recruitment entity for the terrorist organization founded by Bin Laden – and took on alarming proportions with the declarations of French Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain Juppé, who confirmed Al Qaeda’s expansion from Somalia to coastal West Africa, crossing the entire Sahel region (A Semana).

The Cape Verde Coast Guard has commissioned a new 51 metre long Stan Patrol SPA 5009 patrol vessel built by the Damen shipyard. The vessel, based on Damen’s Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 5009, was commissioned on January 7. It features a single ‘Axe Bow’ which delivers high speeds with low fuel consumption. More than 60 Damen Sea Axe vessels have already been delivered as Crew Boats and Fast Crew Suppliers but the Cape Verde craft is the first Offshore Patrol Vessel version (Defenceweb).

SANTIAGO

The global price of the Santa Catarina de Santiago sanitation project, which is being financed by the French Development Agency and the Cape Verdean government, stands at 10 million Euros, and includes work on the water distribution and sewer system in the municipality (A Semana).

Cape Verde has decided to rename its Praia International Airport after South Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela, an icon for freedom in Africa. The decision pays homage to Mandela, who on February 11 marks 22 years since he was released from prison, where he had spent 27 years for his struggle against the white apartheid regime in South Africa (AFP).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

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SANTO ANTAO

President Jorge Carlos Fonseca Jorge Carlos Fonseca, on his first official visit to the island of Santo Antão, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Missolini Complex in the city of Ribeira Grande (A Semana).

Cape Verde records 4.5% inflation in Dec. 2011 – Inflation in Cape Verde in December 2011 stood at 4.5%, double the rate at the same time in 2010, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) (Afrique en Ligne).

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AGRI ETC

Wines from wineries Sodade and Chã, both produced on the island of Fogo, will be included, for the first time, in the 21st edition of the annual Boston wine exposition, which runs until Sunday, January 22 (A Semana).

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s new feature: Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. This week with Emanuel Spencer of SCI, Cape Verde’s first multinational!

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

TOURISM

British tourism group The Resort Group PLC plans to build six tourist resorts on Cape Verde’s Boa Vista island over the next 12 to 15 years, increasing the number of rooms the groups has on the island to 4,300 (Macauhub).

Breathtaking beaches lure tourists to the Cape Verde islands.  Even in the main winter season there is little sign of hectic activity on Sal and neighbouring Boa Vista – even though these two are the most popular islands in the entire archipelago, which lies off the coast of West Africa (Monsters and Critics).

The Ribeira Grande de Santo Antão municipal chamber will promote an international forum on the sustained development of tourism in the municipality and on the island of Santo Antão in general. The event, which is taking place at the Pedracin Village Hotel, will be opened by Minister of Rural Development Eva Ortet (A Semana).

SPLIT SECOND POLLS

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Render of the Lobito Towers mixed project for Lobito (Skyscrapercity).

POLITICS

Angola’s Magistrates Superior Council re-elected Judge Suzana Nicolau Ingles as chairman of the country’s Electoral Commission, Radio Nacional de Angola reported, citing Adelino de Almeida, vice minister for territorial administration (Bloomberg).

Angola’s government has denied a report by Human Rights Watch suggesting that 32 billion dollars are missing from state funds, thought to be linked to the state oil company Sonangol (Vanguard).

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ECONOMY

Angola’s foreign-currency reserves rose 44 percent last year to reach $25.02 billion in December as Africa’s second-biggest oil producer benefited from rising crude prices, a document from Angola’s central bank showed (Bloomberg).

Angola’s Economy minister, Abraão Gourgel, said that Angola was open to small and medium-sized Portuguese companies that wanted to set themselves up in the country (Macauhub).

Angola loses about Usd 18 million per year out of idle hours spent by workers, especially in activities started with a delay. The disclosure came from the chairman of the Angola Industrial Association (AIA), José Severino (Angop).

MINING

Endiama EP, Angola’s state-owned diamond company, will focus on finding new diamond deposits following a surge in gem prices that has spurred foreign investor interest in the industry (Bloomberg).

China’s increasing demand for diamonds is expected to support Angolan diamond exports and prices in 2012, said Antonio Jose Freitas, a spokesman for state-owned diamond company Endiama EP (Bloomberg).

