Latest news with #InternationalDevelopmentFinanceCorporation
Nikkei Asia
16-05-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
US assesses financial support for construction of Cambodia airport
PHNOM PENH -- The U.S. government has announced it is assessing whether to help finance a nearly-completed airport near the Cambodian capital, a move that comes amid growing tariff tensions between the two countries, the halting of virtually all Washington's aid to Phnom Penh and only weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Southeast Asian nation. The U.S. State Department's International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), started by President Donald Trump in his first term to finance private sector projects, this week released an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for the Techo Takhmao International Airport in Kandal province, 20 kilometers south of the Cambodian capital.
Reuters
24-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Kremlin says Russia is not holding gas supply talks with Europe or the US
MOSCOW, April 24 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia is not holding talks with Europe or the United States about Russian gas supplies via Ukraine. Russian gas supplies to Europe have collapsed since the start of the military conflict in Ukraine in February 2022 and blasts at the subsea Nord Stream pipelines. Gas exports to Europe from Russia via Ukraine also fell from the start of this year when a transit deal expired and Ukraine refused to extend it because of the war in Ukraine. A source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters this month that the U.S. demanded that the U.S. government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline from Russian energy giant Gazprom ( opens new tab across Ukraine to Europe as part of broader peace talks. Russia's only remaining gas route to Europe is TurkStream via the Black Sea to Turkey and further to southern and central Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no talks with the U.S. and Europe about more Russian gas supplies. "No, there are no (talks)... The point was that this is a commercial story. There is a gas seller, there are potential buyers of gas," he said on a daily conference call with reporters. "If the buyers show interest, if the transit route works, then, of course, the seller will be ready to discuss all of this. Nobody denies or rejects anything." On Wednesday, in an interview with French magazine Le Point, Peskov said that Gazprom was ready to resume supplies. "Gazprom will surely debate it. We are ready to trade our gas and we know that there are certain countries in Europe that want to keep buying it from us. Everything will be settled commercially," he said.
IOL News
23-04-2025
- Business
- IOL News
DRC arms for minerals deal amid Trump transactionalism, tariffs
Media reports suggest that a deal involving Donald Trump's US and the DRC could be modelled along the lines of the US- Ukraine deal, a transactional bilateral arrangement upon which the US would provide security support in exchange for critical minerals and rare earth metals. Media reports that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sought to negotiate an arms-for-minerals deal with the US at a time when Washington has imposed unilateral tariffs targeting both allies and opponents. Media reports suggest that the US-DRC deal could be modelled along the lines of the US- Ukraine deal, a transactional bilateral arrangement upon which the US would provide security support in exchange for critical minerals and rare earth metals. While the DRC faces a desperate security situation and has alluded to the need to diversify its partners, the Trump administration looks keen to take its transactional model of bilateral, and indeed multilateral, relations to conflict states, trading mineral resources for security needs. The motivation and timing of the DRC's overtures towards the US may throw the country into a catch-22. The Trump administration has been very clear about seeking maximum benefits for the US in line with the Trump Administration's America First Agenda by forging transactional relations with partners. At the same time, the DRC is pulling a huge gamble which could alienate its traditional trusted partners. At this juncture, African countries should seek collective solutions to emerging challenges, including in dealing with the chaotic, unpredictable, and transactional policies emerging from Washington. The DRC faces ongoing violence, instability, massive displacement of its citizens and a huge humanitarian crisis. Millions of its citizens have been forced to flee their homes to escape the advancing M23 rebels, allegedly supported by Rwanda. The rebel groups have responded with mixed signals to calls for a ceasefire by both the government of the DRC and Rwanda, while the SADC forces deployed to keep peace in the country are being withdrawn, leaving the Tshisekedi-led government desperate to bolster peace and stability in the country. China has emerged as the major investment and development partner in Africa and the DRC in particular. The Trump Administration has indicated its desire to continue pushing US interests for critical minerals, drawing big power competition and rivalry into the region. The U.S., through its International Development Finance Corporation, set up during Trump's first term in 2019, has pledged a $550 million loan to support the Lobito corridor project. The DRC, Angola, Zambia, and Tanzania are