Renaud Girard : « La politique ukrainienne de la France »

Publié 

Renaud Girard. Jean-Christophe MARMARA/Le Figaro

CHRONIQUE – Après six mois de guerre, l’Hexagone s’est adpaté à une situation d’une gravité inédite, inconnue en Europe depuis la chute du communisme. Quelques réserves sont à émettre quant à la position de Paris

Après six mois de guerre russe en Ukraine, le front semble s’être stabilisé. Il en est de même de la position de la France à l’égard de ce conflit, qui, en son tout début, fut quelque peu mouvante, le temps de s’adapter à une situation d’une gravité inédite, inconnue en Europe depuis la chute du communisme, il y a plus de trente ans.

Lors de la conférence qu’il a donnée aux ambassadeurs français le 1er septembre 2022, Emmanuel Macron a clairement exposé quelle était la politique ukrainienne de la France. Elle s’articule selon cinq axes.

Lire l’article en entier sur le site du Figaro.

Josep Borrell cité dans : Borrell (UE) “moins confiant” sur un accord rapide

05 septembre 2022

Borrell (UE)

Le chef de la diplomatie de l’UE Josep Borrell, lors d’une conférence de presse au siège de l’UE à Bruxelles, le 5 septembre 2022. Photo John THYS / AFP

Le chef de la diplomatie de l’UE, Josep Borrell, s’est dit lundi “moins confiant” sur une conclusion rapide des négociations pour sauver l’accord de 2015 sur le nucléaire iranien, dont il est le coordinateur.

“Je suis désolé de dire que je suis moins confiant qu’il y a 28 heures sur la convergence des points de vue (…) et sur la perspective de conclure l’accord maintenant”, a-t-il déclaré lors d’une conférence de presse à Bruxelles, sans expliquer à quel événement spécifique il faisait référence. Le 31 août, Josep Borrell avait émis l’espoir d’un accord “dans les jours à venir”.

Les négociations sur le nucléaire iranien, engagées depuis 16 mois mais qui avaient été suspendues puis reprises début août, visent à relancer cet accord conclu en 2015 avec Téhéran par les cinq membres permanents du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU (Etats-Unis, France, Royaume-Uni, Chine et Russie) plus l’Allemagne.

L’Union européenne (UE), coordinatrice des pourparlers, a présenté le 8 août ce qu’elle a appelé un “texte final” pour restaurer l’accord qui avait été enterré en 2018 par l’ancien président américain, Donald Trump.

“Les demandes initiales que j’ai reçues étaient raisonnables de la part des deux parties et ont été prises en compte sans altérer le texte fondamentalement”, a indiqué M. Borrell, qualifiant sa proposition de “soigneusement équilibrée”. Mais les dernières “interactions ne convergent pas, elles divergent” et “les positions ne se rapprochent pas (…), au contraire”. “C’est très inquiétant, si le processus (de négociations) ne converge pas, l’ensemble du processus est en danger”, a-t-il dit.

“Je dois dire que la dernière réponse que j’ai eue, si le but est de conclure l’accord rapidement, ne va pas aider”, a-t-il déclaré, sans plus de précision. Il a ajouté qu’il allait “continuer les consultations avec tous les autres participants de (l’accord sur le nucléaire), et en particulier les Etats-Unis”.

La semaine dernière, le département d’Etat américain a estimé que la réponse de Téhéran n’était “pas constructive”, ajoutant toutefois qu’il allait répondre à l’Iran par le biais de l’UE. L’Iran a indiqué lundi n’avoir pas encore reçu de réponse officielle des Etats-Unis à sa proposition.

Téhéran a récemment demandé une nouvelle fois la clôture d’une enquête de l’Agence internationale de l’énergie atomique (AIEA) concernant des traces d’uranium enrichi retrouvées sur trois sites non déclarés, ce que le patron de l’Agence, Rafael Grossi, refuse.

Lire l’article original sur L’Orient le jour

Sarah Al Amiri: “UAE launches survey on how space sector is helping economy to grow”

Study will focus on the private sector, foreign investment and the impact on jobs

The UAE Space Agency has launched a survey to measure how the space sector has contributed to the national economy.

As the government announces more space projects and the number of private space companies increases in the UAE, the agency wants to carry out an extensive study of the sector.

The survey will focus on the number of companies working in the sector, foreign investment and the total spending on space projects.

It will also explore efforts to invest in research and development and space exploration, as well as the number of people employed in the sector.

Support for start-ups

Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Future Technology and chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, announced the survey on Monday.

“The economic survey project for the space sector in the UAE is an important tool that helps in enhancing the decision-making process, drawing strategic policies, contributing to economic indicators, in addition to preparing national space plans and programmes,” she said.

Ms Al Amiri said the results would also support the work of start-ups and small and medium-size companies, and boost research projects.

“It will increase the UAE’s investment attractiveness in space projects and much more,” she said.

Figures from 2019 show the UAE’s investments in space exceeded Dh22 billion ($5.99bn), with 57 space-related establishments operating in the country helping create 1,500 jobs.

Since the launch of the UAE’s Mars mission in 2020, more private companies have set up in the Emirates.

The Dh735 million mission involved the Hope spacecraft, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since February 9, 2021.

As the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and UAE Space Agency launch more projects, private companies try to win government contracts that will help them participate in missions.

The space centre is overseeing the development of MBZ-Sat, an imaging satellite, but private companies have mostly been responsible for building it.

The private sector will also be involved in the UAE’s asteroid belt mission, overseen by the space agency.

Abdulla Al Marar, head of space projects at the space agency, told The National that the survey would have a strong focus on the private sector.

“That’s a major focus of the government today and not only through the survey, but also a lot of initiatives and strategies – we focus a lot on the private sector,” he said.

“The Mars mission has contributed directly to the economy, but also in the number of start-ups, small and medium enterprises being established.

“It really shed light on the space economy and the opportunities in space.”

Globally, space agencies are trying to get the private sector more involved to help reduce government spending.

Nasa has worked with companies such as SpaceX to send astronauts to space again, with Boeing developing its Starliner crew capsule.

The UAE Space Agency has launched a Dh3bn national investment and development fund for the space sector, with private companies to benefit most.

In a previous interview with The National, Ms Al Amiri said that she expected space projects to have a direct effect on the economy in the next five years.

She said it was important to build an industry that would develop advanced space systems and generate more job opportunities, including for overseas talent.

“Most of the current space sector within the Emirates is focused on government spending and programmes across both local and federal governments,” she said at the time.

“Today, we’re talking about a space sector that has an indirect impact to the economy.

“In five years, we want to see a space sector that has both an indirect impact on the economy, society and also a direct impact on the economy.”

Read the original article on The National.

Kevin Rudd : “The State of the Chinese Economy and Implications for Western Alliances”

Former Australian Prime Minister and current President and CEO of the Asia Society, Kevin Rudd, assessed the economic and ideological developments of the People’s Republic under the leadership of Xi Jinping at an Atlantik-Brücke roundtable with Sigmar Gabriel. The two panelists talked about the ramifications of China’s development for the Western world. Atlantik-Brücke’s CEO Julia Friedlander moderated the conversation.

