Opposition parties in Ivory Coast staged protests today as the west African country awaited the annoucement of a new government after President Laurent Gbagbo scrapped the previous one. The protests are growing in volatility as a nation awaits a government in flux.
The head of the former rebel New Forces (FN), Guillaume Soro, whom Gbagbo reappointed as [...]

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych yesterday called on his opponent and longtime rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to concede defeat in Sunday’s presidential runoff after he secured a slim victory at the polls. With more than 98 percent of the ballots counted as of Monday evening, Yanukovych had captured 48.5 percent of the vote, with Tymoshenko [...]

ENI SpA’s chief executive said yesterday that the Italian energy company will pull out of Iran after current contracts to develop two gas fields there run out, amidst international pressure to isolate the country over its highly controversial nuclear program.
Paolo Scaroni also said the company plans to raise around euro1.5 billion from selling off shares [...]

This is quite an interesting little comment buried down in a Financial Times article today, about how the Chinese authorities are raising a lot of international concerns (including inside Brazil, the other titan of the BRIC grouping) by artificially keeping their currency undervalued and failing to allow for the development of what could become one [...]

One of the principle driving factors behind our ideas in corporate foreign policy is the bifurcation of global financial and political influence.  With the rise of strong emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil, and the steep losses in soft power suffered by the United States along with Wall Street’s struggles, it is only [...]

Last week may have been the most important one of the year for troubled Honduras. It brought a number of important decisions both in and outside of the country, each of which will have implications for years to come.
The first decision was that of the majority of Hondurans in Sunday’s presidential vote to elect Porfirio “Pepe” [...]

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Venezuela has put up an illegal trade embargo that is becoming a “Berlin Wall,” cutting off the South American neighbors.
Uribe, in Portugal to attend a Heads of State Ibero-american Summit , criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for not attending the meeting and spoke out against Venezuela’s suspension of trade with Colombia.
“People [...]

Corporate Foreign Policy has recently reported that 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. While the report later went on to quote an official at the Chamber of Mines, expressing surprise and concern at the proposed legislation, it must be [...]

An interesting geopolitical scenario takes place daily, sometimes eerily unbeknownst to many. More attention must be given from the west regarding Chinese investment in African infrastructure and its ramifications in the long-run at home. Paul Kagame has written a concise and thoroughly educational piece on the merits of Chinese versus western involvement with Africa.
As excerpted from [...]

“During the last few years Nestlé has witnessed the collapse of Zimbabwe’s dairy industry. Nestlé prefers to work within contractual agreements to ensure a constant supply of fresh milk, but at the end of 2008, the company found itself operating in a market where 8 of its 16 contractual suppliers had gone out of business.
In [...]