all participating in the Lobito corridor initiative, a $4 billion project which was originally launched by the Biden administration to develop railway infrastructure linking ports in Tanzania through the DRC and Zambia to Angola. The project, which seeks to facilitate the transportation of minerals resources and other raw materials found in abundance in this region, was touted as evidence to affirm that the US and EU are seriously back to invest in Africa, and possibly outcompete flourishing Chinese investments. According to the BBC, the U.S. chargé d'affaires and acting ambassador to Angola, James Story, told reporters that the United States is ''set to show our commitment to these projects,'' suggesting that the Trump administration is all in the planned partnership with the 4 Africancountries, the private sector, the US, and the EU countries. Western governments view the Lobito corridor project as their answers and alternative to massive Chinese infrastructure projects in the region backed by a combination of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In contrast to ad hoc, recently emerging Western infrastructure initiatives in Africa, China has institutionalised its investments in the continent through combined public and private sector investments to assert itself in diversified supply and value chains, creating millions of jobs across the continent. Western countries and the private sector have previously been reluctant to invest massively in the continent. They have mostly directed their focus on humanitarian and security initiatives partly because Africa is generally viewed as unstable and characterised by poor governance. Compared to extensive Chinese investment in the DRC, and despite dangling billions of dollars in potential investment, US-DRC trade accounts for minuscule economic exchanges between the two countries. A summary of trade relations between the DRC and the US from the Office of the United States Trade Representative indicates that total goods trade with the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached $576.4 million in 2024. The US goods exports to the Democratic Republic of the Congo were $253.3 million in 2024, growing by 35.6 percent to reach $66.5 million from 2023, while the US goods imports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo clocked $323.1 million, gaining by 17.5 percent to $48.1 million. Since the 2000s, China has invested more than $155 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa, making Beijing a legitimate alternative to Western financing in the realm of developmental and commercial infrastructure. The DRC, which produces 80 percent of the world's cobalt, has attracted massive investments from state-owned enterprises and policy banks from China. Chinese companies have invested in half of the largest cobalt mines in the DRC, with a significant stake in the refining of cobalt and other minerals. China is by far the DRC's largest single trading partner, representing nearly half of its merchandise exports and more than a quarter of its imports, according to 2022 data from the World Trade Organization. When it comes to China's economic ties with DR Congo, the UN Comtrade Database shows that for years, China has been DR Congo's top trading partner since the 2000s. According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Chinese exports to Congo reached US$4.49 billion in 2023. China has financed and built large-scale infrastructure projects in DR Congo, including hydropower plants and a dry port. The Chinese Loans to Africa Database run by Boston University says that Beijing extended $3.2bn (£2.5bn) of loans to the DRC between 2005 and 2022, mostly to fund road and bridge construction and the country's electricity grid. US investments in Africa in general, and the DRC in particular, are marginal. The Trump administration is equally proving transactional, basically self-interested in a very inside-looking way. The unilateral imposition of blanket tariffs on nearly 60 countries, which have been suspended for 60 days, requires the DRC to demonstrate a measure of solidarity, goodwill and, most importantly, seek a collective response with other African countries to maintain a diplomatically nuanced collective posture towards the US. China, the main economic partner with the DRC, is confronted with a cycle of additional US tariffs. In the context of the transactional operational mode characterising contemporary Washington foreign relations, and the tensions between Washington and Beijing triggered by Trumpsunilateral imposition of tariffs on China, the DRC, as with other African countries who aremembers of the BRICS, and have forged strong bilateral and multilateral relations with Beijing risk coercive backlash from Washington. While China is clear on its policy of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, Trump has threatened to impose debilitating tariffs on members of the BRICS group of countries. South Africa is facing intense pressure for some of its policies to address its domestic historical contradictions. Barring some serious delicate balancing act, the DRC risks alienating some of its traditional partners who have ploughed billions of dollars into the fragile state at a time when the US is proving unpredictable and unreliable, tearing the global economic and political rule book even for its historical partners. Gideon H Chitanga, PhD is a Post Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for China Africa Studies (CACS), University of Johannesburg.