Lire l’entretien en entier sur Atlantik-Brücke.

Jean Pisani-Ferry : « Guerre en Ukraine : qui va gagner la bataille des sanctions économiques et financières ? »

CHRONIQUE – Il y a six mois, Europe et États-Unis étaient confrontés à un dilemme : ils ne pouvaient ni laisser l’agression de l’Ukraine par la Russie réussir, ni envoyer des troupes pour combattre l’armée de Vladimir Poutine. Ils ont donc choisi de combattre par procuration en armant la résistance ukrainienne et de mener leur propre guerre économique et financière dans l’espoir d’affaiblir significativement la Russie. En quelques jours, les Occidentaux ont déployé un arsenal de sanctions sans précédent dont l’effet « shock and awe » (choc et effroi) devait amener l’agresseur à résipiscence. Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui ?

Par Jean Pisani-Ferry
Publié le 
Lire la chronique complète sur Terra Nova.

Olivier Blanchard : “Inflation, climat, fiscalité… Les vérités de Tirole et Blanchard”

ENTRETIEN. Olivier Blanchard et Jean Tirole rétablissent quelques vérités parfois douloureuses sur l’état de l’économie mondiale. Instructif.

Experts. Les économistes Olivier Blanchard et Jean Tirole publient « Les Grands Défis économiques », à la suite de leur rapport, remis en 2021 à Emmanuel Macron.

Propos recueillis par Béatrice Parrino et Marc Vignaud

Akinwumi Adesina : « Les ressources énergétiques renouvelables de l’Afrique offrent d’énormes opportunités »

Les entreprises japonaises devraient investir davantage en Afrique, où les opportunités d’investissement et le rendement des investissements sont parmi les plus élevés au monde, a exhorté M. Akinwumi Adesina, président de la Banque africaine de développement (www.AfDB.org), en s’adressant aux participants à la 8e Conférence internationale de Tokyo sur le développement de l’Afrique (TICAD8).

Vingt chefs d’État africains participent à la conférence qui se tient à Tunis, la capitale tunisienne, du 27 au 28 août.

Des officiels et des chefs d’entreprise japonais, ainsi que des responsables d’organisations internationales, participent également à cette conférence.

S’exprimant par visioconférence, le Premier ministre japonais Fumio Kishida a déclaré que le Japon avait atteint son objectif de consacrer 20 milliards de dollars à l’Afrique dans le cadre de son secteur privé, objectif qu’il s’était fixé lors de la TICAD7 en 2019.

M. Kishida a également annoncé de nouveaux engagements. Il a déclaré que le Japon « fournira un cofinancement allant jusqu’à 5 milliards de dollars, en partenariat avec la Banque africaine de développement, afin d’améliorer la vie des populations africaines. »

Le président du Sénégal, Macky Sall, a déclaré que les entreprises japonaises avaient « les capacités technologiques et financières nécessaires pour établir des partenariats en Afrique dans des secteurs aussi variés que les infrastructures, le transport et le logement. »

M. Adesina a félicité le gouvernement et le secteur privé japonais pour leur soutien ferme au développement de l’Afrique.

Il a également exhorté les entreprises japonaises à évaluer les opportunités d’investissement en Afrique sur la base de faits et de preuves, et non sur la base de perceptions. Il a déclaré : « En 2020, Moody’s Analytics a réalisé une évaluation cumulative sur 10 ans des taux de défaillance de la dette mondiale des infrastructures, par région. Il en ressort que l’Afrique est la région qui présente le deuxième plus faible taux de défaillance cumulé, après le Moyen-Orient. Cela prouve une fois de plus que l’infrastructure en tant que classe d’actifs en Afrique est solide, sûre et rentable. »

Le président de la Banque africaine de développement a déclaré que les pays africains auront besoin de ressources financières importantes pour faire face aux impacts du Covid-19, de l’accélération du changement climatique et de la guerre de la Russie en Ukraine.

« Le moment est venu de soutenir fermement le Programme d’accélération de l’adaptation en Afrique afin de mobiliser 25 milliards de dollars pour l’adaptation au changement climatique en Afrique, tout spécialement à l’approche de la COP-27 en Égypte », a déclaré M. Adesina.

Il a déclaré que la Facilité africaine de production alimentaire d’urgence de la Banque, lancée en mai 2022, était déjà en train de fournir 1,13 milliard de dollars à 24 pays pour financer la production alimentaire d’urgence, un montant qui devrait atteindre 1,5 milliard de dollars. La Banque africaine de développement a accéléré l’approbation de la facilité plus tôt en 2022 pour prévenir une éventuelle crise des denrées alimentaires et des engrais découlant de la guerre en Ukraine.

M. Adesina a remercié le Japon pour sa contribution à la facilité. « Je suis ravi que l’Agence japonaise de coopération internationale (JICA) fournisse un cofinancement supplémentaire de 518 millions de dollars pour soutenir cette facilité. »

Au cours d’un forum organisé à l’intention des milieux d’affaires, M. Adesina a cité deux domaines dans lesquels il espère voir un renforcement de l’engagement du Japon envers l’Afrique, à savoir le commerce bilatéral et les investissements. Il a déclaré que la part de l’Afrique ne représentait que 0,003 % des 2 000 milliards de dollars d’investissements directs étrangers du Japon dans le monde.

M. Adesina a souligné que les entreprises japonaises qui avaient fait preuve d’audace dans leurs investissements en Afrique étaient celles qui prospéraient. Il a donné l’exemple de Toyota Tsusho dont les investissements dans des usines automobiles en Afrique du Sud ont généré 8,5 milliards de dollars de revenus en mars 2022. Il a cité d’autres réussites similaires comme Komatsu et Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Évoquant la jeunesse, l’esprit d’entreprise et la capacité d’innovation de l’Afrique, M. Adesina a déclaré : « L’Afrique abrite un écosystème de technologies financières dynamique qui mène la révolution numérique sur le continent avec le plus fort potentiel pour en devenir le leader mondial. Le continent abrite 576 start-ups dans le domaine des technologies financières et elles sont dirigées par des jeunes. »

M. Adesina a cité d’autres secteurs d’investissement vitaux, dont la production des batteries au lithium qui alimentent les véhicules électriques, l’agroalimentaire et les énergies renouvelables, notamment l’hydroélectricité, l’éolien et la géothermie.

La TICAD8 a également donné lieu à la cérémonie de signature de 91 protocoles d’accord que le gouvernement et les entreprises du Japon ont conclus avec des sociétés ou des gouvernements africains.

Les protocoles d’accord comprennent notamment des projets dans les cinq régions d’Afrique visant à développer les compétences techniques des ressources humaines et les solutions vertes en matière d’hydrogène, de dessalement de l’eau et de géothermie.

M. Adesina a eu une réunion bilatérale avec le président de l’Agence japonaise de coopération internationale (JICA) Tanaka Akihito et avec le gouverneur de la Banque japonaise pour la coopération internationale Nobumitsu Hayashi. Il a également participé à une réunion bilatérale avec les dirigeants du Keidanren, une organisation économique japonaise représentant des entreprises et des associations industrielles et régionales.

