Development

Sweden wants corporates to start dating Mozambique

africasc_admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:51:22 -0600

Who would think, 20 years ago, that a Swedish export promotion office would bother about Mozambique, one of the worlds poorest countries?

At the time the division between Swedish aid officials and Swedish exporters was notoriously sharp. A sort of Cold War situation right in the midst of the Swedish Government. A reflexion of the division of interest among Swedes - many would argue at the expense of what was good for Mozambique.

But, now, in a fast changing world, with old school aid being loosened up and mixed up with business interests, it is finally happening. A trade seminar on Mozambique is being held by the Swedish Trade Council in South Africa to promote business in one of Africa's fastest, albeit from a very low level, growing economies.

"In 2010, Mozambique outperformed its neighbors as the economy grew by 8,1%. Further high growth and heavy inflow of foreign aid and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) is expected to foster infrastructure development and create opportunities for Swedish suppliers of goods and services. Mining and Agriculture are heavily expanding sectors that drive the economy and promote major investments also in the Energy, ICT and Transport sectors", the Swedish Trade Council, led by Håkan Bengtsson, writes in its invitational online brochure.

On the country to country level figures are also rosy, Swedish trade rose by 36 % during the first six months of 2011, but yet again, it is all from a very low level: Swedish Export in 2010 stood at 57 Mkr which is 0.01 % of Sweden's total export.

So which trade strategist in his or her right mind would bother about that kind of minnow? Waste of time?

The Swedish Trade Council doesn't think so, partially as it has promotion money from the Swedish Development Agency Sida to build a partnership with Mozambique. And as a good consultancy, Swedish trade councils are dependent on external consultancy incomes, it does what it is paid for.

If Swedish business will be interested remains to be seen. Former Swedish Ambassador's to Mozambique and the country's Government have always had a bit of an uphill struggle to get Swedish companies to Mozambique.

Its understandable that those who are selling consumer- and industrial goods haven't been overexcited. Mozambique's economy is indeed miniscule compared with its big brother South Africa. And it is fraught with corruption and byzantine commercial law. Buying property in Mozambique is to this day a no no. If yo don't want to get involved in years of legal wrangling that finally only will get you a a 99-year leasehold at the best. On top of that Swedish export companies are quite well updated on Mozambique through their regional offices in South Africa.

However what has been evident and well known among Swedes who have operated in Mozambique is that the country is bursting with fabulous mostly unexploited wealth - it is all well recorded and has been know way back to the Sixties when a large amount of feasibility studies were done.

While some Swedish companies, in particular ABB since it built Cahora Bassa in the Sixties, have kept its eyes wide open most have not bothered to go there. A civil war - fueled by apartheid South Africa - that raged up until the early Nineties, natural- and man made disasters leading to desperate poverty, was just not a very attractive mix for exporters.

But the situation has changed quite dramatically. Mozambique has picked up and is reestablishing itself. Infrastructure is being repaired. Regional trade- and investment from South Africa has given the country a new boost. And on top of that, most importantly, emerging economies in the South - China, India, Brazil - are showing a very active interest in Mozambique.

Some would say the comparative advantage Sweden had when it financed a large chunk of Mozambique's development budget has been lost. Sweden could have cherry picked among Mozambique's vast natural assets such as coal, gas, hydropower, agriculture and water resources, has been blown.

Other donors have been more pro-active. Britain even under Thatcher was a big donor to Mozambique. And some British companies, such as British Sugar, have benefitted and invested in vast sugar plantations.

Others would say 'its never too late'. And in today's situation Mocambiques growing economy is more suitable for advanced Swedish products and services - Swedish export is not very well tuned to deal with exploitation of natural resources.

A new cosy feeling for Mozambique is evident. You can't just sit back and do nothing as South-South trade is growing by leaps and bounds. So in that sense Mozambique has finally arrived. It is no longer seen as a hopeless aid basket case.

For old Swedish aid hands. all those thousands of Swedes who have worked in Mozambique over the past 30 years this should be good news. And Swedish business could make good use of them.

The Sweden-Mozambique trade seminar, moderated by Swedish Ambasador Ulla Andren and trade commissioner Håkan Bengtsson, is held on 1 December in Johannesburg. From the Mozambican side a number of representatives of 'key' ministries - energy, Infrastructure, agriculture and mining - are presenting their case.