Kymberlite exploration company Sociedade Mineira de Catoca (SMC) in 2011 produced around 6.7 million carats of diamonds and posted gross revenues of US$611 million, the company’s managing director said (Macauhub).

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OIL & GAS

CPC Corp., a Taiwan state-run oil company, bought 4 million barrels of Angolan crude for loading in March via a tender, according to four traders who participate in the market (Businessweek).

The execution of the Sector Plan for Renewable Energies, with a target of 50 percent “penetration” of renewable energies in Cape Verde by 2020, is expected to cost over 300 million euros, Minister Humberto Brito said (Macauhub).

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INTERNATIONAL

New York City will be the stage Saturday, January 14, for the second edition of the Cape Verde Expo of New York, which will feature music, fashion, cinema and visual arts from the archipelago. The musical portion of the event will be guaranteed by cabojazz singer Cândida Rose, singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Zé Rui de Pina (both of whom reside in the United States), and special guest artist Isa Pereira, who will travel all the way from Cape Verde to participate (A Semana).

CULTURE

The nominees for the 23 categories of the Cape Verde Music Awards are already known. Dina Medina – with six nominations – and Tcheka and Mirri Lobo – with five each – are the artists with more nominations for the event that takes place on the 12th of March, in the city of Praia,  Santiago Island (CVMA).

Cooperation between Spain and Cape Verde will continue, with the next Indicative Cooperation Programme (PIC) to be studied, assured José Luis Rocha, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Inforpress).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

Four former National Police Anti-Crime Brigade agents have been transferred to the Achada de São Filipe and Achada de Santo António National Police squadrons in Praia. The corporation’s Praia Regional Command recruited 16 new faces from the National Police Corps of Intervention and the various squadrons in the capital city in order to boost the work and image of the Anti-Crime and Criminal Investigation Brigade in the capital, an image that was severely tarnished by “internal crimes” (A Semana).

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FOGO

With its smoking core, Fogo is the most obvious embodiment of Cape Verde’s own roots deep below the earth’s crust. The island’s active volcano, Pico de Fogo, sits inside the blown out crater of an older, much larger cone, offering views from its summit on a clear day of the country’s largest island of Santiago. In the opposite direction, across a short stretch of tumultuous sea, the archipelago’s smallest island of Brava is seemingly within reach from the cobblestone street in front of the Cape Cod International Restaurante, located in Fogo’s main city of São Filipe (Cape Cod Online).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

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SANTIAGO

After Mato Grosso state capital Cuiabá and Ceará state capital Fortaleza, the city of Praia is preparing to sign a sister-city accord with a third Brazilian state capital: Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia. The areas of cooperation that have thus far been identified include culture, the business sector, security, education, professional training and information technology. The final accord is expected to be ready by the end of this year (A Semana).

Render of the Sinagoga resort for Sinagoga on Santo Antao, consisting of 44 homes and a four star hotel. Construction starts this month (source).

AGRI ETC

The Cape Verdean government plans this year to set up on the archipelago a pilot unit for seaweed production to extract beta-carotene, a substance used, for example, as a food colouring, the secretary of state for Marine Resources said in Praia (Macauhub).

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ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s new feature: Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, which will be a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. We started off with Josephine Sturiale, Paulino Dias, Patone Lobo and others. Coming soon is an interview with Emanuel Spencer of SCI.

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

FISHERIES

A partnership between companies from the Brazilian state from Ceará and from Cape Verde has been set up with the aim of farming shrimp on the archipelago, according to Brazilian newspaper Diário do Nordeste. The newspaper said that the outlined investment totalled 1.5 million euros, half of which was a donation from the Netherlands government and the other half provided by the companies that make up the partnership, called Pescados de Cabo Verde, one of which is Ceará-based company Universo Pescados (Macauhub).

PORTS

Brazilian shipping and docks company Companhia Docas do Ceará (CDC) and Cape Verdean ports manager Empresa Nacional de Administração dos Portos (Enapor) signed a protocol of cooperation to increase business between Brazil and Africa, using the West African archipelago’s ports (Macauhub).