Les réunions ont porté sur la nécessité d’une coopération plus étroite en matière d’investissement, notamment le cofinancement de projets clés, le commerce et les opportunités pour le secteur privé japonais. Les discussions ont également porté sur la 16e reconstitution des ressources du Fonds africain de développement, le guichet de prêt concessionnel du Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement.

La TICAD, qui se tient tous les trois ans, est organisée par le gouvernement du Japon, les Nations unies, le Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, la Commission de l’Union africaine et la Banque mondiale.

Lire l’article original sur le site de Témoignages.

What are the West’s strategic goals in the Ukraine war?

Olivier Appert : “Couper tous les ponts avec la Russie serait suicidaire”

Olivier Appert, conseiller énergie de l’Ifri, estime “ubuesque” la polémique autour de TotalEnergies, accusé par le quotidien “Le Monde” d’utiliser son gaz pour alimenter les avions russes.

TotalEnergies joue-t-il un rôle indirect dans la guerre en Ukraine ? Le gaz sibérien produit par une entreprise codétenue par le groupe pétrolier français a permis de fabriquer du carburant destiné à alimenter des avions de guerre russes engagés dans le conflit, a accusé mercredi 24 août le journal Le Monde, qui se base sur plusieurs documents et une enquête de l’ONG Global Witness.

Selon eux, le champ gazier russe de Termokarstovoïe exploité par l’entreprise Terneftegaz – codétenue par le groupe français à 49% avec le russe Novatek (51%) – a fourni du condensat de gaz à une raffinerie proche d’Omsk, qui en a fait du carburant, lequel a ensuite été expédié pour alimenter les avions russes au moins jusqu’en juillet.

 

Lire l’article intégral sur le site de L’Express.

Renaud Girard : « La boussole perdue des tories anglais »

Publié 

Renaud Girard. Jean-Christophe MARMARA/Le Figaro

CHRONIQUE – Tout se passe comme si les conservateurs anglais, affligés d’un leadership de plus en plus médiocre, avaient perdu la raison.

Interrogée le 25 août 2022 par un journaliste qui lui demandait si le président de la République française était «un ami ou un ennemi», Liz Truss a refusé de choisir. Une telle réponse d’un ministre russe, ou turc, des Affaires étrangères, ne nous aurait pas surpris, mais de la part d’une Britannique, on reste pantois.

Ce n’est pas anecdotique, car la ministre des Affaires étrangères du gouvernement du premier ministre démissionnaire Boris Johnson, est candidate à la présidence du Parti conservateur britannique (tory) et donc au poste de premier ministre de Sa Majesté.

Lire l’article en entier sur le site du Figaro.

Andrew Brown

Junior Environmental Policy Analyst at the OECD. He is a young leader in resource and environmental policy who has been working on these policy issues for over 10 years. For the past 2 years he has worked for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), primarily on issues relating to resource productivity and waste management, with a strong focus on resource efficiency and the circular economy. In this capacity he has been an author of five recently published research papers, including the OECD’s “Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options”.  Before joining the OECD, Mr Brown worked in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specializing in promoting wildlife conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. He holds degrees in Economics and Policy from University College London in the United Kingdom and the College of William and Mary in the United States.

Pour contrer la pénurie de main-d’oeuvre, l’Australie rouvre les portes de l’immigration

Dans un contexte de plein-emploi historique, Canberra compte assouplir les conditions d’entrée des immigrés qualifiés.

Le restaurant Aqua Dining à Milsons Point, localisé sous le pont du port de Sidney.

Le restaurant Aqua Dining à Milsons Point, localisé sous le pont du port de Sidney. (Matthew ABBOTT/PANOS-REA)

Par Virginie Robert

Publié le 19 août 2022 à 8:30Mis à jour le 19 août 2022 à 15:19

Dans n’importe quel autre contexte, ce serait une excellente nouvelle pour le gouvernement à Canberra. D’après les chiffres publiés ce jeudi, le taux de chômage nationale ne dépassait pas 3,4 % en juillet, un taux inégalé depuis la fin des années 1940.

Mais la pénurie de main-d’oeuvre provoquée par la politique « zéro Covid » – qui s’est notamment traduite par une fermeture totale des frontières du pays pendant deux ans – est encore loin d’être résorbée. Tous secteurs confondus, plus de 480.000 postes de travail à travers l’Australie restent vacants, soit deux fois plus qu’avant le début de la pandémie.

Comme dans la plupart des autres pays confrontés aux démissions massives, c’est notamment le secteur de l’hôtellerie-restauration qui est affecté. Les hausses de salaire n’y changeant rien, les différents acteurs du secteur se livrent à une véritable foire d’empoigne pour se démarquer, attirer les candidats à l’emploi et les fidéliser.

Lire l’article dans son intégralité sur le site des Echos.

6 Months Into War, Ukraine and Russia Are Both Reshaped

It has been six months since Russian forces swept into Ukraine. This is what the conflict looks like for the combatants, and to a worried continent trying to maintain solidarity.

Ukraine paraded captured Russian armored vehicles on Saturday in Kyiv’s Maidan Square, the site of a 2014 uprising against Russian influence.

Credit…Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

For six months, a major land war has sown horror in Europe.

It is a war in which violence and normality coexist — death and destruction at the 1,500-mile front and packed cafes in Kyiv, just a few hundred miles to the west.

It is a war fought in trenches and artillery duels, but defined in great part by the political whims of Americans and Europeans, whose willingness to endure inflation and energy shortages could shape the next stage of the conflict.

And it is a war of imagery and messaging, fought between two countries whose deep family ties have helped turn social media into a battlefield of its own.

Read the full article on the site of the New York Times.

Renaud Girard : « Le bilan de six mois de guerre en Ukraine »

Publié 

Renaud Girard. Jean-Christophe MARMARA/Le Figaro

CHRONIQUE – Les unités combattantes sont épuisées. La guerre de mouvement a fait place à la guerre d’usure.

Il y a tout juste six mois, la Russie envahissait son voisin ukrainien. Vladimir Poutine ne supportait plus l’envol des Ukrainiens hors de sa sphère d’influence – processus chaotique mais continu depuis leur indépendance en 1991. Il lançait donc la première guerre de Sécession du XXIe siècle. Il était passé à l’acte, à la surprise de la plupart des Européens.

Son plan, en forme de coup de poker, était de s’emparer en trois jours de Kiev, grâce à une opération commando aéroportée, pour y installer un gouvernement à sa botte. Il échoua parce que la CIA avait percé les secrets de l’état-major russe et transféré ses plans opérationnels à l’armée ukrainienne. Cette dernière attendait de pied ferme les parachutistes russes sur l’aérodrome des usines Antonov, au nord de la capitale.

Lire l’article en entier sur le site du Figaro.

Jules Pondard

Civil servant from the French Corps des mines, he graduated from ENS and HEC Paris where he studied computer science, economics and entrepreneurship. Passionate about innovation and artificial intelligence, he worked with Yoshua Bengio (Turing Prize 2017) and within Facebook AI Research in New York and Paris. Silver medalist at the IOI, he has been promoting since 2013 the development of computer science in education within the France-IOI association. Since 2022, he has been holding the position of Digital & Fintech innovation Project Manager at ACPR.

