1. FIMA 2009: the new international fashion trend will be African
The seventh edition of the International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA) 2009, ended Sunday in Niger. This latest edition focused on the professionalism and talent of African designers, as it also marks the beginning of a much needed awareness about the urgency of promoting the economic role of the fashion industry.
African fashion is doing well and is gearing up to hit the international scene. This leitmotiv has become the driving force for both established designers and young artists alike who took part in the "L’Afrique est à la mode — Africa is fashionable," competition, organized by Culturesfrance, at the 2009 International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA). A flood of creativity and know-how flooded "La Pilule", the chosen site for the seventh edition of FIMA, situated at the Gorou Kirey village, 15 km outside Niamey, the capital of Niger.
read more @ afrik.com
2. scramble for Africa: Brazil gaining on China
By Ed Cropley, African Investment Correspondent
China is leading the pack in the 21st century 'scramble for Africa' but anybody who thinks Beijing has the continent sewn up need only glance at the passport of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
By the time he first visited the European Union in 2007, four years after coming to office, Lula had racked up six trips to Africa, covering 16 countries.
Then, in July, he was guest of honour at an African Union summit in Libya, a reminder to Beijing ahead of its second Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Egypt on November 8-9 that it is not alone in courting the continent and its raw materials.
Reflecting Lula's push, Brazil's annual trade with Africa has jumped from $3.1-billion (R24,5-billion) in 2000 to $26.3-billion last year, a rate of growth outpaced only by China, which has seen two-way commerce soar tenfold this decade to $107-billion.
China has now eclipsed the United States as the continent's biggest trading partner.
"The balance of commercial power has shifted entirely," said Martyn Davies of Frontier Advisory, a South Africa-based consultancy for investors in emerging African markets.
"This is not something new - it's just been accelerated by the economic crisis. It's towards inter-emerging market trade, rather than the traditional north-south trade."
It is not only Brazil and China that are muscling in on Africa. The two other members of the so-called BRICs grouping - India and Russia - are also setting up stall in a region that for generations European powers regarded as their own back yard.
read more @ iol
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