The ship Vicente, owned by shipping company Tuninha, began its first reconnaissance trip to the ports in which it will operate today. Vicente will carry out weekly trips and facilitate the transportation of products between all islands except for Maio, Brava and Santo Antão (A Semana).

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President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is expected to confirm later this month that he will lead his MPLA party in a general election in the third quarter of the year. With Dos Santos apparently ready to go ahead with a re-election bid, the focus is on the MPLA’s choice for No. 2 on its candidate list for the election to be announced this month. This may signal the choice of a successor. Read about the key political risks to watch in Angola at Reuters.

ECONOMY

The privatisation programme underway in Portugal offers “rich pickings” for Angolan companies interested in making acquisitions, and oil and gas company Galp Energia is at the top of the “shopping list,” according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Attracting Angolan investment was a priority at the recent visit to Luanda by Portuguese Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho (Macauhub).

The lifetime of Angola’s oil reserves, which had previously been estimated at 20 years, has been increased to 50 years following the start of exploration of the pre-salt layer, according to a projection from oil company BP (Macauhub).

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AGRI ETC

Agricultural production in Angola in 2011 posted growth of 8 percent against 2010, the Angolan Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing, Afonso Pedro Canga announced (Macauhub).

The Angolan government has accused Namibian cattle farmers of orchestrating land grabs inside Angola. Namibian communal farmers in the northern areas graze their cattle and goats in Angola where the farmers also reportedly engage in illegal land grabs because of the fertility of the soil in the oil-rich country (New Era).

BANKING

Angolan banks are preparing to handle hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign oil companies operating in the African country when a law requiring them to use local lenders comes into effect later this year. Emidio Pinheiro, the chief executive officer of Banco Fomento Angola, the country’s second biggest private bank, expects oil companies to start using local banks to pay part of their taxes and suppliers by the end of June (Bloomberg).

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OIL & GAS

Angola expects to increase oil output to 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2014 from an estimated 1.8 mbpd this year due to new fields coming on line, oil minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos was quoted as saying (Reuters).

Angola produced 548 million barrels of crude, or an average of 1.65 million barrels a day, from January to October, he said (Bloomberg).

Iraqi police say insurgents disguised as soldiers have attacked a small oil field being developed by Sonangol in the north of the country, damaging equipment but causing no casualties (Washington Post).

TRANSPORT

The commercial director of Angolan regional railroad company Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela (CFB), Aquiles de Carvalho, said that the company intended for its trains to reach Luena, the capital of Moxico province, by 30 April of this year (Macauhub).

VARIOUS

A New Jersey concert promoter and his son were marooned in Angola, unable to leave the country while authorities investigate a canceled New Year’s Eve show by the rapper Nas (Fox News).

At least 270 citizens of various nationalities were taken to court in 2011 in northern Cabinda province for helping illegal immigration, the local director of the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME), Manuel Gomes, said (AllAfrica).

The remarkable economic and political progress of Cape Verde is seen as a blueprint for the rest of Africa, writes BBC Today programme presenter Evan Davis after a visit to the tiny island state.

Cape Verde stands at 26th place on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2011 Democracy Index, beating France and a number of other EU majors (Wikipedia).

CULTURE

Cesária Évora died on December 17th, aged 70. Read the excellent obituary in The Economist.

The recent death of Grammy award-winning singer Cesaria Evora — synonymous around the world with the Cape Verde Islands — is still being felt by Cape Verdean Americans and ex-pats, two weeks after her passing. The 70-year-old singer was honored on area radio, in restaurants, by local diplomatic offices and in churches, including in New Bedford, considered the oldest and one of the largest Cape Verdean immigrant communities in the country (SouthcoastToday).

The music video “Amor não é complicado,” by young Brazilian singer Kataleya, which has become a hit on the Internet and on television, is the work of Cape Verdean production company Klasszik (A Semana).

He grew up in Roxbury and Dorchester, the son of Cape Verdean immigrants. Now 26-year-old rap superstar Nilton Depina, who goes by the name 2Face Dejavu, has claimed the top rapper prize at last weeks “America’s Next Top Rapper” competition (Boston.com).

INTERNATIONAL

Vanny Reis became Miss West Africa 2011 (more pics at ModernGhana).

