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.

Foreign investors will be allowed to establish solely foreign-owned enterprises in a number of key industries in South China's Guangdong province, according to the local commerce authority.

The government of new Angolan president João Lourenço has made a good start in trying to improve the terms of investment for foreign firms.

Angola's biggest challenge is the regime and managing the agencies that are niftily woven into the fabric of the economy. As popularly tagged during President João Lourenço's campaign, he vowed to “improve what is good and correct what is bad”.

While Chinese capital is showing signs that it has come to stay, the Brazilian government has been implementing economic reforms to improve the business environment.