Finnish trade minister to visit Namibia

Paavo Vaeyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, will visit Namibia tomorrow and Saturday.

The main focus of the visit is development co-operation, but promotion of Finland’s trade relations with Namibia is also high on the agenda. “The purpose of the visit to Namibia is to strengthen the warm and close relationship between Finland and Namibia.The aim of the visit is to develop and diversify the relationship between the two countries through new partnerships, new development co-operation instruments and new forms of co-operation.Additionally, during the visit the possibilities for Finnish-Namibian co-operation within the mining and energy sectors will be discussed,” the Finnish embassy said in a press release yesterday.Global crisis forces Nigeria budget rethink * LAGOS – A fall in world oil prices triggered by the global financial crisis has forced Nigeria to cut back its spending plans for next year, a newspaper in the world’s eighth biggest oil exporter said yesterday.Citing an anonymous source in the presidency, the Business Day newspaper said the government was set to reduce the benchmark oil price for the 2009 budget from a current proposed figure of $62.5 to below the $59 used this year.”An inter-ministerial committee has begun reworking the 2009 budget arising from the threat posed by the global decline in crude oil prices,” Business Day quoted the source as saying.”Although the committee has not arrived at a final oil benchmark, technical analysis undertaken points to a benchmark lower than used for the 2008 budget,” it said.Africa’s most populous nation saves any oil revenue above the benchmark price into an excess crude account, a pillar of IMF-backed reforms meant to guard against price volatility on world markets and help it to save money.Business Day said the government would cut out some planned spending, such as the purchase of cars and overseas training for civil servants, while some ministries would have no allocations at all in the 2009 budget.- Nampa-Reuters Opposition party supports SA’s new health mininster * The Democratic Alliance expressed confidence yesterday that the new health minister, Barbara Hogan, would improve health care for HIV-Aids sufferers.Hogan declared on Monday that Aids was unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine.This is seen by some critics as a dramatic departure from her predecessor Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s policies.”Barbara Hogan’s statement that HIV does cause Aids is proof that a monumental and definitive shift in outlook has taken place in the Health Department under her tenure,” said DA spokesman Mike Waters.”The DA welcomes this statement of fact, which for so long, no one in our leadership has been able to make.We believe this will be the beginning of a new and much brighter phase in South Africa’s battle against HIV-Aids.”The DA called on her to start a “vigorous campaign” to promote HIV testing.Waters also said she should crack down on peddlers of fake Aids treatments.”The minister needs to take legal measures against the most prominent of these fraudsters,” said Waters.”The purpose of the visit to Namibia is to strengthen the warm and close relationship between Finland and Namibia.The aim of the visit is to develop and diversify the relationship between the two countries through new partnerships, new development co-operation instruments and new forms of co-operation.Additionally, during the visit the possibilities for Finnish-Namibian co-operation within the mining and energy sectors will be discussed,” the Finnish embassy said in a press release yesterday.Global crisis forces Nigeria budget rethink * LAGOS – A fall in world oil prices triggered by the global financial crisis has forced Nigeria to cut back its spending plans for next year, a newspaper in the world’s eighth biggest oil exporter said yesterday.Citing an anonymous source in the presidency, the Business Day newspaper said the government was set to reduce the benchmark oil price for the 2009 budget from a current proposed figure of $62.5 to below the $59 used this year.”An inter-ministerial committee has begun reworking the 2009 budget arising from the threat posed by the global decline in crude oil prices,” Business Day quoted the source as saying.”Although the committee has not arrived at a final oil benchmark, technical analysis undertaken points to a benchmark lower than used for the 2008 budget,” it said.Africa’s most populous nation saves any oil revenue above the benchmark price into an excess crude account, a pillar of IMF-backed reforms meant to guard against price volatility on world markets and help it to save money.Business Day said the government would cut out some planned spending, such as the purchase of cars and overseas training for civil servants, while some ministries would have no allocations at all in the 2009 budget.- Nampa-Reuters Opposition party supports SA’s new health mininster * The Democratic Alliance expressed confidence yesterday that the new health minister, Barbara Hogan, would improve health care for HIV-Aids sufferers.Hogan declared on Monday that Aids was unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine.This is seen by some critics as a dramatic departure from her predecessor Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s policies.”Barbara Hogan’s statement that HIV does cause Aids is proof that a monumental and definitive shift in outlook has taken place in the Health Department under her tenure,” said DA spokesman Mike Waters.”The DA welcomes this statement of fact, which for so long, no one in our leadership has been able to make.We believe this will be the beginning of a new and much brighter phase in South Africa’s battle against HIV-Aids.”The DA called on her to start a “vigorous campaign” to promote HIV testing.Waters also said she should crack down on peddlers of fake Aids treatments.”The minister needs to take legal measures against the most prominent of these fraudsters,” said Waters.