China has loaned Cape Verde over US$80 million under the terms of four agreements. Signed by the secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, José Luís Rocha, and by the Chinese ambassador to Cape Verde, two of the agreements will provide loans for construction of social housing, one for US$51 million and the other for US$12 million. The remaining two agreements related to expanding the National Stadium by a further 5,000 seats to a total of 15,000 as well as the project to extend and refurbish the Presidential Palace (Macauhub).

Cape Verde is due in February to sign for the second aid package from the United States Federal Government via the US institution Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the United States ambassador said in Cape Verde (Macauhub).

DEFENSE & SECURITY

The patrol ship Guardião arrived at Mindelo sea port on the island of São Vicente on December 30th. The ship, which was built in the Netherlands, will reinforce the patrolling of Cape Verde’s Exclusive Economic Zone and carry out search and rescue, inspection, anti-trafficking and anti-illegal fishing operations, among others (A Semana).

The Guardião will be baptized on Saturday January 7th in Mindelo.

The Council of Ministers on Tuesday will discuss the current situation of public security to ensure a zero tolerance policy on crime (AW).

The new Chief of the Armed Forces (CEMFA), Colonel Alberto Carlos Barbosa Fernandes, took office in a ceremony presided by the President, who praised the role of the Armed Forces in Cape Verde (Inforpress).

The Judicial Police (PJ) arrested a further five people in connection with Operation Speedboat, among them the former chairman of the board of the Stock Exchange, Veríssimo Pinto (AW).

SANTIAGO

Australian based Water Resource’s 49 per cent owned joint venture, Blue Acquified LDA, has agreed a 25 year contract to provide 1,400,000 cubic metres of water a year to the municipality of Santa Catarina (Money MSN).

SANTO ANTAO

The chairman of the PAICV’s Santo Antão Regional Political Commission, Carlos Delgado, has confirmed the incumbent mayor Vera Almeida will be the party’s candidate in the 2012 municipal elections in Paúl. Almeida promises to comment on the issue later this week (A Semana).

Electricity utility Electra is cutting off electricity to various public and private institutions with bills in arrear in the municipality of Porto Novo, on the island of Santo Antão. Cement company Cabocem and the Santantão Art Resort Hotel, both of which belong to Turinvest Holding, as well as the Porto Novo municipal chamber and the agricultural goods processing center, are among the first to have their energy supply suspended (A Semana).

SAO VICENTE

The workers at São Vicente retail establishment Casa do Leão entered 2012 unemployed and without hopes of receiving the eight months of wages they are owed any time soon. One of Mindelo’s historic commercial establishments, Casa do Leão declared bankruptcy some six months ago and closed its doors on December 30. Its workers are now fighting to have the back wages they are owed included in the compensation payment to which they have a right (A Semana).

The Council of Ministers approved the draft resolution to change the name of  São Pedro Airport on Sao Vicente in to Cesaria Evora Airport (AW).

Render of the Vista Ponta do Sol residential complex for Ponta do Sol on Santo Antao island, currently under development (SCI).

ECONOMY

The Bank of Cape Verde decided to increase the minimum cash availability rates by two percentage points from 16 percent to 18 percent and the base interest rate by 150 basis points from 4.25 percent to 5.75 percent. The Cape Verdean central bank explained the measures, which are intended to ensure the stability of the exchange rate and of the financial system, by noting the unfavourable progress of the balance of payments, persistence of serious financial problems on an international level, particularly in the Euro Zone, and the development of the economic situation in Cape Verde itself (Macauhub).

Germe (Better Manage Your Business), a project of the International Labour Organization that seeks to improve the performance of micro and small companies by providing them with information about management was launched in Cape Verde (Macauhub).

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BUSINESS

Angolan drinks company Empresa Nacional de Bebidas (Refriango) has said that it will end 2011 with production of 2 million litres of drinks and sales rising 20 percent against 2010. Cape Verde and South Africa would be the next potential export markets in 2012 where it planned to sell 2 million litres of drinks (Macauhub).

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.

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

FISHERIES

The government plans to invest 51 million escudos in the requalification of the Praia fishing dock, work on which will begin in February. The investment will be the most significant in the infrastructure since it was opened (A Semana).

