APO International

Today the Government of Malawi’s ratification of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) came into effect. With this historic decision, Malawi joins a community of 182 other Parties to the Convention, affirming the country’s high-level political commitment to combatting the global tobacco epidemic and prioritizing public health and well-being.  The Convention, which Malawi ratified in August 2023, is a crucial international treaty designed to address […]

A meeting aimed at enhancing public diplomacy and the media was held in Bologna, Italy, on November 12. Mr. Fesehatsion Petros, Ambassador of Eritrea to Italy, Mr. Girmay Habtemicael, the head of Public and Community Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy, Mr. Teklesenbet Imam, the Consul General of Eritrea, and heads of national committees in Italy attended the meeting in which members of media committees from various cities in Italy participated. […]

Once again, Alfa Romeo has filed Q3 2023 showing steadily growing sales results around the world. The overall global figure for the year was up by a solid 39%, with a rise of 10% year-on-year for the quarter just ended; Europe is a major contributor to growth: the overall annual figure is up 66% net; The third quarter ended up 15% year-on-year; Strong and steady growth continues in Middle East&Africa: a […]

MediaTek (https://www.MediaTek.com/), a global fabless semiconductor company powering nearly 2 billion connected devices a year, has collaborated with Digit to offer affordable 4G smartphones to Vodacom (https://www.Vodacom.com/) customers and make modern 4G/ LTE smartphones affordable to millions of its customers in South Africa, Egypt and Tanzania who are still using 2G devices. The Digit4G Energy smartphone is powered by the MediaTek MT6739 (https://apo-opa.co/3QFO9Xe), a feature-rich smartphone system on a chip (SoC). Digit is leveraging […]

This is the largest guarantee facility in sub-Saharan Africa; The risk sharing agreement marks the third renewal of the partnership between Ecobank (www.Ecobank.com) and AGF; SMEs from across 27 African markets in which Ecobank operates will benefit from the partnership; up from just 7 countries in 2013; The agreement includes favourable lending terms for gender financing and green transactions.   Ecobank, the leading pan-African banking group, and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a […]

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (www.Afreximbank.com) today in Cairo launched an African Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Programme under its Creative Africa Nexus Initiative (CANEX). Launched during the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023), the CANEX African Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Programme is the newest vertical within the CANEX programme and featured nine celebrity chefs from Africa and the Caribbean taking part in masterclasses, live cooking demonstrations and conversations with culinary experts. […]

Leading payments fintech company Cellulant (www.Cellulant.io) has today announced that it has obtained the initial approval as a Payment Service Provider and Payment Facilitator in Egypt. Adding these licences strengthens Cellulant’s operations in Africa, where it has the most comprehensive payment infrastructure, integrating over 370 payment methods, operating in 35 markets with licences and physical offices in 19 countries. With its collections and disbursement payment solutions, Cellulant will enable global […]

On 31 October 2023, two staff members of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) based in Addis Ababa were unlawfully arrested, physically assaulted, and detained for many hours by elements of the security forces without any official explanation. We are pleased that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia immediately acted when he learnt of the incident, ordered the immediate release of the affected staff and promised to order an immediate investigation into the incident. This […]

Ransomware attacks are a global concern, with a shocking 40% increase in both frequency and severity over the last year. “South Africans are at significant risk due to the increasing use of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS),” warns Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy&Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA (www.KnowBe4.com). Using RaaS also increased by 40% (https://apo-opa.co/49Bynp3) over the last year. Threat actors now sell their sophisticated ransomware solutions and services, keeping up to 80% of […]