This partnership aims to offer enhanced travel options and integrated travel itineraries to customers traveling between India and China on the joint network of both airlines, besides the through check-in process, among other benefits. Additional details regarding the codeshare will be provided in due course.

Pieter Elbers, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo, said, “We are happy to join hands with China Southern Airlines as we enhance connectivity between India and China. We recently reinstated our direct daily flights connecting Kolkata with Guangzhou, followed by inaugurating a new direct service between Delhi and Guangzhou. Now with this partnership, our joint customers will get the added convenience of booking seamlessly for travel across various parts of India and China on the joint network of IndiGo and China Southern Airlines.”

Han Wensheng, President and CEO of China Southern Airlines, stated, “China Southern Airlines highly values the development potential of the Indian market. Through cooperation with IndiGo, we will be able to further leverage each other’s advantages, offer a wider range of travel products, and give new momentum to the economic, cultural, and aviation exchanges between the two countries.”

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PARIS, FRANCE: As the continent’s largest trading partner, China has played an active role in harnessing Africa’s energy resources and developing critical infrastructure to date. As the country seeks to secure future energy supplies – as well as foster regional diplomacy in the Global South – China has expanded its stakes in strategic, integrated oil and gas developments across the continent. Uniting global investors, suppliers, and service providers from the East and West, the Invest in African Energy (IAE) forum in Paris will showcase Africa’s energy and infrastructure projects, to unlock further Chinese finance and engagement.

Together, China’s state-owned oil firms – China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) – represent the fourth-largest energy investors in Africa, following European IOCs bp, Shell and Eni. These companies are leading and financing some of Africa’s most transformative energy initiatives, from deepwater exploration to enhanced oil recovery to regional pipelines that connect new resources to underserved markets.

Organized by Energy Capital & Power, IAE 2024 (https://apo-opa.co/3UMOOtQ) is an exclusive forum designed to facilitate investment between African energy markets and global investors. Taking place May 14-15, 2024 in Paris, the event offers delegates two days of intensive engagement with industry experts, project developers, investors, and policymakers. For more information, please visit www.Invest-Africa-Energy.com. To sponsor or participate as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

In Tanzania, CNOOC is partnering with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation to explore deep-sea Blocks 4/1B and 4/1C – located near existing gas discoveries – for offshore oil and gas. The company launched wildcat drilling in Gabon’s Blocks BC-9 and BCD-10 at the start of 2023, with its Tigre prospect holding up to 1.4 billion barrels of potential recoverable resources. Last May, CNOOC renewed its production sharing contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and TotalEnergies for OML 130 – home to the producing Akpo and Egina fields and Preowei discovery – which could enable a future FID to be made on the discovery. In terms of production, South Sudan has been in talks with CNPC to boost output from Blocks 3 and 7 in the Paloch fields in Upper Nile, which the Chinese firm operates in partnership with Malaysia’s Petronas and Sinopec.  

In addition to upstream investments, Chinese players are leading the construction of critical midstream infrastructure across the continent. In Mozambique, CNPC holds a 20% stake in the Coral Sul LNG project, which has transformed Mozambique into a global LNG exporter after delivering its first cargo in November 2022. In East Africa, CNOOC holds an 8% stake in the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), while CNPC subsidiary China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering is responsible for the construction and supply of the project’s line pipes. Transporting Uganda’s crude oil to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania, EACOP will facilitate crude exports to global markets, as well as stimulate economic activity, new infrastructure, and improved logistics in the central trade corridor between the two countries. In Niger, CNPC is leading the development of the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, set to increase the country’s oil output from 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 130,000 bpd upon completion. Operated by CNPC, the 1,900-km pipeline will connect Niger’s Agadem oil fields to the Port of Sèmè in Benin and represents the largest cross-border pipeline invested by CNPC in Africa.

China’s recent investments in African oil and gas speak to the trade and investment opportunities yet to be unlocked across the continent. New projects – focused on integrated developments that not only extract but connect Africa’s hydrocarbon resources to market – will be showcased at the IAE forum, which invites Chinese companies to attend and participate in upcoming developments.

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The draft regulation, which will replace the 2005 version, has not been notified to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The provisions regulate the application of GI products, opposition procedures, GI protection system, and supervision of the use of GI product names, labels, and penalties.

The CNIPA published its first-ever Five-Year Plan for Geographic Indications on January 21, 2022. The plan aims to promote the development of China’s GI system and enhance the protection of GI products.

A link to the draft Regulation in Chinese: https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2023/9/18/art_75_187625.html An unofficial translation of that report is available in GAIN CH2022-0032, dated March 14, 2022.

The new regulations require applicants to submit suggestions from relevant local governments on the origin range of GI products, documents regarding the establishment of application organizations or identifying associations and enterprises as applicants, and certification materials for GI products.

The provincial quality and technical supervision bureaus and the directly affiliated entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureaus are responsible for providing preliminary review opinions on the protection applications for GI products to be declared and reporting relevant documents and materials to the State Intellectual Property Office.

The AQSIQ conducts a formal review of the applications received. If the application has been reviewed by the provincial quality and technical supervision bureau or the directly affiliated entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau and has been reviewed and registered by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine, an announcement will be issued. The producer can use the special mark for GI products on their products and obtain the certificate.

Legal users of special signs for GI products should download basic pattern vectors from the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office. The vector graphics of the special signs for GI products can be scaled according to the proportion, and the annotations should be clear and legible. The pattern shape, composition, text font, picture and text ratio, color value, etc. of the special signs must not be changed.

After a GI product is protected, the applicant shall take measures to manage the use of GI product names and special marks, product characteristics and quality, etc. An annual reporting system is implemented for the protection of GI products. Before the end of March each year, applicants must report to the State Intellectual Property Office the status of GI product protection in the previous year.

Local intellectual property management departments are responsible for daily supervision of the origin, name, quality characteristics, standard compliance, and use of special marks of protected GI products within their respective administrative regions. Provincial intellectual property management departments should regularly submit regulatory information on GI products and special signs to the State Intellectual Property Office.

The new regulations aim to enhance the protection of GI products and promote the development of China’s GI system. The draft regulation is open for public comment until November 2, 2023. U.S. stakeholders following the development of China’s GI system are welcome to contact AgBeijing@usda.gov and can be put in touch with subject matter experts at other U.S. Government agencies.

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