Zambian Head of State Joins Africa’s Trade -vs- Aid Debate

I guess the bigger story for beninmwangi.com could be that the The Africa Report magazine, not to be confused with the TV magazine having the same name, might be the most complete African business coverage in the magazine universe right now. The Africa Report is published by Jeune Afrique. This publication is chocked with insightful information on the economic conditions of various nations around the African continent-both above and below the Sahara. There are so many stories in just one issue that you or I could probably make one month of different blog posts just based upon one issue of the magazine.

Here is a little background information on the publisher, Jeune Afrique, of The Africa Report:

“…For more than 45 years, Groupe Jeune Afrique has been building bridges between Africa and the rest of the world. It has developed high expertise in the fields of press, publishing, advertising and communication.

“Africa’s most widely read newsweekly “, dealing with current affairs, politics, economy and culture. Circulation of 100,000 copies per week…”

Since this whole Trade -vs- Aid discussion is just beginning to heat up around the blogosphere, I figured we could take a look at one particular article in the latest issue of The Africa Report. This particular caption caught my eye-both because these words belong to the Zambian President, Mr. Levy Mwanawasa but also because it speaks directly to the heart of this trade and aid discussion.

Now to the topic of today’s discussion, wow-it looks like this whole trade vs aid discussion is not going away. In that vein, while flipping through The Africa Report I found an opinion column with a very interesting author byline. It read by President Levy Mwanawasa. Can you believe that? And guess what he is talking about? Yup, infrastructure-China-trade-and aid! Not only that but his piece is very well written, it could have easily come from an Oxford Professor. In fact the only thing that might have been better than this would have been the Zambian President blogging his thoughts :)

Here is but a snippet of what Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has to say in an opinion piece entitled, Infrastructure Development Is the Basis of All Growth :

Aid vs Trade or is it Aid for Trade?

I commend those governments who encourage their

companies to increase investment in Africa. This is important

because it is investment and not aid that will bring about

sustainable growth and development in our economies. This

is not to say that aid is not important, as it does help bring

about the requisite conditions for growth. The continued

support and cooperation in social development aimed at

enhancing African countries’ capacity for self-development

is particularly helpful in this regard. The targeted training

of African professionals in various fields, assistance in

setting up rural schools, provision of scholarships to African

students, help in nurturing our medical care facilities, the

drive towards the Millennium Development Goals — all these

things assist us in investing in our children, and therefore in

our future.

On Chinese Investment

We cannot stress enough the primacy of relevant infrastructure to bring investment inflows into Africa and thus accelerate growth. Zambia’s lack of rural infrastructure has affected the pace at which investors have come in to develop some of the potential that our country possesses in abundance. Investors are generally loth to undertake setting up infrastructure for general usage because it is expensive and they prefer to exploit investment opportunities where the infrastructure is already in place. Rather than spend our time regretting the lack of a charitable impulse of foreign investors, who obviously have shareholders to answer to, Zambia is prepared to go

into public-private partnerships as a way of establishing the

required infrastructure, which would help investors to exploit various areas of the economy that have potential. It is here that our relationship with China is crucial. In today’s world, a world where national economies are increasingly being integrated with each other, and thus cutting economic distances and barriers, a world where societies across the globe are increasingly becoming highly interdependent on one another, thus bringing down artificial boundaries and barriers, establishing a forum like the one created between China and Africa seven years ago could not have come at a better time.

My government applauds China’s opening up of her

markets to 28 African countries, and it is my hope that as we go

on, China will further open up its markets to the rest of African

countries and to more products. As we are all aware, trade

is the bridgehead for investment and therefore economic

development. It is in this respect that African countries need

to export more to foster the growth and development of their

economies. Needless to say that in most of our countries,

markets are already highly accessible to Chinese goods.

I wish to underline that for the efforts made by our

development partners like China to have an impact on our

ability to trade globally, leaders of African countries need to

do more in the area of infrastructure development. It is only

through increased investment in infrastructure quality that

African economies are going to enhance their competitiveness

on the global market. We applaud the Chinese for their pledge

for continued cooperation in the area of infrastructure

development in Africa.

In Zambia, private sector participation in infrastructure development is

very much encouraged, and I call on Chinese companies to come and invest in areas such as hydro-electricity generation, road construction, water reticulation and sanitation, among others…”

To The Africa Report publishers and staff, let me just say that this column was so good that I was very tempted to copy and paste the whole thing. However, the since the point is to let my readers know about your stellar work I was able to constrain myself! Seriously, I love the approach that the President chose to use to convey his message. His writing style is very representative of the editorial style of The Africa Report it is:

* very open

* honest

* hopeful, without being overly bullish

* most importantly practical

With that I hope that we in the realm of the Africa blogosphere continue to further address this topic on Aid vs Trade and Aid for Trade.

In this vein below are a few blogs and blog-influenced mediums that have already honed in on this tremendously immense conversation. So if you haven’t already done so or if you haven’t yet had enough please feel to get in on the conversation by writing a post on your blog about this very same topic! Sidenote: one topic that hasn’t been explored much is Aid for Trade or using the two together…

Related Links:

Jewels in the Jungle Contrasts the G8 Summit and TED Arusha

Hash Drops Bombshell on African Aid

Ethan Captures the Essence of the Debate in Mwenda vs Bono

That’s What I’m Talking About Ponders Deep Questions on Aid in Africa

Bono Answers Questions About Aid in Africa

Aid and Trade Are Nice Topics but What About Africa Embracing Research

Private Sector Development Organization Says Policy Trumps Aid and Trade

Annansi Chronicles on Trading Up to Development

How China Alters Africa’s Trade and Aid Discussion

Canadian Law Student Being Blunt About Trade

Emeka OkoforHighlights aid-vs-trade

Omodudu’s Father Enlivens Our Debate

James Shikwati and Spiegel Interview

Benin Mwangi on Trade and Aid in Africa

Small Towns in Kenya Highlight Differences in Trade and Aid

Angel Africa Discussion Group Diverse in Opinion

Who Wins in This Tuggle Between Aid and Trade

Quote Courtesy of: The Africa Report