PORTS

Cape Verde is not taking maximum advantage of the scanners recently installed to reinforce security in container traffic in the ports of Praia, Mindelo and Palmeira, according to the director general of customs, Marino Andrade, in whose view not even 10% of the equipment’s potential is being utilized (A Semana).

TOURISM

Meliá Hotels International recently announced the construction of its fourth hotel in Cape Verde and its first on the island of Boa Vista, which will join the three units the group already owns on Sal. The Meliá White Sands will be a luxury resort with 850 apartments (A Semana).

Praia’s airport, port and streets had a different flavor, in large part due to the presence of 572 Finnish tourists in the city. 308 of the tourists disembarked from a Kristina Cruises ship docked at Praia sea port and boarded an Airbus 330 back home. The same plane brought 264 Finnish tourists, who embarked on the same day for Mindelo. This was the first time Cape Verde has hosted an operation of its kind with such a large number of tourists – a sort of test for future incursions (A Semana).

Portuguese travel agency Solférias chartered a total of 101 flights to the islands of Boa Vista and Sal during the course of 2011. Of this total, 56 flights departed from Lisbon and Porto completely full. A total of 27,641 passengers flew to Cape Verde through the travel agency (A Semana).

Destinations such as the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Western Africa, are thought to be a hot spot for this year for Scotsmen as tourists shy away from the traditionally popular sun seeking destinations of Egypt and Tunisia due to political unrest in the countries over the past year (Scotsman).

THE GRAND TOUR OF CAPE VERDE

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

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Long-serving Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is keeping his country and the world guessing about whether he will bid for re-election in 2012 in Africa’s No. 2 oil producer (Reuters).

But Angola is preparing the necessary legal mechanisms to hold a well organised, transparent and fair parliamentary election in late 2012, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said (Reuters).

The Catholic Church in Angola on Saturday condemned a new bill to decriminalise abortion in the southern African country. Justice Minister Guilhermina Prata proposed the draft law to Angola’s parliament two months ago to curb clandestine abortions, which have caused the death of many young girls in the country (News24).

Angola’s government must account for a staggering $32bn missing from state coffers in a country where most suffer immense poverty despite the nation’s massive oil wealth, Human Rights Watch said (News24).

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ECONOMY

Angola will be among the world fastest growing economies in 2012, with a growth rate of around 10%, according to The Economist.

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to $23.27 billion in November, a preliminary document published on Angola’s central bank website showed. Reserves declined from $23.36 billion in October, according to the Luanda-base Banco Nacional de Angola. Reserves jumped 34 percent from the end of 2010, BNA said (Bloomberg).

Angola’s electricity sector will absorb investment of US$16.5 billion by 2016 in the production, transmission and distribution segments, according to a study presented by Angola’s Energy and Water Minister at the Cambambe dam (Macauhub).

The Angolan government is due to introduce new tax codes in January, which are the central focus of reform of the country’s tax system, with the aim of increasing state revenues and boosting economic growth and increasing the efficiency of business activities. Launched in 2010, the Executive Programme for Tax Reform (PERT) will involve introduction of three new laws: The General Tax Code, the Tax Process Code and the Fiscal Execution Code, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit in its latest report on Angola (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

BUSINESS

Angola’s government has approved the entry of Portugal’s largest retailer Sonae into the southern African country’s food retail market with a $103 million investment, the cabinet said (Reuters).

Italy’s oil and gas major Eni and Angola’s national oil company Sonangol have signed an agreement to develop joint mining initiatives in Angola and abroad and other deals (Reuters).

In 2012 Angola may install a new digital television system as part of its cooperation with Japan, thus becoming the first African company to use the system (Macauhub).

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AGRI ETC

Angola produced 50,000 sacks of Robusta coffee in the 2011 coffee harvest representing 3,000 tons of coffee, according to the International Coffee Organisation (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Maersk Oil, the Nordic region’s second-largest producer, reported the first discovery in Angola’s deep-sea pre-salt region. The Azul-1 well in the Kwanza Basin was drilled to a depth of 5,334 meters (17,500 feet) and was found to have a potential capacity of more than 3,000 barrels a day (Bloomberg).

