Category Archives: Press Releases
Namibia Launches NDC Partnership Plan for Climate Action
The Namibian Government and development stakeholders came together to join forces in delivering on the country’s commitments to advance the Paris Agreement. A newly developed Partnership Plan connects international resources for climate mitigation and adaptation to five priority areas set by the government and builds a community around climate action in Namibia.
WINDHOEK, Namibia, Sept. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Namibia today released its strategy to deliver its commitments to the Paris Agreement by fast-tracking climate action. Building off progress already made through Namibia’s existing climate plans and policies, the Namibia NDC Partnership Plan identifies priority areas set by the government for implementation of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The Plan takes ongoing action into account but, more importantly, looks to the future for development partners to deliver on their responsibility in supporting the global south to fight climate change. The priority areas set by the Government, and supported by the development community, private sector and others, include:
- development of better framework conditions for effective climate change governance;
- strengthening financing of projects that help reduce emissions and enhancing the country’s resilience against the effects of climate change;
- tracking progress toward greenhouse gas emission reduction targets;
- strengthening coordination across national and international stakeholders to fast track decisions and interagency collaboration.
“We [Namibia] are aware that the implementation of our NDC presents several challenges, particularly in terms of financial and technological resources. We know we cannot tackle these challenges alone and that we need coordinated and concerted efforts of all our partners. It is for this reason that Namibia has joined the NDC Partnership and we believe that it will be a valuable partnership to assist us in attracting transformative projects to achieve our NDC targets and contribute to the overall goals outlined in the Paris Agreement,” said the Honorable Bernadette Jagger, Deputy Minister of Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
In its NDC, Namibia committed to ambitious mitigation and adaptation targets. In mitigation, Namibia committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 89 percent by 2030 through climate smart agriculture, reducing deforestation and renewable energy. Namibia is also highly vulnerable to climate impacts: half of Namibia’s population relies on subsistence agriculture, and water insecurity is a serious threat to the welfare of the Namibian people and its economy. To reduce this vulnerability, Namibia seeks a diversity of solutions, including improving water security, preventing desertification and increasing resilience to flooding, to name a few. To achieve these goals, Namibia has embraced the NDC Partnership’s integrated planning process to strengthen coordination, resource mobilization and transparency on NDC implementation.
Several members of the NDC Partnership have already pledged support to Namibia through the Partnership Plan, including the African Development Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the French Development Agency (AfD), the European Commission, the Federal Republic of Germany (through GIZ and KfW), the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and World Resources Institute. Strong interest has also been expressed from several banks, including the Namibia Development Bank and NedBank, in investing in climate smart projects. A growing community of development partners, private sector and government institutions is quickly assembling behind an urgent call for action to address climate impacts to achieve global climate goals.
“According to the recent publication on the State of the World’s Food Insecurity launched 11 September 2018, hunger is on the rise thanks in part to extreme climate events. Therefore, now more than ever we need to accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacity of food systems and people’s livelihoods through national commitments like NDCs to cope with the impacts,” said Resident Representative Farayi Zimudzi of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The NDC Partnership is a global coalition of countries and institutions committed to transformational climate action, co-chaired by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of Morocco. The Partnership has grown to 83 member countries, 19 institutional members and seven associate members since its launch in November 2016. Namibia was one of the first countries in Africa to join the NDC Partnership and formalized its request for technical assistance in March 2018. The NDC Partnership is supporting more than 30 developing countries to enhance and implement their NDCs through technical assistance; capacity building; knowledge sharing and access to finance. Members give specific support to one another to strengthen policy frameworks; mainstream climate actions into national, sectoral and sub-national plans; develop budgeting and investment plans; share knowledge and resources and build more robust monitoring and reporting systems in line with country-driven requests.
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MoneyGram Launches Money Transfer Service to all Mobile Wallets in Ghana
Company expands digital offerings to offer consumers more choice in Africa’s fifth largest receive market
ACCRA, Ghana, Sept. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — MoneyGram (NASDAQ:MGI) and Zeepay, a mobile financial services company, announced today a new partnership that enables customers around the world to send money directly to more than 11 million mobile wallets in Ghana. With this new service, MoneyGram becomes the only leading money transfer provider in the country to offer consumers three different options to pick up funds from over 200 countries around the world.