Jean-Marie Paugam

Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva since 2021. Before this, Mr. Jean-Marie Paugam was the Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He has held various Senior Management responsibilities on Trade, Development and International Finance, with the French Treasury and with the UN system (International Trade Center). He also was Senior Research Fellow with the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), France’s leading think tank on international affairs. Mr. Paugam graduated in 1993 from the French National Administration School (ENA) and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Law as well as a Diploma of Political Sciences from the University of Aix-Marseille.

Koen Vincent

Country Studies Division Chief in the OECD Economics Department, having supervised work on around 50 member and non-member countries. He has authored or co-authored reports on a wide range of countries, including China, India, Russia, Japan, the two Koreas, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, the euro area, France, the UK, Turkey, Poland and the Nordics. He has also served as the Department’s Economic Counsellor, as the main author of the OECD Economic Outlook and as OECD G10 Secretary. Earlier on, he was an Economist at the International Monetary Fund, in the Research and European departments. He started his career at the Bank of France. He holds an Economics Ph.D. from MIT, has published two textbooks as well as numerous articles and papers. He has taught at ENA, HEC and Paris-Dauphine University.

Japan ill-prepared for Taiwan emergency

Country must beef up decision-making and cooperation with allies, private sector

Joe Biden, left, Fumio Kishida, Tsai Ing-wen and Xi Jinping: As China-Taiwan tensions intensify, experts worry about Japan’s readiness to deal with an emergency in the Taiwan Strait. (Nikkei montage/Xinhua/AP/Getty Images/Reuters)

TOKYO — China’s saber-ratting to intimidate Taiwan is stirring up tensions in the Taiwan Strait, raising concerns that the region is entering an extended period of heightened risk of armed conflict. The increasingly volatile situation means time is running out for Japan to prepare for a full-blown crisis involving Taiwan.

This is, however, not the first time for Japan to face a tense situation in the strait. In March 1996, the Chinese military launched missiles into waters around Taiwan, calling it a military exercise, in an apparent attempt to intervene in the island’s presidential election — an incident that became known as the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Read the original article on the Nikkei website.

Baisse du prix du carburant : sur les marchés, “c’est un peu la grande braderie du pétrole”

Selon l’économiste Philippe Chalmin, de nombreux acteurs vendent leurs barils moins cher qu’au début de la guerre en Ukraine, anticipant une baisse de la demande et une augmentation de l’offre.

Depuis neuf semaines, les prix du carburant baissent. En France, le gazole se vend désormais 1,79 euro le litre en moyenne ; le super sans plomb 1,78, selon les données du gouvernement publiées mardi 16 août. Les prix à la pompe n’ont pas été aussi bas depuis le mois de février, alors que la guerre fait toujours rage en Ukraine. C’est la conséquence d’un fléchissement de la consommation de pétrole et des tractations au sujet du nucléaire iranien, selon l’économiste Philippe Chalmin, professeur à l’université Paris Dauphine et président de Cyclope, un groupe d’étude spécialisé dans l’analyse des marchés des matières premières.

L’Express : Pourquoi les prix du carburant baissent-ils, alors que la guerre fait toujours rage en Ukraine ? 

Philippe Chalmin : Contrairement au gaz, la guerre en Ukraine impacte moins directement le marché du pétrole. Le monde ne dépend pas uniquement des exportations russes pour se procurer cette marchandise. Quelques semaines après le début de l’invasion, les prix de l’ensemble des matières premières se sont effectivement envolés. A cette époque, les analystes peinaient à évaluer exactement les implications du conflit. Cette incertitude a contribué à pousser les prix à la hausse, notamment ceux du pétrole.

Lire la suite de l’article sur le site L’Express

https://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/actualite-economique/baisse-du-prix-du-carburant-dans-le-monde-c-est-un-peu-la-grande-braderie-du-petrole_2178777.html

Kervasdoué – Halte à la grossière propagande antinucléaire !

CHRONIQUE. Arte n’avait aucune raison valable de diffuser le documentaire militant « Notre ami l’atome – Un siècle de radioactivité » le matin du 4 août.

Le matin du 4 août 2022, peu de téléspectateurs ont vu le documentaire de 2020 intitulé Notre ami l’atome – Un siècle de radioactivité sur Arte*. Il n’y avait aucune raison de diffuser ce film partisan à une heure où l’audience serait vraisemblablement infime. Ce n’est pas la première fois qu’Arte présente des films militants qui prétendent à l’objectivité, mais qui ne sont qu’une propagande éhontée de l’écologie politique, antinucléaire notamment. Les deux précédents présidents d’Arte à qui j’en ai parlé m’ont tous les deux précisé que de tels films, et notamment celui-là, étaient un “choix allemand”.

Lire la suite de l’article sur le site Le Point

https://www.lepoint.fr/debats/kervasdoue-halte-a-la-grossiere-propagande-antinucleaire-21-08-2022-2486907_2.php

Japan needs to come up with a new geoeconomic strategy

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration is currently working to revise the national security strategy — first created in December 2013 under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with Kishida involved as then-foreign minister.

The strategy states that it is intended to cover a period of around 10 years. And, in the nearly nine years since its creation, the world has faced a great change in international order, including the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The government began hearing the opinions of experts in January to kick off the process of revision.

Unlike when the strategy was first created, the government has not established a panel of experts this time. Instead, the Cabinet Secretariat’s National Security Secretariat appears to be working on the draft along with bureaucrats from the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry.

It is likely that the government will put together the draft of the revision during summer and fall.

One thing to watch will be how economic security will be positioned in the strategy.

The term was not included in the initial strategy document released in 2013, but recently serious concerns have arisen over U.S.-China confrontations and moves to decouple from China, as well as Beijing pressuring other countries by taking advantage of their economic relationships.

As the Kishida administration gears up discussion on drafting a new national security strategy, the biggest change between 2013 and now is that the issue of economic security has been attracting attention.

Economic statecraft

The Kishida administration is not the first Japanese government to work on economic security or geoeconomic challenges.

After World War II, Japan pursued the path of a pacifist nation under Article 9 of the Constitution, which states, “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”

Unlike other major industrialized countries, Japan has continued efforts to expand its influence in the global community through nonmilitary means due to both its constitutional constraints and remorse over its wartime aggression.

It can be said that Japan positioned economic statecraft — the use of economic means as foreign policy tools — at the center in identifying its postwar diplomacy.

In “The Diplomatic History of Postwar Japan,” a book edited by Makoto Iokibe, professor emeritus of Kobe University, Iokibe wrote that Japan settled on the Yoshida doctrine adopted by then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida’s administration of “light rearmament, dependency on the United States for its security, and emphasis on economics and commercial development.”

And Iokibe said, “Yoshida’s choices were to have a long and controlling influence as the basis for postwar Japan.”

Postwar Japan’s pursuit of such foreign policies resulted in the country building its identity as an economic superpower.

Moreover, the international environment during the Cold War made the use of military force even more difficult. French sociologist Raymond Aron described the Cold War as “peace impossible, war improbable.”