Norwegian energy company Statoil said it had been named operator of two deepwater blocks in the Kwanza Basin off Angola in its first assignment to lead exploration and production off the West African nation (Reuters).

Oil major BP has expanded its presence in Angola, gaining positions in five new blocks (Reuters).

Oil major Total said it had signed three offshore production sharing agreements with Angolan state oil producer Sonangol that will allow the French group to expand its presence (Reuters).

Petrobras said it will start drilling oil in deep waters off Africa early next year on bets the area may mirror Brazilian deposits across the Atlantic (Bloomberg).

PORTS

The commercial port of Lobito, in Angola, between January and 24 December of this year handled over 2.7 million tons of cargo, as compared to 1.3 million in 2010, the chairman of the port’s board of directors, Anapaz de Jesus Neto said (Macauhub).

The EU has granted “GSP+” status to Cape Verde, the first African nation to sign up to GSP+. Under this trade scheme, which grants preferential access to the EU market when certain conditions of good governance are fulfilled. Cape Verde will continue to enjoy generous preferential access to the EU after its graduation from the “Everything But Arms” (EBA) initiative (EIN).

Cape Verde could receive between 50 and 70 million US dollars as part of its second Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, according to consulting company Center for Global Investment. The list of countries expected to benefit from a second financial compact with the US government corporation will be announced on December 15 (A Semana).

The Movement for Democracy (MpD) confirmed the names of Ulisses Correia e Silva (Praia), Augusto Neves (São Vincente) and Orlando Delgado (Ribeira Grande Santo Antão) as candidates for the party in the local elections of 2012 (Inforpress).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) is organising a three day Regional Seminar on Criminal Asset Recovery from December 12 – 14 at the National Assembly in Praia, Cape Verde (AllAfrica).

SAL

“They say when god was happy with creation he dusted his hands and created Cape Verde. So I spent a week on the idyllic island of Sal to check out his handy work and I certainly wasn’t disappointed…” Read the full report at Cambridgefirst.

SOS Tartarugas is looking for a shark specialist for a shark monitoring program (SOS Tartarugas).

A Chinese couple died at Sal Hospital in what is being treated as a case of suspected murder. The couple was rescued from a fire in their own apartment in the Chã de Matias district of Espargos, but both were found to have various stab wounds on their bodies (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.

This is Atlantico Weekly’s last edition of 2011. We will be back in January, continuing our steady supply of English-language news about Cape Verde and Angola. We will also continue to publish more interviews with Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde as well as an updated Grand Tour of Cape Verde…

Happy holidays and Boas Festas!

ECONOMY

“Cape Verde’s economy is expanding at a more moderate pace, supported by a resilient tourist sector and implementation of the public infrastructure program. However, risks to the outlook have grown in view of the continuing economic and financial turmoil in Europe. Inflation has picked up this year in response to the surge in fuel and food prices, though core inflation remains subdued.” Read the full report on the IMF mission to Cape Verde here.

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AVIATION

The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) has renewed TACV Cabo Verde Airlines’ Operational Safety Audit certificate, which guarantees the company’s operational safety for another two-year period (A Semana).

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s new feature: Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, which will be a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. We started off a first round with Josephine Sturiale, Paulino Dias, Patone Lobo and Helen Hutchings & Steve Cooling. You can expect a new series from January 2012!

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

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SPLIT SECOND POLL

Render of the triple 20 floor Octano towers for Luanda (Source).

POLITICS

Angola’s political parties reached a deal on a new electoral law, ending months of negotiations over who will organise a general election next year (Reuters).

Angola, Africa’s second-largest crude producer, has appointed Manuel Vicente as chairman of the state oil company Sonangol EP for three more years (Bloomberg).

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SPLIT SECOND POLL

ECONOMY

Angola continues to make progress towards macroeconomic stability, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report. As well as exchange arte stability, the IMF noted a drop in interest rates and a return to previous foreign reserve levels at a faster-than-expected rate (Macauhub).

Angola still owes US$5.6 billion of the US$9 billion in loans it took out from four Chinese financial institutions, Angola’s Finance Minister Carlos Lopes said (Macauhub).

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BANKING

Portuguese and Angolan owned bank Banco BIC signed a framework agreement with a view to buying Portuguese nationalised bank Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) from the Portuguese state (Macauhub).