The Independent
13-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘demands control' of pipeline in Ukraine carrying Russian gas
The US is demanding control of a key pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, while Kyiv negotiates a minerals deal with the Donald Trump administration. Prospects for a breakthrough in the deal between Washington and Kyiv are scant given the 'antagonistic' atmosphere of the talks, a source told Reuters following last week's meeting. The US has demanded that its International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline running from the town of Sudzha in western Russia to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. Senior economist Volodymyr Landa told The Guardian Washington's bullying 'colonial-type' demands had little chance of being accepted by Kyiv. Meanwhile, Mr Trump said on Saturday that talks to end the war in Ukraine might be going well, adding that there was a time when you had to put up or shut up. His envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg for four hours to discuss a 'Ukrainian settlement' on Friday. Ukraine can nearly produce full range of weapons it needs, says Zelensky aide Ukraine can nearly supply its armed forces with the full range of military equipment if requires, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky has said. In remarks reported by the Kyiv Independent, Oleksandr Kamyshin told a briefing marking Ukraine's Gunsmith Day, in which it was said that Ukraine had developed a total of 324 types of weapons domestically between 2022 and 2024: 'Today, according to various estimates, 30 per cent to 40 per cent of what our troops use on the front lines is made in Ukraine. 'It's not only about war — it's about our economy. As of last year, defence manufacturing made up a significant share of our GDP. After our victory, I'm confident we'll be exporting Ukrainian-made weapons to the world.' Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:15 Opinion | It'll take more than a 'reassurance force' to fill the US-sized hole Our associate editor Sean O'Grady writes: There's a terrible sense of poignancy – if not doom – around all the meetings of the 'coalition of the willing', impressive as the grandiloquent words, the formidable roll call of nations and the glittering array of military uniforms might be. To be brutally frank, and with the best will in the world, these capable, dedicated ministers and generals may be wasting their time. The problem is American resistance to the whole idea. The danger is that if Vladimir Putin doesn't like the COTW reassurance force – and everything suggests that he hates it – and obstructs Donald Trump's peace deal, then Trump will agree. The best Putin will accept so far is a conventional UN peacekeeping force, ie the kind of thing that so recently proved useless and was humiliated by Israel in Lebanon. No Nato members, under any flag, will be allowed in. If nothing is agreed, Putin will carry on, likely with Trump's acquiescence – because it seems to me that Trump is basically a coward. It'll take more than a 'reassurance force' to fill the US-sized hole in Brussels As members of the 'coalition of the willing' gather at Nato's Brussels headquarters today, it won't just be about achieving peace in Ukraine and guaranteeing European security, writes Sean O'Grady. It will be a question of how – and if – they can sway Donald Trump and the White House to provide even the most tokenistic 'backstop' Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:46 Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking its energy infrastructure five times in past 24 hours Russia's defence ministry has claimed that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, in an alleged violation of a US-brokered moratorium on such strikes. Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on each other's energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium. It was not possible to verify Russia's claims, and Moscow has repeatedly made false claims about Ukrainian attacks since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:52 Turkey and Russia's top diplomats discuss Ukraine ceasefire efforts, source says Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan have discussed efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, a Turkish diplomatic source has told Reuters. The pair also discussed energy cooperation issues and bilateral relations during a meeting on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in southern Turkey, the source said. Andy Gregory12 April 2025 12:13 Trump's envoy 'tells him quickest way to end war is for Ukraine to cede four regions to Russia' Shortly after dining with a Russian negotiator in Washington last week, Donald Trump's envoy to Moscow is reported to have told the US president that the quickest way to end the war would be to support a strategy handing Vladimir Putin the four Ukrainian regions he sought to illegally annex seven months into his full-scale invasion. Steve Witkoff, a former real estate mogul, who met with Mr Putin on Friday, was said to have made the remarks by two US officials and five people familiar with the situation, Reuters reported. Mr Witkoff has previously been unable to name all four regions to which he referred. However, Mr Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is claimed by two sources to have pushed back against Mr Witkoff, saying that Ukraine would never agree to completely hand over all four territories to Russia. The meeting is reported to have ended without Mr Trump making a decision to change Washington's strategy. Andy Gregory12 April 2025 12:42 Republicans called White House to complain after Trump envoy's interview on Ukraine, report says Mutiple Republican members of the US congress were so alarmed by Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's remarks about Russia's war during an interview with Tucker Carlson that they called the White House national security adviser and secretary of state Marco Rubio to complain, a source has told Reuters. During the interview last month, Mr Witkoff praised Mr Putin as 'super smart' and not 'a bad guy', while claiming the 'central issue' and 'elephant in the room' in peace negotiations is whether Ukraine can cede four regions – which he was unable to name – to Russia. According to the report, some US officials worry that Moscow is taking advantage of Mr Witkoff's – a former real estate mogul – lack of experience at the negotiating table. 