(More info from Olov.hemstrom@swedisthrade.se and and karin.bolin@foreign.ministry.se )

Launch of the Civil Society Urban Development Programme (CSUDP) in Nairobi, supported by SIDA

africasc_admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:45:43 -0500

Sweden launches CSR framwork in Kenya

africasc_admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:51:40 -0500

PRESS RELEASE:

Sweden launches new framework
for corporate social responsibility in Kenya

Swedish related organisations in Kenya have established a framework aiming to be at the international top of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Business has a responsibility with regard to sustainable development. The new framework is launched by a large number of Swedish related companies in Kenya together with the Swedish Trade Council and the Embassy of Sweden.

The Swedish Framework for corporate social responsibility in Kenya will be guided by principles for CSR compliance and activities. The economic, environment, ethical and social areas are of special relevance for promoting development through CSR. The long-term commitment of Sweden and Swedish related companies and organisations to social responsibility and to Kenya creates a solid base for further joint efforts.

The framework, including the presentation of the framework’s brand, will be launched at a festive traditionally Swedish event on 19 June for invited guests, including high-ranking Kenyan representatives.

The festivities will also celebrate Sweden’s National Day as well as the Royal Wedding of H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria and Mr Daniel Westling, which takes place in Stockholm on 19 June. The wedding ceremony in Sweden will be broadcasted live during the festivities. The visit of H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria to Kenya in November 2009 was an important starting point for the elaboration of the CSR framework.

Media representatives are welcome! Please confirm your participation to the Press Officer of Embassy of Sweden.

Venue: Swedish Ambassador’s Residence, Rosslyn (opposite Village Market)
Date and time: Saturday 19 June 2010, 14h30 (Speeches at 15h30)

For further information;
Linda Widmark, Press Officer, Embassy of Sweden

South African Director General suspended after letter from Norway's Ambassador

africasc_admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:11:56 -0500

Norway's Ambassador to South Africa, Tor Christian Hilden, has hit the headlines in South Africa after he wrote a letter complaining over controversial Director-General of Labour Jimmy Manyi's behavior in a meeting between the two which led to the suspension of Manyi. The Norwegian's complaint to the Minster was that the Jimmy Manyi, who is also Chairman of the the pressure group Black Management Forum, had not kept to discussing the channeling of Norwegian aid to South Africa's labour market but had been persistent in talking about private business.

The suspended Director General however said he had only given the Norwegian Ambassador a free presentation of black empowerment and equity issues.

Johannesburg's Sunday Times said Manyi had wanted to release a report about corruption at the Labour Ministry and that that was the reason for the suspension.

EMBASSY RELEASE: Launch of Nansen-Tutu Research Centre

africasc_admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:08:33 -0500

21/05/2010 - On 20 May the Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research was launched in Cape Town. The Nansen-Tutu Centre is initiated by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, Norway and the Department of Oceanography, University of Cape Town. It is named after the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Desmond Tutu and Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.
The centre is created as a joint partnership between Norwegian and South African research institutions in order to promote research and knowledge about the three oceans surrounding South-Africa, and their effect on the environment and climate on the African continent.

Archbishop emeritus Desmond M. Tutu hosted the inauguration event in his office, when 7 partner institutions in South Africa, Norway and the USA come together to sign a collaborative agreement on the establishment of the centre. The signatory partners are the Ma-Re Institute, the Department of Oceanography, at the University of Cape Town, the African Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS/CSIR), the Geoscience Department at Princeton University, USA, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC). The Centre will foster collaborations in research and higher education in Africa with focus on marine environmental sciences.

The Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research aims to develop and implement operational oceanography and methods of data integration into models in the South Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean, with a focus on ocean state, marine environmental and ecosystem modelling, research and capacity building. This is imperative to enhance the understanding, and predictability of marine ecosystems, including their roles in climate and global teleconnections – the relationship between climate anomalies in different parts of the world.
The Nansen-Tutu Centre will be located at the University of Cape Town and headed by Prof. Frank Shilling (Ma-Re) and Prof. Johnny A. Johannessen (NERSC) both for a 3 years period.

Did You Know?
The Nansen-Tutu Centre is the fifth centre in the Nansen Group of international research centres initiated by its Founding Director Prof. Ola M. Johannessen. The other Centres are the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway; the Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Nansen Environmental Research Centre – India in Cochin, India; and the Nansen-Zhu International Research Centre in Beijing, China.

PRESS RELEASE: Sweden to contribute KES 10 billion to climate fund

africasc_admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:02:10 -0500

The formal negotiations on contributions to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the period 2010-2014 were concluded last week. At the negotiations in Paris, donors agreed to add USD 4.25 billion to the fund, which is an increase of 52% compared to the last replenishment. Sweden pledged a contribution of over SEK 1 billion (KES 10 billion) to the GEF, encompassing both Sweden's traditional portion and an extra contribution for climate initiatives.

