Diplomatist Magazine DIplomatist September 2018 | Page 55

AFRICA DIARY
her speech in South Africa, the UK’s post-Brexit ambition is
to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa by 2022,” said
George Hollingbery, International Trade Minister.
A spectrum of measures was announced to help to grow
trade and achieve this ambition including the rollover of
the ambitious UK-Southern African Economic Partnership
Agreement on trade as soon as the EU deal no longer applies
to the UK and the Africa Investment Summit 2019 to be held
in the UK.
Can this affect Indian and Chinese Prospects in the
Continent?
Recently, China held a forum on cooperation with Africa
in Beijing, where talks were around China offering new
trade and fi nance deals. Would Africans consider China over
the UK? Tunji Andrews, an economist based in Nigeria's
commercial hub Lagos has an answer; she says, “We welcome
both Mrs May and the Chinese, and like any other developing
economy we'll do the business that suits us best... I think it's
impossible not to look at the British market at this point, but
I'll also say that while the UK remains a viable trade partner,
it just doesn't hold the same value to Africa as China and to
a lesser extent, the United States".
Not only China and the United States, but May must
keep track of the Indian proactive policies in Africa where
the bilateral trade between India and Africa touched $56.9
billion FY2015-16 comparing to $11.7 billion FY2005-06. It
is further expected to exceed $100 billion by the end of 2018
according to AfDB. India is the fi fth biggest investor in Africa,
with investments over the past 20 years amounting to $54
billion — 19.2 percent of Africa’s foreign direct investment.
This not only helped fi nance the projects in African countries
but have also contributed to skill and capacity-building and
education.
Looking into the below graphs we can see China and
India, along with other European giants such as France and
Germany, are way ahead of UK in their investments in the
continent. Recently Angela Merkel’s visit at almost the same
time as May in Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria was focused on
seeking new opportunities in the resource-rich continent.
The German chancellor, with nearly a dozen top German
CEOs in tow, pushed for increased investment to create jobs
in the region which will offer the locals viable livelihoods
and disincentivise migration. This also has a co-related
plan to control the African migration to Germany most of
which are for employment and better livelihood. She had
success at some extent as Automobile giant Volkswagen
announced plans to expand operations in both Nigeria and
Ghana promising more investment and jobs in two of West
Africa’s largest economies. However, there’s a political
upside for Merkel too. Being a soft target for her handling of
the growing migrant infl ux in Germany, reversing the course
will be crucial for her party during the next federal elections.
Prime Minister May's message of “partnership” and
sharing “mutual benefi ts” during her visit was somewhere
a disguised reference to Beijing’s model on Africa which
has been criticised by many as “Debt-trap Diplomacy” or
neo-colonial model.
However, it will take more than impassioned statements
by London to make up for the head-start
China or India or Germany currently
enjoys. As Africans have increasingly
looked East rather than West over the
past decade, will these factors help
solidify Britain’s relationship with the
African countries? Only time will tell.
*Amrita Dhillon is a Foreign Policy
Analyst and Founding Editor of The
Kootneeti, a New Delhi headquartered
multilingual publication on International
Relations & Diplomacy. She’s also
an Honorary Analyst at Equilibrium
Global – Buenos Aires (Argentina).
**Cristina Gonsalez is a Consulting
Editor for EU affairs at The Kootneeti.
Also, she holds a master degree in
International Relations from University
of Barcelona.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 9 • September 2018, Noida • 55