MINING

Sociedade Portuguesa de Empreendimentos, the Portuguese state investor facing a diamond- mine shutdown in Angola, said it’s in talks with authorities in the African country to resolve a funding dispute. The investor, known as SPE, is seeking a solution to the impasse over the Lucapa joint venture (Bloomberg Businessweek).

President Jorge Carlos Fonseca announced that he will be releasing his latest book before Christmas. The work, entitled Cabo Verde: Constituição – Democracia –Cidadania (Cape Verde: Constitution – Democracy – Citizenship), is a compilation of 15 essays and studies (A Semana).

Opposition party MpD’s Political Commission will met to define the political force’s mayoral candidates in the 2012 municipal elections. Attention will be focused on the nine of the country’s 22 municipalities in which there is still a large degree of uncertainty regarding the candidates to be supported by the party (A Semana).

Cape Verde could become the first country in the world free of child labor, said Pedro Américo de Oliveira, ILO responsible for relations in the context of the global fight against child labor (Inforpress).

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INTERNATIONAL

On June 24, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Adrienne S. O’Neal to be the United States ambassador to Cape Verde. There is a significant Cape Verdean-American population, particularly in New Bedford, Massachusetts. O’Neal received her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on October 5, but she has yet to be confirmed by the full Senate (Allgov).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The P511 Guardiao coastguard patrol vessel was presented by shipbuilding company Damen to the Capeverdean community of Rotterdam. The Guardiao is now on its way to Cape Verde.

The National Police has a new method to combat crime in Praia: community police officers. A total of 40 officers, divided into eight groups, will live in the capital city’s various different neighborhoods, integrating themselves into the community in order to get to know it inside and out, with the purpose of becoming familiar with all of its residents and being able to detect any sign of suspicious activities or danger (A Semana).

A Cape Verdean immigrant in Switzerland has been sentenced to 22 months behind bars for her involvement in an international human trafficking network. The 57-year-old woman may, however, have her sentence suspended if she pays 47,000 Swiss Francs to the 143 Brazilians she helped lure to the European country with false promises of work and who were forced into prostitution (A Semana).

BOA VISTA

MpD legislator José Luís Santos has asked President Jorge Carlos Fonseca to use his power of influence alongside the government to encourage it to pay the compensation promised years ago to the owners of the lands on the island of Boa Vista on which the island’s international airport and a number of hotels were built (A Semana).

FOGO

All is set to go for the drilling of eleven water prospecting wells in the municipalities of São Filipe, Santa Catarina and Mosteiros on the island of Fogo, with the arrival of the drilling truck on the island (A Semana).

SAL

Jurist Démis Lobo says he is available to head the PAICV’s ticket in the 2012 municipal elections on the island of Sal. The young man, who is responsible for the local delegation of investment and tourist promotion agency Cabo Verde Investimentos, is the only party member so far to express an interest in attempting to “dethrone” Jorge Figueiredo, who has served two terms as Sal mayor. The current mayor has long since affirmed that he will run for re-election for his own locally-formed political movement, GIMDS, which is supported by the MpD (A Semana).

19-year-old Portuguese athlete Inês Correia conquered the women’s world kitesurf championship on Sal (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.

SANTIAGO

As water and electricity supply problems continue to assail the country, the municipality of Santa Cruz, on the island of Santiago, expects to solve its own difficulties beginning in the first half of 2012 with a wind farm and a new desalinization unit (A Semana).

SANTO ANTAO

Forest engineer Rosa Rocha is the candidate chosen by the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) to run for president of the Municipal Council of Porto Novo, during the municipal elections of 2012 (Inforpress).

SAO NICOLAU

In nineteen months’ time, the island of São Nicolau will have its first dam in Banca Furada, in the Fajã Valley. The groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by Minister of Rural Development Eva Ortet and took place during the Ribeira Brava municipal festivities (A Semana).

Diesel oil, fuel oil and kerosene will see slight price increases beginning December 8. Gasoline and butane, meanwhile, are cheaper as of today. The Economic Regulation Agency (ARE) justifies the changes with alterations in the price of petroleum derivatives on the international market in October and November (A Semana).

