Happiest Cities of 2020
Ten provincial capitals and major cities, and another 10 cities at the prefectural level have been listed as the happiest cities in China for 2020, according to a forum held in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou on November 18.
The happiest cities include Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Xining, Qingdao, and Nanjing.
Ten county-level cities and another 10 urban districts were also selected as the happiest places.
The cities were selected by Oriental Outlook magazine and think tank Liaowang Institute, both run by Xinhua News Agency, in a three-month-long process that included big data collection, questionnaires and panel discussions.
Education, employment, income, social welfare, healthcare, living conditions and the local environment are all related to people’s sense of happiness, and they represent the key criteria in selecting winners, according to the organizer.
The happiest cities in China have been named every year since 2007.
ZAMBIA Easing of Tax Payments
Zambia’s revenue collection agency on November 10 launched a mobile tax application aimed at easing the payment of taxes by citizens.
The Taxon App will help clients use their mobile phones to pay and access various types of taxes and related services like taxpayer registration, filing of returns, verification, and clearance of vehicles among others. It has been developed with the support of a local consultancy firm, GIZ Zambia.
Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) Commissioner Indirect Taxes Moses Shuko said that the system will also help widen tax payment as it will be able to capture the informal sector as well.
GIZ Component Coordinator Johannes Kurt said that increasing digital access and offering more e-services was a notable success especially after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
BOTSWANA Reviewing Immigration Policies
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi on November 9 revealed that the southern African country will continue to review immigration policies and citizenship acts to facilitate business activities.
“As a way of improving the business environment, the government will continue to review immigration policies and acts to facilitate the ease of doing business in Botswana,” said Masisi, adding that Botswana is also in the process of finalizing a migration policy in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
These collaborative finalization processes with the SADC will be completed by the end of March next year, he said. In an endeavor to make Botswana the country of choice for international tourists and investors, Masisi said his nation in 2019 introduced reforms which include decentralization of visa applications to Botswana’s diplomatic missions and the issuance of visas at entry points.
KENYA Boosting Cyber Security
Kenya plans to enhance partnerships with the private sector in order to boost the security of the digital economy by curbing cybercrime, a senior government official said on November 6.
Joe Mucheru, cabinet secretary at the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and Youth Affairs, said in Nairobi that the private sector has the expertise to develop innovations that could advance the country’s cyber security.
The financial and health sectors remain vulnerable to cyber-attacks because of the sensitive personal data that they deal with, he said. Mucheru said Kenya has enacted a number of laws to enhance the penalties for online crimes.
CHINA Stabilizing Grain Production
The General Office of the State Council has released a guideline on preventing non-grain use of arable land and stabilizing grain production to ensure food security.
Underscoring food security as the top priority in China’s agricultural work, the guideline stressed that grain production must be a priority in using farmland resources. It urged related departments to optimize production structures, implement the strictest farmland protection policies, and use arable land scientifically.
The country should unveil special protection measures and regulations for using arable land, the guideline said.
HEAD OF AFRICA-CHINA BANKING AT STANDARD BANK
The holding of the China International Import Expo further reaffirms China’s position of open trade, which benefits the African continent and was critical at a time when geographical uncertainty and pandemic disruptions were impacting global trade.