Quotable

"As the government's structure and policies stabilize, outbound M&A activity should increase this year."

Jeremy South, global mining leader at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. China's outbound mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector sank to decade lows last year in terms of deal numbers and volume, affected by domestic policy shifts and a weak economy, but an upturn is due this year, experts said.

"China must transform itself into a country of security, greenery and efficiency by 2030 or be faced with erratic supplies and insurmountable environmental challenges."

Li Wei, head of the Development Research Center of the State Council. Li, a former senior official of the State Council, put energy security in a wider global context. By 2030, the world's energy supply will be much the same but demand will keep growing, partly because of the industrialization of emerging economies, he said.

"The regulation will promote the development of the private financing environment and boost the real economy by providing detailed guidelines and more diverse financing channels."

Li Youxing, professor at Guanghua Law School at Zhejiang University. Wenzhou's financing management regulation, the first local legislation covering private lending, will take effect on March 1.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 02/21/2014 page18)