Four onshore wind farms in Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa, would go on line in January 2012. The 32 turbines project would generate over 28 MW of electricity and ease Cape Verde’s reliance on imported fossil fuels. The government of Cape Verde wants to raise the share of wind energy production to 25% by 2012, and eventually to 50% by 2020. The EIB has invested €45-million in the project, which also received funding from the African Development Bank (Engineering News).

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BUSINESS

São Vicente district court divided the blame between plaintiff and defendant in the civil suit shipping company Darya filed against São Vicente-based Cabnave because of the repair of one of its vessels by the latter. Neither of the two companies, however, accepted the ruling, and both have filed appeals to the Supreme Court of Justice (A Semana).

Urban passenger transportation company Transcor is negotiating with Moura Company to purchase all of the latter’s assets, which include Cape Verde’s largest fleet of buses. The purchase, however, comes along with two conditions: defining what professional classes have the right to free passes, and ensuring the reigning-in of unlicensed minivans currently operating along Praia city bus routes (A Semana).

AGRI ETC

Minister of Rural Development Eva Ortet said that Cape Verde is expected to register a 20% drop in corn production this year in comparison to 2010, when the harvest of the grain was of more than 7,000 metric tons. The cabinet minister reaffirmed, however, that this year’s agricultural season would be “reasonable,” with considerable bean and pasture production and a large amount of water (A Semana).

SunOpta Inc. , a leading global company focused on natural, organic and specialty foods and natural health products, today announced that the SunOpta International Foods Group will expand its fair trade and organic coffee business with the development of operations in the Republic of Cape Verde. Trabocca B.V. (“Trabocca”), 65% owned by The Organic Corporation B.V. (“Tradin Organics”), in hand with a local Cape Verde partner have formed Fogo Coffee Spirit Ltd. (“Fogo Coffee”). Fogo Coffee will establish a coffee processing facility to produce the first certified organic, Fogo-origin, high quality coffee in the Republic of Cape Verde. Trabocca will own 51% while Casa Rodrigo Ltd., a Cape Verde company, will own the remaining share with Trabocca exclusively marketing the coffee worldwide (Marketwatch).

AVIATION

A collision of TACV Boeing with a bird caused a delay flights at Praia Airport (AW).

Cape Verde’s total passenger throughput (all airports) has risen from just over 600,000 in 1995 to a projected 1.9 million in 2011, making it one of the fastest-growing resort destinations in the world. Will Sao Tome & Principe airport expansion make it the next Cape Verde (Centre for Aviation)?

ENTREPRENEURS OF CAPE VERDE

Check out Atlantico Weekly’s new feature: Entrepreneurs of Cape Verde, which will be a series of short interviews with entrepreneurs in Cape Verde, both homegrown and foreign. We started off with Josephine Sturiale, Paulino Dias and Patone Lobo. This week an interview with a British couple: Helen Hutchings and Steve Cooling of Blu bar, Santa Maria on Sal Island.

And yes, Atlantico Weekly is looking for more entrepreneurs of Cape Verde to interview. Those interested may contact Atlantico Weekly (atlanticoweekly at gmail.com).

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PORTS

The stevedores at Palmeira sea port on the island of Sal are unhappy with the way port management company Enapor is distributing tasks. According to them, they sometimes spend several days at a time at home, and when work does emerge, the number of workers requested is not enough for the cargo to be loaded or unloaded (A Semana).

REAL ESTATE

Cape Verde, one of the unsung success stories of Africa in the last decade with annual economic growth rates averaging 6 percent, now fears for its tourist and real estate sectors as hard-up Europeans start deciding against a new holiday home. “The demand for real estate in the tourism sector is stagnant, which has consequences for the employment,” said Olavo Correia, a former governor of the central bank who now heads the Cape Verdean Association of Tourism Builders (PROMITUR) (Reuters).

TELECOMS

Cape Verdean mobile telephony company CVMóvel said it had been granted a license to provide third generation mobile phone services (3G), thus “developing Cape Verde’s telecommunications market.” In a statement CVMóvel noted that it had been focusing, “continuously on new technologies, and proof of this was the launch of the mobile phone Internet service and mobile broadband service” (Macauhub).