“This is an important milestone for MoneyGram in Ghana as we’re now offering real-time, seamless service to our customers and giving them more choices about how to receive their funds – at a physical location, directly to a bank account or a mobile wallet,” said Grant Lines, MoneyGram’s chief revenue officer. “Giving consumers the flexibility to choose between digital and cash pick-up is, and will continue to be, a competitive advantage for the company.”
Funds can be sent via MoneyGram online or at any one of MoneyGram’s thousands of locations in 200 countries and territories around the world into mobile wallets in minutes. Money can be accessed 24/7 and used instantly for purchasing goods and services online. The receiver may also pick up their remittance in cash at over 2,000 banking partners’ locations across the country or have it debited into a bank account.
“Together with MoneyGram, we are building the future digital payments ecosystem in Ghana. I look forward to seeing the launch of similar services in other African countries,” said Andrew Taki Appiah, managing director at Zeepay.
According to the World Bank, in 2017, $2.2 billion flowed into Ghana, mainly from the United States ($585 million), Nigeria ($395 million), the United Kingdom ($286 million), Italy ($145 million) and Germany ($115 million).
For more information about the service, please visit www.moneygram.com.gh
#moneygramnews
About MoneyGram International
MoneyGram is a global provider of innovative money transfer and payment services and is recognized worldwide as a financial connection to friends and family. Whether online, or through a mobile device, at a kiosk or in a local store, we connect consumers any way that is convenient for them. We also provide bill payment services, issue money orders and process official checks in select markets. More information about MoneyGram International, Inc. is available at moneygram.com.
Media Contact:
Michelle Buckalew
Tel: +1 214-979-1418
Mbuckalew@moneygram.com
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SANY Heavy Industry Releases Its Performance Announcement in H1
CHANGSHA, China, Sept. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On August 26, SANY HEAVY INDUSTRY CO., LTD (hereinafter referred to as SANY Heavy Industry) released its performance announcement of the first half year of 2018. By June 30, the company achieved sales revenue of 28.1 billion yuan (4.09 billion USD), year-on-year growth of 46.2 percent; the net cash flow from operating activities reached 6.221 billion yuan (906 million USD), year-on-year growth of 5.55 percent, the highest record in the same period of its history. The net profit achieved 3.389 billion yuan(494 million USD), an increase of 192.09 percent over the same period last year, reaching 161 percent of the net profit of year 2017.
Rapid growth of the revenue from product line
Driven by infrastructure construction, the growing demand for the renewal of equipment and the increasing awareness for environment protection, the sales of the company’s excavating machinery, concreting machinery and hoisting machinery maintained rapid growth.
In the first half year, SANY Heavy Industry achieved sales revenue of 11.16 billion yuan for excavator machinery, year-on-year growth of 61.62 percent, which has been the domestic sales champion for 8 consecutive years; the sales revenue of the concrete machinery reached 8.549 billion yuan, year-on-year growth of 29.36 percent, ranking as the top brand in the world; the sales revenue of the hoisting machinery achieved 4.102 billion yuan, an increase of 78.47 percent over the same period of last year with steady promotion of its market position; the piling machinery and road machinery also achieved rapid growth, increasingly expanding their market share.
Benefiting from the significant growth of the sales revenue and the increase in profit making, the company’s gross profit rate is 31.64 percent, 1.57 percentage higher than that of 2017. The Net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is 3.389 billion yuan, reaching 161 percent of the full-year level in 2017.
Management quality greatly improved
Cash flow hits record high
The company has been paying attention to management quality and risk control. Based on a perfect risk control system, the company has good control on the business risks. The company’s cash flow for operating activities is 6.221 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 5.55 percent, the highest level in the same period of the company’s history.
Business innovation and transformation
SANY Heavy Industry has taken great effort in business renovation and transformation since the beginning of this year. It has achieved remarkable efforts in digitization, intelligentialization and mass entrepreneurship and innovation platforms. The company is fully pushing forward the digitization and upgrading of marketing service, R&D, supply chain and financial affairs by implementations of the projects of CRM, PLM, SCM and GSP.
