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UK Looks to Fast-Growing Africa for Trade Ties After Brexit

Associated Press

   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince Harry touted the U.K.
   as an ideal business partner for Africa on Monday as their country
   prepares for post-Brexit dealings with the world.
   But Britain faces tough challenges as it seeks to assert itself on a
   continent with several of the world's fastest-growing economies, and
   one whose youthful 1.2 billion population is set to double by 2050.
   Far fewer of Africa's 54 heads of state or government were attending
   the first U.K.-Africa Investment Summit than the dozens who attended
   the first Russia-Africa summit last year or the gatherings China
   regularly holds.
   The U.K.'s department for international trade says two-way trade with
   Africa in the year ending in the second quarter of 2019 was $46
   billion. Meanwhile, Africa's two-way trade with China, the continent's
   top trading partner, was $208 billion in 2019.
   Johnson told attendees the conference "is long overdue." He
   acknowledged that British officials and companies need to work to
   convince African nations to do business with the U.K.
   "We have no divine right to that business," he said. "This is a
   competitive world. You have may suitors"-- especially China and Russia.
   Britain is due to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, and Johnson said
   the U.K. would become "a global free trading nation" after Brexit. He
   pledged that the post-Brexit immigration system would "put people
   before passports," acknowledging a common frustration across Africa.
   While other global powers including Gulf nations and India have been
   increasing their diplomatic and economic presence in Africa, some
   observers have wondered about the interest of Britain, a former
   colonizer.
   When Theresa May visited Kenya in 2018, even Kenyan President Uhuru
   Kenyatta noted it was the first visit to East Africa's economic hub by
   a British prime minister in more than three decades.
   Johnson stressed that he had visited about a dozen African countries
   when he was British foreign secretary between 2017 and 2019. He said
   "billions of pounds worth of deals" would be sealed at Monday's summit,
   including major clean-energy projects.

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