Africa Briefs

Zambia, Angola ink oil pipeline dealZambia and Angola have signed an agreement aimed at constructing a pipeline for the transportation of finished petroleum product between the two countries.The US$5-billion agreement will pave way for the construction of a pipeline from the oil-rich Angola to Zambia.Lawrence Chalungama, Zambia's ambassador to Angola, said the deal was signed on Thursday by ministers responsible for energy of the two countries, bringing to an end more than 10 years of negotiation process between the two countries.He said in a release that the pipeline will be developed by the private sector with Angola state-owned petroleum company Sonangol and Zambia state company Industrial Development Corporation as strategic partners.Currently, Zambia has a joint pipeline with Tanzania used for the transportation of petroleum products. – Nampa/XinhuaZim to tighten process for power producersZimbabwe is going to tighten the process of issuing licenses to independent power producers (IPPs), the country's energy regulator said.Only serious applicants will be considered, as a few projects have been successfully implemented in the past, according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA).The majority of applicants were seeking licenses for speculative purposes, said ZERA board chairperson David Madzikanda, noting that 93 IPPs have been licensed but most of them have not been commissioned.Zimbabwe's energy supply is fragile and relies on imports to plug the shortfall.Madzikanda said that due to depressed generation capacity, only 40% of houses in the country have access to electricity, of which 83% are in urban areas and the remainder in rural areas. – Nampa/XinhuaSA eyes Chinese touristsSouth Africa is eyeing the populous country China to revive its tourism and economic recovery, said Victor Tharage, director-general of the National Department of Tourism.Tharage told Xinhua that the country used to get 100 000 Chinese tourists per annum and that was affected by Covid-19. He expected that the tourist arrival numbers might revert to the pre-Covid-19 level in 2023 or 2024."As part of the recovery plan for tourism, China is the key market. We are more than ready for Chinese tourists. We have taken some tour guides to China for acclimatisation and to learn the culture so that they serve the clientele a lot better. We have trained the frontline office employees to be conversant with Chinese language," he said.He pointed out that they are fast-tracking the e-visa so that Chinese tourists and other target markets like India and Nigeria would easily visit the country. – Nampa/Xinhua

Africa Briefs

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

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Africa Briefs

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

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