"I am pleased that we have agreed on reforms to make the GEF better at delivering results in recipient countries. We are aware that many developing countries have enormous needs in the area of the environment, and in particular we are seeing increased needs in the area of climate. The agreement we have reached is an important step in tackling this challenge," says Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation Ms Gunilla Carlsson.

In the negotiations, Sweden has consistently pushed to make the GEF more effective and flexible so that initiatives are better able to meet the actual needs of recipient countries. Sweden was successful in this, and the link between GEF initiatives and countries own development plans will now be strengthened.

Background
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was started in 1991 to offer coordinated funding for the new conventions entered into after the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. The GEF currently channels funding for the climate, desertification, biodiversity and Stockholm conventions. The GEF pays the excess costs of making projects in developing countries more environmentally friendly, which contributes to sustainable development, improving poor people's living conditions, a better environment and developing countries prospects of realising their commitments under international environmental conventions. So far it has channelled USD 8.7 billion to over 2 400 environmental projects in more than 165 countries.

For further information:
Linda Widmark, Press Officer, Embassy of Sweden
linda.widmark@foreign.ministry.se ● 020 423 4054 / 0733 331117

Swedish Vattenfall in controversy over mine workers health in Namibia

africasc_admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:10:47 -0500

Swedish mainly state owned energy company Vattenfall's import of uranium from Namibia has shown the difficulty of being a nation of good-doers at all levels. The company is blamed for not worrying enough for Namibian mine workers health, but passes on some of the responsibility to the Swedish Governments recently implemented "partner cooperation" policy which recommends increased trade with Namibia.

In this case a report by a Namibian think tank, stating that Namibian workers are exposed to unacceptable levels of radiation which runs against a newly implemented Swedish partner co-operation policy pointing out Namibia as a favoured trading nation.

Swedish Vattenfall states in its defense of the company's purchase of uranium from Namibia that it fulfills all environmental, workplace and legal requirements after criticism in a report that Namibian mine workers are not adequately protected.

The company's head of environment, Agneta Rising, states that pictures broadcasted on a Swedish news channel, following a report on labour conditions at the Rössing mine, were "strong" but that Vattenfall stands by its decision to purchase from Namibia, which is one of four supplier of uranium to Vattenfall operated nuclear power plants. The other supplier countries are Canada, Australia and Russia.

Ms Rising states hat controls are very tight before any contras are entered into, including that the Vattenfall gets full insight into the suppliers operations.

"Radiation levels at the Rössing mine are on par with the natural background radiation levers. At these levers there is no correlation between radiation and health concerns", states Agneta Rising.

Vattenfall's view is contradicted by a report by the Labour Resource and Research Institute in Namibia which states that workers in the uranium mines run the risk of being exposed to radiation, but when they get sick they have great difficulty to prove that there is a correlation and therefore they don't get paid compensation.

The report, by the institutes head Hilma Shindondola-Mote, also states that workers are generally badly informed about the health risks they run.

As the nuclear power is on the rise, due to carbon emission related global warming the nuclear energy industry will find itself becoming ever more scrutinized not the least by think tanks and the media.

Vattenfall states it doesn't takes political decisions, but relies on the Swedish Foreign office for guidance. And the Swedish Governments officially adopted line is to encourage trade with the South West African desert nation through its freshly adopted policy of so called partnership cooperation - a policy that replaces development co-operation in countries that are too rich to benefit from financial assistance.

With some 20 percent of Vattenfall's uranium needs supplied by Namibia, uranium is the South West African desert Nations major export to Sweden by far.

Rwanda's civil society on a roll as Sweden gives $ 8.5 billion to monitoring body

africasc_admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:32:47 -0500

The Swedish Government development agency Sida hopes to boost Rwanda's civil society through a $ 8.5 million injection into a civil society project aimed at "monitoring and providing feed back to the government on how its policies
can be more effective", according to Patrick Osodo, programme manager for Public Policy Information, Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA), the reciepient organisation.

Sweden's focus in Africa has shifted and Rwanda is one of the new favourites among Government politicians, with a centre-right leaning, who are more interested in geo-politics than keeping up old relations with former liberation struggle countries who are not their old buddies. Aid bureaucrats are flexible on the subject, also tired of being treated badly by leaders with autocratic tendencies and therefore happy to go to new places.