Additionally, SANY-SPARK incubator focuses on the incubation and operation of projects relating to AI, big data, internet, Internet of Things and new materials. It has won 14 honors, including the national innovative space for intelligent manufacturing and the national-level innovative space.
Increased investment in R&D
In the first half year, SANY Heavy Industry invested 1.426 billion yuan in R&D, year-on-year growth of 73.12 percent. It developed a number of competitive products such as SY155H excavator for mining use, SAC2200T all-ground crane and SYM5230THB370C-8 truck-mounted concrete pump. Its new businesses in fire pumper and intelligent residue vehicle maintained steady development.
According to statistics, the company has applied for 7,609 patents and been authorized 6,253 patents by June 2018, ranking No.1 in China for the applied patent quantity.
For more details:
global clients: 0086-731-85835199
Australian clients: 1800 GO SANY (1800 467 269)
Official website: www.sanyglobal.com
Email: sales31@sanygroup.cn
Facebook: SANY Group
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China Mobile International Limited Establishes South Africa Office
DURBAN, South Africa, Sept. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — China Mobile International Limited (CMI) hosted the opening ceremony of its South Africa office in Durban, and the office is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Chen Zhaoxiong, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China; Mr. Zhao Zhongyi, Economic & Commercial Counsellor of Chinese Embassy in South Africa; Mr. Godfrey Motsa, CEO of MTN South Africa; Mr. Jian Qin, Executive Vice President of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd.; Mr. Shen Weizhong, Director & Executive Vice President of China Mobile International Limited, as well as representatives from Chinese and African governments, enterprises and telecom operators attended the ceremony.
Mr. Chen advised that South Africa is one of China’s important partners, the cooperation between two countries in terms of information communications has been continuously improving in recent years. The “eight major initiatives” announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has opened up broad opportunities for China and Africa to expand cooperation in various fields. China Mobile is expected to adhere to the concept of win-win cooperation and compliance management, to provide high-quality and convenient services that will better benefit local people. Starting from this, China Mobile should continue to promote cooperation with other countries and contribute to the development of China-Africa relations. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further strengthen cooperation with communications authorities of South Africa, and jointly bring the information and communication cooperation between China and South Africa to a new level.
Mr. Godfrey Motsa, CEO of MTN South Africa said he believes that with the partnership between MTN Group and China Mobile International, the cost of telecom services will be significantly lower, especially roaming, leveraging the shared technology and innovation of MTN and China Mobile, it will be easier to everyone to do business without boundaries for the future.
Mr. Zhao indicated that, as the top mobile operator in China and the world, China Mobile’s decision to enter South Africa will undoubtedly add new power to the facility construction between two countries. It is hoped that South Africa can the gateway for China Mobile to strengthen the southern African market while further influencing the entire African market. At the same time, the Chinese Embassy in South Africa will continue to provide support to Chinese enterprises to invest in South Africa, and work together to build a monument and model for China and Africa cooperation!
Mr. Jian mentioned that in response to the “eight major initiatives”, China Mobile will enhance infrastructure interconnections between China and Africa. The establishment of South Africa office represents a new milestone for CMI’s development in South Africa and Arica. China Mobile will enhance technical exchanges in terms of 5G networks and IoT etc., thus providing high quality telecom services for customers in China and Africa, and make due contributions to deepening cooperation between China and Africa.
On the same day, CMI also signed a MoU for strategic alliance relationship with MTN Group, the multinational mobile operator in Africa with up to 230 million subscribers and 23 operating companies across Africa and the Middle East. The two companies will collaborate on international business expansion, international transmission interconnection and network resources sharing etc. The MoU takes CMI one step closer to meeting its goal of an interconnected world that includes Africa.
With increasing abundant submarine and terrestrial cable resources and professional competence and products, CMI plans to partner with African operators to create an open and cooperative platform while further deepening the partnerships to provide comprehensive international telecom services and solutions for customer.
