President Xi announced the greatest earthquake for the 21st Century so far. It is possible to misunderstand it which is why I will explain it further. All recent great economic transformations have been based on market access. First was Japan’s access to the US market. During the 1980’s, when talk was of Japan becoming No.1, the US extended market access to ASEAN countries as a way to cut off Japan at the knees. Many of these Asian tigers had lower costs than Japan and US companies made sure they had equal access to technology. Then market access was given to China. This is market access to the US market, the largest market in the world at the time.
Prior to this, the US banned goods from the PRC into the US market. Once China had access to the US market, any US company could come to China to setup for export to the US. The rest is history.
During this time the West condemned Africa for not being an attractive place for investment. This was complete hypocrisy. For example, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and Ethiopia has some of the world’s finest coffee. Yet Germany banned Ethiopia from providing anything other than raw beans to the German market! So this is how the EU wants to help Africa?
I even wrote to the British Prime Minister that the best way to reduce the pressure of illegal immigration would be to encourage economic development in Africa, and the best way to do that would be to encourage British business to relocate manufacturing to Africa generally and Nigeria in particular. Not even a moderate interest expressed.
Now China is opening the world’s largest market to Africa under privileged rules. The immediate incentive is not for African companies but for ALL companies that want to deal with China. If you want to produce for China, the world’s largest market and you want a competitive edge, reconsider Africa as it presents superior access.
This is a global policy change. Africa wake up!!!!