Thinking that a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union would obliterate human life, both the Western and Eastern bloc countries were attempting to act cautiously so that the use of military power would not lead to World War III.

Hence there was an increasing need for major industrialized countries to employ a strategy that utilized nonmilitary means, and some countries began aiming at expanding their influence through such measures as economic aid to developing nations.

Japan strategically strengthened relationships with Southeast Asian and African countries through providing official development assistance.

The Export-Import Bank of Japan, later succeeded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, served as the driving force behind Japan’s strategic infrastructure exports.

In 2014, Japan revised the ODA Charter to change its name to the Development Assistance Charter, in a shift from providing assistance to cooperating with equal partners.

The move reflected the government’s growing intention to link economic cooperation with national security and promote foreign economic aid strategically.

The end of the Cold War freed people from the fears of World War III and, as a result, also lowered the hurdle for the use of military force by superpowers.

Even after the end of the Cold War, Japan kept on implementing a foreign policy based on the Yoshida doctrine’s lightly armed approach and continued to work on protecting national security and interests through nonmilitary means under Article 9.

However, this foreign policy is now reaching an impasse.

De-globalization and decoupling

After the Cold War ended, people expected that it would put an end to global divisions, bringing the world together toward globalization.

They believed that democracy and capitalism would spread across the world to create one global market.

Under such assumptions, Japan and other industrialized democracies called on China to join the World Trade Organization. They also deepened economic ties with Russia mainly in the field of energy sources, regarding the country as a potential market as part of the BRICs group — Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Such recognitions were forced to change as Beijing used rare earth resources as a tool to pressure Japan, in the wake of the September 2010 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japan Coast Guard vessels near the Senkaku Islands, and as Moscow annexed Crimea in March 2014 through military intimidation.

Following such incidents, people began to point out the difficulties and issues regarding economic cooperation with China and Russia.

And, as can be seen from the October 2018 speech made by then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the July 2019 speech by then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s administration criticized China’s authoritarian regime and started addressing the need to review the economically interdependent relationship with Beijing — the notion of decoupling.

As confrontations and divisions between Washington and Beijing progress, Japan is also facing the need to partly review and reorganize its close supply chain relationship with China.

Some observers began to argue that the world has shifted from the era of globalization, controlled by dynamics of integration, to the era of de-globalization characterized partly by divisions and decoupling.

It will not be possible for the U.S. and China or Japan and China to decouple almost entirely like in the Cold War era.

However, as confrontations between democratic and authoritarian regimes are discussed more often, it is becoming difficult to have an optimistic outlook for China-Japan economic relations as was seen before.

That means Japan will have to create a national security strategy for the coming era by comprehensively taking into account various factors.

Japan’s geoeconomic strategy

To cope with such challenges that are both old and new, the term geoeconomics has been mentioned often in recent years. In addition to the often-used term geopolitics, economic tools and power are becoming more important than ever.

In the 21st century, it has become necessary to design a new foreign policy that responds to qualitative changes in international relations, including the shift in power balance brought about by the rise of emerging countries, and ensure the economy and national security connected closer together.

Since the Abe administration, Japan has been focusing on the geographic concept of the Indo-Pacific and at the same time has been stressing the importance of securing the safety of sea lines of communication and developing “open and stable seas” as part of its identity as a maritime nation.

Such intentions resulted in the “free and open Indo-Pacific” strategy put forth by Abe in August 2016 in a speech in Nairobi.

Under the strategy, which covers two oceans — the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean — Japan aims to lead efforts to construct rules-based international order in the region alongside countries that share the same values.

Kishida’s economic security strategy

The Kishida administration, while succeeding the strategy promoted by the Abe administration, is also focusing more strongly on economic security, which had not been sufficiently addressed during Abe’s term, and has enacted the economic security promotion law.

Kishida’s strategy is to establish rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region, with Japan playing a central role and upgrading the U.S.-Japan alliance as well as the “Quad” framework of Japan, the U.S., Australia and India.

In doing so, it is necessary to more effectively respond to such issues as influence operations feared to be conducted by Beijing, as well as cyberattacks and infringement on intellectual property rights.

While concerns are growing in the international community over Beijing stepping up military activities in the South and East China seas and building military facilities on disputed islands, China remains the biggest trade partner for Japan, South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

As the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was signed by 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, South Korea, China and ASEAN members in 2020, trade among these countries will continue to expand.

Japan must seriously consider a geoeconomic strategy that integrates issues related to both national security and economic interests.

It means we are now in a more difficult era — something we have never experienced before, having to struggle with threats we cannot clearly see and thus cannot easily cope with.

Read this article on the website The Japan Times

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2022/08/21/commentary/japan-commentary/new-geoeconomic-strategy/

Two Russians and one Ukrainian arrested after suspected spying raid on Albanian arms factory

Male suspect tried to use paralysing spray on security guards after being caught trying to take photographs at the facility at Gramsh.

Two Russians and a Ukrainian have been arrested after an apparent bungled spying raid on a military base and arms factory in central Albania, the Albanian defence ministry said on Saturday.

One of the male suspects allegedly attacked the guards with a paralysing spray while trying to take photographs of the Gramsh factory, which is used for dismantling derelict weapons, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that two of its soldiers were injured while trying to stop the raid, but the three foreign nationals were detained.

Albanian prime minister Edi Rama said the three individuals are “suspected of espionage”.

“Three citizens with Russian and Ukrainian passports have tried to enter the factory,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The officers who were guarding the plant reacted immediately, but during their efforts to stop the three foreign nationals, two of our soldiers were injured,” the statement said, adding the conditions of the soldiers was stable.

“In an attempt to escape control, one of the Russian nationals, identified by the initials MZ, 24 [years old], used neuroparalysing spray on the two security guards,” after he was tackled by the guards, the ministry added.

Two others, a Russian woman identified as ST, aged 33, and an Ukrainian man, identified as FA, 25 years old, were also arrested in the vicinity.

“What pride for the military guards who neutralized three individuals suspected of espionage,” Rama wrote on Twitter, adding: “Now let’s wait for the full clarification of this event.”

During the summer holidays Albania is visited by many Russians and Ukrainian tourists. The Gramsh military base is more than 70km away from the beaches.

During communism, the Albanian Gramsh plant was used to produce the Russian type of rifle AK-47.

According to the ministry’s website, the plant today provides manufacturing services for the defence industry, without giving more details.

Albania has been a member of Nato since 2009.