About China Mobile International Limited
China Mobile International Limited (CMI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile, now the largest telecom operator by network scale and subscriber base. In order to provide better services to meet the growing demand in the international telecommunications market, CMI was established in December 2010 in Hong Kong, mainly responsible for the operation of international business, and has expanded its footprint to 21 countries and regions around the world. To date, CMI owns 40+ terrestrial and submarine cable resources worldwide, with total international transmission bandwidth exceeding 30T as well as 138 POPs covering 91 hotspot cities worldwide. With Hong Kong as a starting point, CMI has significantly accelerated core IDC development globally, enabling a strong network for cloudification of data centers.
Leveraging the strong support by China Mobile, CMI is a trusted partner that provides comprehensive international telecom services and solutions to international enterprisers, carriers and mobile users.
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Biman Signs Order for Three New Bombardier Q400 Aircraft
TORONTO, Sept. 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bombardier Commercial Aircraft announced today that Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd. has ordered three new Q400 turboprops by signing a purchase agreement with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC).
Based on the list price of the Q400 aircraft, the firm order is valued at approximately US$106 million.
“We are very pleased that Biman is expanding its Q400 fleet with this order for three new aircraft,” said François Cognard, VP, Sales, Asia Pacific. “The Q400’s greater seating and cargo capacity really set it apart from the competition. Furthermore, the Q400’s mix of turboprop economics and jet like performance were the best match for Biman’s mix of short and long-range routes. Operators coming back for more Q400 aircraft really validates the benefits of the aircraft’s unique characteristics.”
“We are very excited about adding these Q400s to our fleet. We currently operate two Q400s and without hesitation, we can say that these aircraft are ideal for our domestic and regional operations,” said Mr. A M Mosaddique Ahmed, Managing Director and CEO, Biman Bangladesh Airlines. With its outstanding economics, comfort and operational flexibility, the Q400 will allow us to offer high frequency services within Bangladesh and neighboring countries.”
“We are extremely pleased to be supporting Bombardier in selling their Q400 aircraft to Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd.,” said Ian McLeod, Vice-President of Business Development and Sales for the Canadian Commercial Corporation. “Canada and Bangladesh enjoy strong bi-lateral ties through trade and investment, development cooperation, and people-to-people links. Increasing the capacity of the national carrier supports these efforts and the economic growth of the country; improving their lives of Bangladeshis by increasing their access to domestic and international destinations.”
About Biman
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the National Flag Carrier airline of Bangladesh. Its main hub is at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and it also operates flights from its secondary hubs at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and Osmani International Airport in Sylhet. The airline provides international passenger and cargo services to Asia and Europe, as well as all domestic routes inside Bangladesh. Biman currently flies to 15 international and seven domestic routes.
About the Canadian Commercial Corporation
The Canadian Commercial Corporaiton (CCC) is the Government of Canada’s international government-to-government contracting organization. A Canadian Crown corporation, CCC helps Canadian exporters sell goods and services to foreign governments around the world using a government-to-government contract mechanism. In 2017-18, the Canadian Commercial Corporation was active in 78 countries around the world, working with 182 Canadian companies, to sign export contracts worth over $1.3 billion.
About Bombardier
With over 69,500 employees across four business segments, Bombardier is a global leader in the transportation industry, creating innovative and game-changing planes and trains. Our products and services provide world-class transportation experiences that set new standards in passenger comfort, energy efficiency, reliability and safety.
Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Bombardier has production and engineering sites in 28 countries across the segments of Transportation, Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft and Aerostructures and Engineering Services. Bombardier shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD). In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, Bombardier posted revenues of $16.2 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.
Notes to Editors
An image of the Q400 aircraft in the livery of Biman Bangladesh Airlines is posted with this news release at bombardier.com
The Q400 aircraft backgrounder is available in the BCA Media Hub.
For information about Biman Bangladesh Airlines https://www.biman-airlines.
Follow @BBD_Aircraft on Twitter to receive the latest news and updates from Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.
To receive our press releases, please visit the RSS Feed section of Bombardier’s Website.
Bombardier, Q400 and Q Series are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.
For Information
Nathalie Siphengphet
Head of Communications and Public Relations
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft
+1 416-375-3030
nathalie.siphengphet@aero.
www.bombardier.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/
