African countries told to partner new economic giants as China is leading trading partner

As the African continent becomes one of the attractive places for doing business and some countries on the continent are emerging as giant economies, African governments have been urged to embrace new economic giants.

The African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2011, co-authored by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Centre, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), has noted that emerging economies can provide additional know-how, technology and development experiences required to raise the standard of living for millions of people on the continent.

“While traditional partners, as a whole, still account for the largest proportion of Africa’s trade (62 percent), investment (80 percent) and Official Development Assistance (90 percent), emerging economies can provide additional know-how, technology and development experiences required to raise the standard of living for millions of people on the continent”, said the AfDB in a statement citing the 2011 AEO.

“In 2009, China surpassed the US and became Africa’s main trading partner, while the share conducted by Africa with emerging partners has grown from approximately 23% to 39% in the last ten years”, the Bank said.

It added that Africa’s top five emerging trade partners are now China (38%), India (14%), Korea (7.2%), Brazil (7.1%) and Turkey (6.5%).

According to Mario Pezzini, Director at the OECD Development Centre, new partners bring new opportunities for African countries. “Defining national development priorities, trade, aid and investment are keys to reaping the benefits of this new configuration,” he said.

The AfDB says putting people first must go hand in hand with efforts to accelerate regional coordination and integration and trade agreements that benefit the continent as a whole, which unleashes the full potential of the private sector and develop regional investment opportunities are the way forward.

Africa is becoming more integrated in the world economy and its partnerships are diversifying, revealing unprecedented economic opportunities, the AfDB said.

Mr. Emmanuel Nnadozie, Director of the Economic Development at UNECA, said, even though Africa needs more progress towards regional integration and bigger markets to improve the bargaining power of African countries and improve economic growth, “a race to attract the largest amounts of investment or aid from emerging partners at any cost should be avoided”.

The report therefore recommended that African countries should put in place development policies that promote different economic sectors and reduce reliance on commodities such as cash crops and minerals to address these challenges.

 

By Ekow Quandzie

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