Read this article on the website The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/21/two-russians-and-one-ukrainian-arrested-after-suspected-spying-raid-on-albanian-arms-factory

Peter Beyer

Member of the German Bundestag where he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is the spokesperson for the Committee of Inquiry on Afghanistan. From 2018 to 2022, Mr. Beyer held the position of Federal Government Coordinator for Transatlantic Cooperation in the chancellery of Angela Merkel. Mr. Beyer studied law at the universities of Düsseldorf and Bonn, graduating in 1999. He began his legal career as an associate attorney for the US-headquartered firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt (now Mayer Brown), followed by professional roles at Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione in Chicago, and Murchison & Cumming in Los Angeles. In 2000, he enrolled in a postgraduate legal studies program at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville where he received a Master of Laws degree. Mr. Beyer started his political career in 2009 and has been directly elected to the German Bundestag in every general election since then (2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021). As a politician, he has been known as a steadfast advocate for a strong transatlantic relationship, fostering ties between Germany, the United States, and Canada. Additionally, Beyer has been the Foreign Affairs Committee’s main rapporteur on the Western Balkans for twelve years. He is an engaged member of various organizations, such as Atlantik-Brücke, and holds the position of Executive Vice-President at the German American Association, Vice President of the Southeast Europe Association and as President of the Federal Assembly of Silesia in Germany.

After 16 Months, Some Glimmers of Optimism About Iran Nuclear Deal

Iran’s response to the “final text,” sent to the European Union just before midnight Monday, does not raise major new objections, officials say.

BRUSSELS — For the first time in many months, European officials expressed increasing optimism on Tuesday that a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal may actually be agreed upon by Iran and the United States.

Just before midnight Monday in Tehran, Iran sent its promised response to what the European Union has called a final text of an agreement to restore the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or J.C.P.O.A., which former President Donald J. Trump abandoned in 2018.

The response, after tough internal talks inside Iran, was encouraging, officials said. It was not a complete yes, but it made no significant new objections. Instead, Iran is seeking further clarifications on assurances that the United States would lift punishing economic sanctions and that such assurances would be valid once President Biden leaves office.

Earlier on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister had called on the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency offered no details Tuesday, but said: “The differences are on three issues, in which the United States has expressed its verbal flexibility in two cases, but it should be included in the text. The third issue is related to guaranteeing the continuation of the J.C.P.O.A., which depends on the realism of the United States.”

Nabila Massrali, speaking for the European Union, said of Iran’s response: “We are studying it and are consulting with the other J.C.P.O.A. participants and the U.S. on the way ahead.”

The prospect of a return to power of Mr. Trump, who called the 2015 deal the worst in history before breaking it apart, has hung over these 16 months of talks. Mr. Biden’s hopes for a better deal, “longer and stronger,” as his officials put it early on, have been dashed. But Iran has moved so far ahead on stockpiling highly enriched uranium that it could now build a nuclear weapon, which it has always denied wanting to do.

The 2015 deal reduced Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium sufficiently to give the United States and its allies at least one year’s “breakout time” — the amount of time Iran would need to build a bomb if it chose to. That “breakout time” can now be measured in days or weeks, which is why Mr. Biden wants to restore the old deal, even if it is weaker than before, because Iran would have to give up nearly all the enriched uranium it has stockpiled since 2018.

Still, Iran has in the interim developed technical knowledge about enrichment that cannot be deleted and learned how to build advanced centrifuges, banned under the original deal, which critics say makes even a revival of the deal less valuable.

As of the last public count, Iran has a stockpile of some 3,800 kilograms of enriched uranium, well beyond the limits of the 2015 deal. Under that deal, Tehran could enrich uranium only up to 3.67 percent purity, while maintaining a stockpile of uranium of 300 kilograms under constant scrutiny of surveillance cameras and international inspectors.

But now, Iran enriches uranium up to 60 percent purity — useless for civilian applications and a short step away from bomb grade.

At the same time, in a separate dispute with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog that is supposed to monitor any deal, Iran has turned off key surveillance cameras and not allowed the agency to replace memory cards.

Notably, the Iranian response did not include its earlier stated demand that the I.A.E.A. drop its three-year investigation into unexplained deposits of highly enriched uranium, which Iran has refused to account for. But officials said that the dispute with the I.A.E.A. was an important but separate issue from the nuclear deal, which would not block agreement or implementation of the deal.

On Monday, in Washington, the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said the United States would share its own response with the European Union, which is chairing the talks, and urged Iran to drop “extraneous demands” that go beyond the nuclear deal.

“The only way to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the J.C.P.O.A. is for Iran to drop further unacceptable demands that go beyond the scope of the J.C.P.O.A.,” Mr. Price said.

Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting from New York.

Read this article on the website of The New York Times

Erdogan, Kurds should talk to each other rather than Assad

Protests took place in the northwest of Syria after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusgolu last week declared that he had briefly met with his Syrian counterpart in Belgrade nine months ago and had discussed a possible reconciliation between the Assad regime and the opposition. Some opposition supporters went to the extreme of burning the Turkish flag in response, while the Syrian Interim Government issued a statement calling for everyone to calm down and apologizing for the burning of the flag.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to prop up Bashar Assad. He is encouraging the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces to talk to Assad to fend off a proposed Turkish incursion, while also pushing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cooperate with Damascus on answering Ankara’s security concerns, including mentioning the Adana Agreement. Turkey and Syria signed this accord in 1998 following the expulsion of Abdullah Ocalan from Syria. Through this deal, Turkey can chase terrorists 8 km into Syrian territory. Could an extension to it mean Putin and Assad agreeing to the safe zone Turkey has talked about for some time?
Assad’s talks with the Kurds have not gone anywhere and probably will not. To start with, the Syrian army cannot, under any conditions, face off with the Turkish military. Hence, Assad cannot offer the SDF the protection it seeks. On the other hand, the Kurds are no fools — they know they have no real prospects with Assad. They know he will never keep his word. The scenario that former US envoy to the Global Coalition Against Daesh Brett McGurk outlined to end the war in 2019, by which Assad reconciles with the Kurds, does not seem to work out. This is why Putin is now talking to Erdogan about normalizing with Assad.
Erdogan currently needs all the help he can get. His popularity is sinking due to Turkey’s high inflation, worsening economic situation and the presence of 3.7 million Syrian refugees. A stunt against the Kurds in Syria should give him a boost with his electorate. However, Turkey will not conduct its operation unless it gets a green light from either the US or Russia. Putin is now proposing coordination with Assad as an alternative to an incursion.
Though Turkish-Syrian intelligence cooperation has not stopped regardless of the animosity between the two leaders, it has not led to any breakthrough in bilateral relations. It is difficult for Erdogan to normalize with Assad as he would lose credibility. Being the main backer of the Syrian opposition, the Turkish president cannot just pull the plug on Idlib.
His own constituency has been hearing for so long the narrative of the need to support the Syrian opposition and the fact that Assad and his regime are ruthless criminals. Can he change course all of a sudden? How could he then justify having accepted millions of refugees? Meanwhile, Assad has no intention of allowing the refugees to return.
The US somehow accepted the Assad-Kurdish talks; however, they should have opposed them and instead encouraged Kurdish-Turkish talks. This could help Erdogan regain the conservative Kurdish electorate domestically. He has to remember that it was the Kurdish vote that allowed Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas to snatch Istanbul and Ankara, respectively, from him in the 2019 mayoral elections.
Though the general mood in Turkey is now more in favor of confronting the PKK than for peace talks, a breakthrough with the Kurds might help Erdogan regain some of the Kurdish constituency. After all, the Kurds in Syria should be realistic and recognize that the only sustainable scheme is for them to share power with the Arab population and make the local councils more representative by removing the control of the “kadros” and allowing elected officials to assume their role.
The US, on the other hand, would be better off if, instead of letting Russia broker the talks on Syria’s northeast, it brought its two allies, the Kurds and the Turks, together and convinced them that talking to each other is better than talking to Assad. The Syrian leader would end up stabbing both in the back. And they would be better off finding a settlement now.
Erdogan is in a precarious situation as he might lose next year’s elections. Polls have shown that he is losing out in head to heads with five other contenders. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party CHP, has pledged to normalize with Assad and to agree with him on the “voluntary return” of refugees, which will most likely be anything but.
According to a July report by European Council on Foreign Relations Turkish specialist Asli Aydintasbas, Europe should make sure that, in this eventuality, any normalization takes place in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. However, there is no way that Assad will comply with this resolution. Hence, it would be better for Europe and the US to prepare for a possible change in Turkey’s leadership by making sure a deal is struck now that will alienate Assad. They should stress to the new leadership in Ankara — if there is a change in the next elections — that any rapprochement with Assad will affect the country’s relations with the US and Europe and may be subject to sanctions.
The Turkish position on Syria is of prime importance to the conflict. If Ankara pulls the plug on Idlib, the stronghold of the opposition, and allows an incursion by Assad, then the world will witness a new level of carnage. The people in Idlib are not reconcilable with the regime. Hence, they will fight to the death knowing they have no place to go.

