 Special Economic Zone

South Africa

The South Africa cabinet has approved the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Bill recently, which is expected to attract domestic and foreign investment. The bill will be submitted to Parliament for approval. The bill provides for the designation, development, promotion, operation and management of SEZs, the establishment of an SEZ Board and regulating the application and issuing of SEZ operator permits to persons wishing to develop and operate an SEZ, according to South Africa's Government Communication and Information System.

 Registration Network

China

Chinese authorities have ended the practice of requiring manual marriage registration by setting up a national network and database for marriage registration covering all 31 provincial-level regions around the end of June this year. A local marriage network and database has also been set up in each provincial-level region to offer online marriage registration and verify individuals' marital status based on national data.

 Vocational Training

China

China will strengthen vocational training for people living with disabilities and help them find jobs through a variety of rehabilitation programs, according to a joint notice issued by the China Disabled Persons' Federation and two ministries recently. The notice requires relevant government agencies to subsidize training programs and offer free information and employment services for people living with disabilities. Local administrations are urged to formulate mid- and long-term as well as annual training plans for them.

 Strengthen Policy Fine-tuning

China

The People's Bank of China, or the central bank, said in August that it will strengthen the fine-tuning of its monetary policy in the second half of this year, indicating that more liquidity may be injected into the economy. Monetary policy should play a countercyclical role in the national economy, while credit policies will be improved to shore up the development of the real economy, said the bank in a news release on its website. It reiterated the significance of making the monetary policy more forward-looking, targeted and effective to support steady and relatively fast economic growth.

 Culinary Tourism

Kenya

Kenya officially launched culinary tourism as part of its efforts to promote the East African nation as a prized destination for overseas tourists keen on sampling the country's wide range of cuisine recently. Minister of Tourism Danson Mwazo said culinary tourism is one of the main new niche products that the government is adapting in its efforts to offer a diverse choice to tourists visiting the country. Kenya said it will scale up efforts to promote food tourism as part of diversifying the sector that is leading foreign exchange earner in the East African nation.