'Witkoff must go, and Rubio must take his place,' Eric Levine, a major Republican donor, said in a letter sent on 26 March to a group including fellow donors to the party. Andy Gregory12 April 2025 13:10 US demands control over Ukraine pipeline carrying Russian gas - report The US has demanded control of a key pipeline in Ukraine that is used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, while Kyiv negotiates a mineral deal with Donald Trump's administration. Prospects for a breakthrough in the minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv were scant given the meeting's "antagonistic" atmosphere, a source told Reuters, following last week's meeting. The US has demanded that the government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline, which runs from the town of Sudzha in western Russia to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. Senior economist Volodymyr Landa told The Guardian that Washington's bullying 'colonial-type' demands had little chance of being accepted by Kyiv. Ukrainian prime minister Volodymyr Zelensky last week said a minerals deal should be profitable for both countries and could be structured in a way that would help modernise Ukraine. The latest draft would give the US privileged access to Ukraine's mineral deposits and require Kyiv to place in a joint investment fund all income from the exploitation of natural resources by Ukrainian state and private firms. The proposed deal, however, would not provide US security guarantees to Kyiv – a top priority of Mr Zelensky – for its fight against Russian forces occupying some 20 per cent of its territory. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar13 April 2025 04:16
The Guardian
12-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
US ‘demands control' from Ukraine of key pipeline carrying Russian gas
The US has demanded control of a crucial pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, in a move described as a colonial shakedown. US and Ukrainian officials met on Friday to discuss White House proposals for a minerals deal. Donald Trump wants Kyiv to hand over its natural resources as 'payback' in return for weapons delivered by the previous Biden administration. Talks have become increasingly acrimonious, Reuters said. The latest US draft is more 'maximalist' than the original version from February, which proposed giving Washington $500bn worth of rare metals, as well as oil and gas. Citing a source close to the talks, the news agency said the most recent document includes a demand that the US government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of the natural gas pipeline. It runs from the town of Sudzha in western Russia to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod, about 750 miles (1,200km) away, on the border with the EU and Slovakia. Built in Soviet times, the pipeline is a key piece of national infrastructure and a major energy route. On 1 January, Ukraine cut off the supply of gas when its five-year contract with the Russian state energy giant Gazprom expired. Both countries had previously earned hundreds of millions of euros in transit fees, including during the first thee years of full-scale war. Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist with the Centre for Economic Strategy, a Kyiv thinktank, said the Americans were out for 'all they can get'. Their bullying 'colonial-type' demands had little chance of being accepted by Kyiv, he predicted. Last autumn, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed giving the US access to Ukraine's underdeveloped mineral sector. He envisaged a deal which would see the incoming Trump administration supply Ukraine with weapons, in return for future profits from joint investments. Instead, Trump has refused to give security commitments or military support but wants the minerals anyway. Last week he complained Zelenskyy was trying to 'back out of an agreement' and said Ukraine's president would have 'big problems' if he failed to sign. Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Zelenskyy said he was ready to do a deal to modernise his country but that Ukraine could only agree if there was 'parity' between the two sides, with revenues split '50-50'. 'I am just defending what belongs to Ukraine. It should be beneficial for both the United States and Ukraine. This is the right thing to do,' Zelenskyy said. The US Treasury confirmed 'technical' talks were ongoing. Meanwhile, the US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said his remarks over a possible partition of Ukraine had been misinterpreted. In an interview with the Times, Kellogg said the country could be divided 'almost like the Berlin after world war two' as part of a peace deal. Writing on X, Kellogg said he was referring to 'a post-cease fire resiliency force in support of Ukraine's sovereignty', Under this plan, Russian troops would remain in territory already seized by Moscow, with British and French forces stationed in Kyiv and in other parts of the country. On Friday, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg. Witkoff's reported solution to the conflict was to give Russia the four Ukrainian provinces it is demanding – including territory which Ukraine controls, and which is home to 1 million people. Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group on Friday, Kyiv's allies announced a record €21bn (£18.2bn) in additional military help. They accused Putin of dragging his feet over a 30-day ceasefire deal which Ukraine has accepted. Early on Saturday, Russia carried out further air attacks against Ukrainian civilian targets. Three warehouses were destroyed in Kyiv, with two people injured. The Kremlin has fired 70 missiles and 2,200 drones at Ukraine since the 11 March US ceasefire proposal, Ukrainian officials said. Zelenskyy paid tribute on Saturday to a 26-year-old pilot, captain Pavlo Ivanov, who was killed during an F-16 combat mission. Ukraine's small airforce 'heroically' defend Ukraine from Russian missiles and drones, and supported ground operations, he said.
