Arcadia Foundation

Zimbabwe’s government has proposed that “indigenous Zimbabweans” take 51 percent ownership of all foreign companies, including mines and banks, according to a draft law.

An official at the Chamber of Mines expressed surprise and concern at the proposed legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. ”We haven’t seen the regulations but if what we’ve heard is true, then that’s a step back. It goes against what we’ve been discussing with the Ministry of Mines and other ministries,” the official, who declined to be named, stated.The draft regulations said indigenous Zimbabweans should hold a controlling interest in each foreign-owned business with an asset value above $500,000. Zimbabwe passed an Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment law in 2007, which seeks to transfer control of all firms — including mines and banks — to black Zimbabweans.

Analysts believe that this would unsettle investors and could further damage an economy already ravaged by the collapse of commercial agriculture following President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms since 2000. A unity government formed by Mugabe and his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, promised in February to be flexible in applying the empowerment law, but the proposed regulations suggest no change of tack.

The latest move also casts doubt on consultations between the government and the foreign-dominated mining industry over proposed changes to the mining law. Mugabe has said amendments to the mining legislation, to be pushed through parliament soon, will seek to improve ties with the industry.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said today it had launched anti-dumping, anti-subsidy investigations into US-made off-road vehicles and sedans with engine displacements of 2.0 liters and above.

The decision was made after the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) filed an application for the investigations, the MOC said in a statement posted on its website. CAAM, representing Chinese car-makers, said US car makers had unfairly benefited from 31 government subsidy programs. The MOC decided to investigate into 24 of them.

The ministry said it held consultation with its US counterpart on Tuesday and made the decision in accordance with China’s anti-dumping and anti-subsidy laws. The investigations would commonly be ended before November 6, 2010, but might be extended by another year if necessary, the MOC said.

The MOC announcement came one day after the US Commerce Department set preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese-made oil pipes, which was the biggest US trade action against China. As a result, a 36.53-percent tariff will be imposed on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from 37 Chinese companies, while some other companies will be levied a preliminary dumping rate of 99.14 percent. They are in addition to the preliminary extra duties of 10.69 percent to 30.69 percent which the US Commerce Department announced in September for Chinese oil pipes.

The US move drew strong objection from China. ”China is resolutely opposed to US abuse of protectionism. And (China) will take measures to safeguard the interests of domestic industry,” MOC spokesman Yao Jian has said.

The collapse of an accord to end a four-month political crisis in Honduras leaves egg on the faces of U.S. and regional diplomats who had engineered the deal and puts the November 29 presidential election in jeopardy.

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya and current Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti signed last week a U.S.-brokered agreement that was impossible to put into effect because they each saw it as a vehicle to becoming the legitimate leader of the country. Zelaya proclaimed the pact dead early this morning after Micheletti said he would stay in power at the head of what was supposed to be a unity and reconciliation cabinet but was formed without any Zelaya participation.

The international community has become impatient with the leftist leader, who has been holed up for weeks in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, and is unlikely to make a major effort to rescue him again. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Organization of American States had celebrated last week’s pact as a triumph for democracy and Zelaya said it paved his way back into power until the end of his term, in January. But in the rush to push through a deal after months of delays, the negotiators allowed internal contradictions that would be impossible to meet.

The accord called for a unity cabinet of ministers to be set up by all sides, but was too vague regarding who would lead the interim government. Unless both sides can pull off some sort of miracle in the next few days, and get back to the negotiating table, the November 29 presidential election faces a number of problems.

Zelaya has already asked Hondurans to boycott the vote.

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