Sweden has closed embassies in Cote d'Ivore, Namibia and Botswana over the past 3 years and instead opened up in Sudan and Kigali.

Sweden and South Africa to trade empowerment "equivalents"

africasc_admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Swedish companies will, through a new deal signed this week, be able to trade "empowerment equivalents" instead of giving away shares to black economic empowerment players in South Africa.This deal where Swedish companies will be able to pledge funds for various black economic empowerment projects - skills development, health projects, entrepreneur schemes - instead of handing out shares for free or at a discount comes after some four years of back and forth discussions between Sweden and South Africa.

Most of the some 100 Swedish companies in South Africa have managed well without entering the BEE arena mainly as their clients are in the private sector.
For some of the largest Swedish companies in South Africa, like ABB and Ericsson, the agreement will not mean that much. They have forged black economic empowerment deals long ago to please the South African Government and to make sure that they were able to win e.g. public contracts.

But for many others the equivalent idea could be helpful as they will be able to claim that they have black economic empowerment credentials by investing in separate vehicles that are not threatening ownership or board-room control.

To what extent the signed memorandum will be embrace by Swedish companies in South Africa depends on if there is anything in there for the them. Swedish companies have been involved in activities with the Swedish Government before through HIV-Aids- and skills development programmes. In these cases the incentive has been that the Swedish Government, through funds channeled through the development agency Sida, have subsidised the implementation of health- and human resources goals.

The new mechanism takes this collaboration a step further as it makes it possible for the companies to convert such activities to "equivalents" - with a little help from Swedish tax payers.

The new deal shows that the South African Government is becoming more relaxed about pushing a too rigid black economic empowerment agenda that so far has created a new free wheeling, big deal searching black middle class.

From Swedens point of view times certainly are also changing. Development cooperation is wound up in well heeled countries including South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. Instead new mechanisms of disbursing money are put into place - with the intention to tone down old cosy political links and scale up relations based on economics.

Swedish summit on sustainable cities will find fertile ground in South Africa

africasc_admin — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:07:31 -0500

The Swedish Government sponsored summit in Midrand this week on sustainable cities, where both the Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade Minister Ewa Björling enrolled to drum up support for Swedish export opportunities, was well timed.

Among participating, and hopeful, Swedish companies were many of the largest multinationals, like Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Scania, Saab and Volvo, and others that already have subsidiaries or a foot in the door in South Africa such as ITT, Gunnebo and Kapsch TrafficCom.

On the executive level Sweden and South Africa have drifted apart over the past ten years. South Africa has moved up the ladder internationally and has become a buddy and playmate to much bigger and more influential friends like Brazil, India and China. They all want to have South Africa as a friend rather than a foe in their quest for Africa's raw material and markets. Sweden, on the other hand, have stayed on the sideline, ambivalent over what to do and were to go as Government links on leadership became more strained - not the least due to Mbeki's policy on aids and passive handling of Robert Mugabe.

With the Jacob Zuma administration in control in Pretoria, Sweden has a chance to tighten the relationship again. And the Swedish center-right Government seems to be keen to grasp that opportunity.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma stated after a meeting with the Swedish Prime Minister, that he welcomed close co-operation with Sweden on the climate change front. The two countries, Zuma said, were tied together historically and needed to stand together during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in November.

"We will have to. The deal in Copenhagen will need to balance climate and development, past and future, mitigation and adaptation, action by developed and developing countries, and a shared vision on reducing emissions, with means of implementation", said President Zuma.

South Africa, as the BRIC countries, maintains that most of the global climate mess is caused by OECD’s advanced economies. They must clean up in their own backyard and allow development nations to have some leeway.

In between the lines it seems like Zuma had an unspoken message to Mr. Reinfeldt: you support us in Copenhagen and we are willing to do business on the ground around those climate change issues you are so keen to promote.

The pressure on South Africa is not just external. South Africa doesn't need foreigners to remind them that action is needed to curb carbon emission; the local pressure is mounting so the Government party is slowly waking up to them as aggrieved local constituencies are becoming impatient.

On Wednesday this week residents from Secunda, a small "dorph" 140 kilometers west of Pretoria, protested against massive pollution, outside the HQ of the home grown petro-chemical multinational Sasol, one of the main culprits in South Africa as far as pollution goes. Sasol spits out some 75 million tons of greenhouse gases annually or about 21% of South Africa's total greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Earlier in the week environmental NGO Earthlife Africa stated that Sasol is one of the worst emitters of greenhouse gases on the African continent.