Therefore, the US and the West should approach Turkey’s relations with Syria in a very strategic manner. They should remove their tacit agreement to the Assad-SDF negotiations and direct their Kurdish partners to talk to Turkey instead. An agreement with the Kurds of the northeast would likely allow Erdogan to mend, to a certain extent, his deteriorating relations with the Kurdish constituency at home. To ensure the sustainability of this agreement, the US and Europe should make it clear that, whoever wins the presidency in June 2023, normalization with the Assad regime will not be tolerated.
The US and Europe should act now to steer the course of events before it is too late by putting in place a sustainable agreement between Turkey and the Kurds of northeast Syria that will prevent any new military operation by Ankara.

Read this article on the website of Arab News

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2144991

President Kagame Congratulates Kenya’s President-Elect William Ruto

President Paul Kagame has congratulated Kenya’s President elect William Ruto over his election that was announced by Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

On his twitter account, Kagame further congratulated the citizen of Kenya for peaceful presidential elections.

“On behalf of the Government and People of Rwanda, I congratulate our Brothers and Sisters, the People of Kenya, for conducting peaceful elections on 9 August 2022. I also congratulate H.E. Dr William Samoei Ruto, the President-Elect,” Kagame wrote this evening.

“The Government of Rwanda attaches great importance to the good relationship and cooperation between Kenya and Rwanda.”

An earlier message by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international cooperation had said that the Rwandan Government sent its complimentary message to the Kenyan Foreign congratulating the President-elect following a successful election held August 9, 2022.

“The Government of Rwanda attaches great importance to the cooperation between Kenya and Rwanda and wishes to take this opportunity to reaffirm its to further strengthen the bond of relationship that exists between the two countries” the ministry said in a statement this Tuesday.

Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also used the statement to announce a renewal of cooperation with assurances of highest consideration.

Ruto has been declared the duly elected fifth President of Kenya by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

The commission said Ruto had fulfilled the constitutional requirements after garnering 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 per cent of the total votes cast and he achieved the minimum number of 39 counties at 25%.

His main rival Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party got 6,942,930 votes representing 48 percent of the votes cast.

Read the article on the website of KT Press

President Kagame Congratulates Kenya’s President-Elect William Ruto

Friends of Sudan convene in Riyadh to discuss ways to assist UN mission

RIYADH: Representatives from Western and Gulf Arab countries met in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday to discuss joint efforts to support the stability and prosperity of Sudan.
The Friends of Sudan, including officials from the UAE, US, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, UN, EU, African Union, Arab League, World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, held their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh.
“The meeting discussed ways to strengthen joint cooperation to support all efforts that ensure a peaceful political transition in Sudan,” a statement issued by Saudi Press Agency said.
The group also discussed ways to further assist and support the efforts of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS).
Earlier on Tuesday, UN special representative for Sudan Volker Perthes confirmed the meeting was underway on Twitter, however, he was not able to attend in person, only virtually, as he had tested positive for COVID-19.
“International support and leverage is needed, Perthes said, adding: “Support for political process needs to go along with active support to stop violence.”
He also expressed deep concern over Monday’s violence. Sudanese security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters in Khartoum, killing seven people.

Eid bin Mohammed Al-Thaqafi, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Political and Economic Affairs, attended the meeting on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and newly-appointed envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield, who met with the Saudi foreign minister a day earlier, also attend the one-day conference.
The meeting comes a day after representatives of the Sudanese quartet — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Britain and the US — met in Riyadh to also discuss efforts to support Sudan and assist UNITAMS.

Read the article on the website Arab News

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2006996/saudi-arabia

COVID-19, conflicts hampering food security in Africa

The adverse impacts of the COVID-19 and conflicts are hampering food security in the African continent. This was disclosed at a high-level the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD meeting that kicked off on Tuesday July 26, 2022 in Dakar, Senegal.

In her opening remark, CEO of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, Mrs Nardo Bekele-Thomas, said that the COBVID-19 and its socio-economic consequences have exacerbated food insecurity and malnutrition globally. In Africa, compared with 2019, about 46 million more people  were affected by hunger in 2020, in the shadow of the pandemic. Further evidence suggests that, without urgent action, COVID-19 could result in an additional 9.3 million wasted children – on top of the 45 million in 2020 – and an additional 2.6 million stunted children – on top of the 149 million in 2020 – globally by the end of 2022, backsliding a decade of progress on nutrition.

Mrs Nardos Bekele-Thomas noted that climate change, conflicts and terrorism, and the increased cost of food are some of the challenges adversely impacting food security. According to the CEO, in the Horn of Africa region, severe droughts since 1981 are leading to the death of livestock and crop failure, resulting in an estimated 13 million people waking up hungry every day. “Conflict is a major threat to food security and the leading cause of global food crises in 2020 and now the conflict in Ukraine and Russia has plunged global food and energy markets into turmoil, raising high food prices evn further. These increases once passed on to our local domestic markets, will limit people’s access to food of adequate quantity and quality,” she said.

FAO has estimated that, globally, the number of undernourished people, which was around 817 million in 2021, could increase by 7.6 – 13.1 million people in 2022-2023.

However, Nardos Bekele-Thomas said, despite the challenges affecting food and nutrition security in Africa, the National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) and Regional Agriculture Investment Plans (RAIPs) are instrumental in driving the agriculture transformation processes and building risilient food systems on the continent. “Today, I am very delighted that we are nearing the end of the second decade (MALABO Declaration) of the NAIP and RAIP implmentation, it is of paramount importance to take stock on how far the National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) and Regional Agriculture Investment Plans (RAIPs) were instrumental in driving the agriculture transformation processes and building resilient on food systems. Further, I would like to also congratulate the Member States here present and with the support of partners, that we have managed to successfully sustain and expand the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) process for more than a decade,” she said.

Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas said the work built on the CAADP as a continental policy framework for agricultural transformation to increase food security and nutrition and reduce poverty and the commitment to agricultural transformation under the African Union (AU) CAADP Malabo declaration on agricultural growth and transformation, the African Common Position on Food Systems shall bring renewed impetus to agriculture developed on the African Continent.

“Africa expects the momentum created by the UNFSS to result in mobilizing and galvanizing implementation of its priorities in Agenda 2063, the CAADP-Malabo declaration, the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and other AU continental development frameworks.”

The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD is mandated to coordinate and promote regional integration towards the accelerated realization of the AU Agenda 2063.

Read the article on the website IPPMedia

https://www.ippmedia.com/en/features/covid-19-conflicts-hampering-food-security-africa

PM Pushes Negotiators to Make Good Impressions for EU Talks

Prime Minister Edi Rama has given Sunday his instructions to the team of negotiators for the process of opening negotiations on the road of European integration.

On the side of the the new chief negotiator, Majlinda Dhuka Rama explained the reasons for the changes in the government while asking the team that will represent Albania in Brussels to make a positive impression with their work.

“We are no longer in the conditions of an interaction with the so-far intensity. It is fundamental that each of you guarantees with work, seriousness, the quality of materials, communications and interaction that Albania is viewed with respect at every step. The respect we have gained in the political aspect, I want to gain in the technical aspect. I want the Albanian team to create a positive impresison in Brussels.

I have had the opportunity to know and appreciate most of your qualities and I have had the opportunity to see them in a certain progress. Some of the deputy ministers have been on this road since the beginning of time. The challenge is entirely new. It is important to emphasize that the appointment of the new chief negotiator underlines the changing nature of the relationship between us and the EU. Ambassador Mazi did a commendable and diplomatic job. Being a side in this process, until the moment when it was decided to open the negotiations formally.

There is a fundamental difference. There are many people in our administration who cannot be found on Google, but without whom the administration would not be able to function. There are people who have been in office since the early 1990s. They have served the state with modesty. If everything had been left in the hands of those who come in and out as if it were their father’s property, we would have a situation like after the earthquake”, said Rama.

Read the article on the website Albanian Daily News

https://albaniandailynews.com/news/pm-pushes-investigators-team-to-make-good-impressions-for-eu-talks-1-1

A new test for EU solidarity

Shared interests may sustain alliances in peacetime. But alliances that are capable of winning wars and confronting crises require something more: a willingness to compromise one’s immediate well-being and to endure sacrifices. This is called solidarity, and it is one of the principles upon which the European Union (EU) is based.
Solidarity in Europe had long been a matter for speeches. But then the 2010 euro crisis put it to the test, when Greece, Ireland, and Portugal lost access to capital markets and were forced to seek financial assistance. Many in Northern Europe were shocked: To allow those states that had ignored the single currency’s rules to rely on their partners’ helping hand was simply an invitation to flout the rules repeatedly. The battle lasted for five years, with many twists and turns, and entailed much unnecessary economic hardship, until it ended in 2015 with the decision to keep Greece inside the euro.
That lesson had not been forgotten when the Covid-19 pandemic shock hit Europe in 2020. The European Central Bank (ECB) was quick to launch a dedicated asset-purchase programme, and the EU itself devised two path breaking initiatives in a matter of months. It developed a joint plan to purchase and distribute vaccines, so that wealthier member states could not outbid poorer ones, and it established the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), through which grants and loans to member states are being financed by EU borrowing. These were rightly hailed as European solidarity in action.
But the war in Ukraine and its economic consequences have opened a new, complicated chapter for the EU. The shock is evidently highly asymmetric. For example, there are currently 1.2mn Ukrainian refugees in Poland, but only 130,000 in Spain – a roughly ten-to-one difference between countries with similar populations. Dependence on Russian natural gas also is extremely uneven. Supplies from Russia cover about one-quarter of total energy demand in Hungary, Latvia, and Slovakia, and about one-eighth in Germany and Italy, but a negligible share in Spain and Portugal.
In normal times, tackling this asymmetry would present a major challenge for the EU. But the big, essential difference with previous threats to the bloc’s cohesion is that, in Russian President Vladimir Putin, Europe faces an external enemy who makes no secret of his desire to exploit and exacerbate divisions both between and within European countries. Putin’s ultimate goal is to destroy the EU.
To this end, he is punishing Russia’s adversaries by cutting gas supplies, and rewarding Russia’s European allies for their loyalty. The latter include Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has now fully endorsed the Russian narrative, declared that the EU “shot itself in the lungs” by imposing sanctions against Russia, and sent his foreign minister to Moscow to negotiate additional gas purchases.
The recent unravelling of the Italian government coalition led by former ECB President Mario Draghi is clearly bad news in this regard. Not only was Draghi a staunch advocate of toughness against Russian aggression and a key architect of EU sanctions, but the three parties (the Five Star Movement, the League, and Forza Italia) that triggered his government’s collapse represent various shades of pro-Russian opinion. Putin has undoubtedly scored a goal here.
The ECB’s pivot to a more hawkish policy stance could have been another blow to European solidarity. Since March 2020, flexibility in the allocation of the ECB’s special asset-purchase program had kept a lid on sovereign bond spreads among eurozone countries; but by mid-July the combination of the scheme’s expected termination and political turmoil in Italy had already caused spreads to widen.
The ECB’s announcement on July 21 of the Transmission Protection Instrument, a new discretionary asset-purchase facility, is likely to help calm fears. Activation of the TPI is of course conditional on a eurozone member state fulfilling economic policy criteria, including – importantly – a determination by the ECB that its public debt remains sustainable. But this was necessary to avoid moral hazard and protect the central bank from the perils of fiscal dominance.
EU solidarity on the energy front, however, is in shorter supply. Initial reactions to the European Gas Demand Reduction Plan presented on July 20 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were cool, to say the least.
According to the original proposal (based on the same EU treaty article that provided the cornerstone for the post-pandemic RRF), all member states should aim to reduce their gas usage over the winter by 15%. Furthermore, these reductions could be made mandatory in the event of an energy alert triggered by a substantial risk of a severe gas shortage or by exceptionally high demand. In other words, Spain, which does not depend on Russian gas, would be expected to cut its domestic consumption if Russia further curtailed its exports to Germany.
This plan was clearly put on the table as a basis for discussion. Other issues, such as the politically controversial postponement of the planned closures of nuclear or coal-fired power plants, common purchases of liquefied natural gas, and the expansion of interconnection infrastructure must be part of the negotiation. But the instant negative reactions from Spain, Portugal, and Greece amounted to a replay in reverse of what these countries suffered during the euro crisis a decade ago.
After several days of negotiations, EU member states agreed on July 26 to a watered-down version of the plan. But it is hardly sufficient quantitatively, and it is full of carve-outs and exemptions. Moreover, to mandate any cuts will require a vote in the European Council.
When the 13 American colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Benjamin Franklin famously said that, “We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” With the fallout from the Ukraine war threatening Europe’s cohesion, Franklin’s warning has gained new and acute relevance. — Project Syndicate

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