Africa: A Bright(er) Future?
Robert D. Kaplan wrote quite a fascinating article for the Atlantic, about the world’s forgotten continent; Africa. According to Kaplan, Africa future might be brighter than most suspect; there are developments taking place which should give all of us hope.
For starters; the number of robust democracies on the continent has risen from three to 11, since 1977. Not only are there more robust democracies in Africa, there also far more grassroots organizations that try to spread democracy all over the continent now than there were only, say, ten years ago.
Additionally it seems, African economies are finally starting to grow at a rapid spead. ‘Real GDP in sub-Saharan Africa expanded by 6.5 percent in 2007, the highest growth rate in decades. If trends hold, poverty in Africa should be halved by 2015,’ Kaplan writes.
Oil production is booming already, and food production may very well follow suit. Africa has not had its own Green Revolution yet, but it seems likely that it will have one soon. ‘High-yield varieties of major African crops like sorghum, millet, maize, and cassava may soon be custom-fitted to Africa’s micro-terrains and climates.’
Moreover, India and especially China are becoming increasingly dependent on Africa; China is investing bigtime and will invest even more in the coming years. ‘China has supplied African countries with technical assistance in tea planting, soil analysis, and irrigation. China is leading the Asian dash into Africa, with investments as diverse as in chocolate in Ivory Coast and in copper in Zambia, and plans to build or modernize railroads, highways, and dams across the continent.’
This is, of course, in Africa’s interest.
What is even more in Africa’s interest is that the United States is not quite willing to let China have the playing field all by itself. It too is investing increasingly more in Africa. Especially African oil is popular in Washington. By 2015, the United States will get a quarter of its oil from West Africa.
And the above are not the only countries currently investing in Africa, let alone in the future. Gulf states too are already pumping billions of dollars into the formerly forgotten continent, and are likely to invest more. In short; there is a stable trend taking place. Africa is becoming a continent investors are interested in. Western, Asian and Arabic citizens and businesses - and governments of course - all realize that Africa may be behind now, but could be a major market in the future.
Of course there are many problems which has to be resolved, it could go either way with Africa, but the situation has changed in so far that there was virtually no hope only a decade ago.
(poligazette)