Other South African companies with a battle on their hands and that could face touch penalties if they are not cutting back on their pollution are power utility Eskom, minerals giant Anglo American and BHP Billiton.

Both Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt and Trade minister Ewa Björling gave upbeat messages to South African business- and Government decision makers at the conference venue in Midrand.

Reinfeldt said that the Swedish economy had grown by 50 % in 18 years but had managed to drop emissions by 10 %. Oil consumption had halfed since the Seventies.

Trade Minister Dr. Ewa Bjorling pointed out that these achievements was a result of a balancing act where one had to think green across the ministries, not just in the Ministry of Environment. Individual behavioural change was as important to achieve the overal gool to balance affordability and sustainability, she said.

THis may be what South Africa wants to hear. To grow fast and still cut emissions appeals to the country's leaders.

Certainly climate change and environmental concerns in South Africa has put pressure on companies and government alike. South Africa’s cities are facing massive traffic increases – 7 % annual increase in traffic – and there is very little done so far to stimulate energy saving- and carbon cutting transport even in public sector.

Large municipalities, like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town are faced with increased urbanization levels well over a million annually that adds to the pressure on the environment. The majority is people from rural areas in South Africa but a large chunk are also illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries. Most of them begin their new city life in slums 50 kilometers or more outside the city centers where the municipalities have an uphill task to supply basic energy, water, and sanitation and waste management.

Mr. Reinfeldt and his wife saw this poverty-stricken side of South Africa too, during a visit to the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town, and were reportedly humbled. If Mr. Reinfeldt picked up President Zuma’s message along the way remains to be seen.

For sure, largely due to apartheid and with an understandable fixation with primarily dealing with income- and racial gaps South Africa is very much a latecomer on the environmental bandwagon.

The inheritance from the last white administration was a mixed blessing. 92 % of the country's energy generation and 10 % of the fuel - the oil-from-coal technology was an invention to circumvent sanctions - comes from coal and authorities have decided to turn a blind eye to the consequences.

New policies to combat climate change are in the pipeline, in a bid to address environmental concerns at home and climate concerns from EU - the Swedish PM was primarily in South Africa to handle EU-South Africa relations in his capacity as EU chairman – are underway. But there is no way South Africa will turn away from coal, its leading fossil asset.

To handle power cuts the South African Government has embarked on a fast-track programme to add new power plants – mostly coal fired plants. The consequence is more emissions instead of less.

To make the equation work South Africa needs to catch up and take drastic energy saving and carbon saving measures. In other words the country needs to purchase clean technologies.

South Africa is a net importer of just about all machinery and distribution technologies. And the same goes for energy and carbon reducing technologies and processes for the public and private sectors.

So exporters of such technologies, such as Sweden, therefore are well advised to position themselves and take advantage of opportunities.

Sweden has generally not been not very good at try and capitalize on its old liberation credentials with South Africa – partially because the Swedish way of doing business institutionally separate the public and private sectors. Swedish state institutions, both central and on municipal levels, have “benefitted” to a degree from Sida sponsored programmes. The most famous Swedish contribution to South Africa is undoubtedly Swedish tax consultant’s assistance to help and more than quadrupling the country’s tax base.

The Sustainable City concept is another success story that made its debut at the 2002 World Summit of Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Infrastructure consultants Sweco on behalf of the Swedish Government developed it. In South Africa this integrated approach has been successfully implemented in Buffalo City, the larger East London area.

Since then Swedish development bureaucrats have been made a concerted push in the clean technology sector.

• Sweden and South Africa signed a bi-national agreement on the subject in 2007 to focus on skills development, technology transfer, infrastructure build up and increased trade.
• Last year Swedish Trade Council organized a seminar in Pretoria attended by 150 delegates from business, government and academic sectors.
• Grants and loans, through Swedish government agency Nutek and state owned private equity fund Swedfund have been searching and funding clean tech- and biofuel projects.

Niches to be explored include clean and energy efficient public transport systems; optimising pump systems for energy efficient and sustainable waste disposal; encouraging sustainable business investment strategies; and finding opportunities around the South African energy utility Eskom’s six-point plan on climate change.

For all these reasons Reinfeldt's visit was timely. The SA government want co-operation in this field. It also wants allies as South Africa doesn’t want to be wrapped over the knuckle at the Copenhagen climate change summit in November or face carbon curbs.

Naturally Sweden is by no means alone. Climate change is the name of the game for other Nordic countries too – and for just about every Northern Hemisphere exporter.