Health is at the heart of the Santos family, one of Cabo Verde’s most influential, whose most prominent member is Jorge Santos, the president of parliament and a key figure inside the liberal Movement for Democracy (MpD) party.

Despite efforts to counter both trades, illegal timber and fishing operations are continuing to erode Mozambique’s forests and fish populations.

Air and maritime transports have long been identified as a major bottleneck for economic growth and development of Cabo Verde. Flying to Lisbon, Portugal, is often cheaper than flying between islands, and moving goods internally is also expensive for local companies. A revamp of air and maritime transports, a priority for the local Government, is finally taking form, but with mixed prospects.

Banks, stakes in oil wells and  agricultural farms, among others, are to be sold under Angola´s upcoming privatization program.

China has been Brazil’s biggest global trade partner since 2009, ousting the United States from the top position it had held in the eight decades since overtaking the United Kingdom in the 1930s.

The government of Angola raised US$16.7 million from the auction of diamonds, the first ever competitive auction and part of a new system to revive interest in the industry.

Sonangol, the national oil company of Angola, is close to sales of assets that should earn it billions of dollars and enable it to reduce its heavy debts and invest more in the oil sector, the engine of Angola’s economy.

While the Brazilian economy struggles to get back on track after an extremely difficult decade, its hydrocarbon wealth continues to attract international interest. State owned Petrobras dominates the upstream and refining sectors but has been forced to sanction foreign investment because of its own financial difficulties. At the same time, Brazil’s engineering giants have been blocked from bidding for some contracts, providing opportunities that may previously have been closed off.

Asia’s newest country stands at the economic crossroads. The development of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas project looks more likely to proceed than at any time for a decade but is still not guaranteed. In the meantime, existing gas fields are being run down, while the government has few long term options to generate more income and could easily be toppled by political infighting.

The northern Mozambican district of Montepuez has one of the highest-grade graphite deposits in the world. These deposits are being explored. Next year three major projects will increase production, all with major exporting contracts to China. For the government, this will mean a new inflow of much needed royalty fees.