Why the UK-Africa Investment Summit is an opportunity for Britain

When John Bolton was President Trump’s National Security Adviser, he argued that Africa would soon be home to a new phase of great power rivalries – with the United States, France, China and Russia vying for investment opportunities in the continent. Britain should heed this warning ahead of the UK-Africa Investment Summit.

In the first eight years of last decade alone, China’s top officials made 79 visits to Africa. Emmanuel Macron personally visited the continent nine times since his election victory in 2017. Vladimir Putin turned on the charm in the inaugural Russia-Africa Investment Summit. All of which makes the UK-Africa Investment Summit all the more important. It’s essential that post-Brexit Britain plays a key investment role in Africa – as we shape our independent foreign policy and cut bespoke trade deals – but also to act as a brake on the worst excesses of the great powers in the region.

This month, International Development Secretary Alok Sharma launched East Africa’s first ‘green bond’ on the Kenyan securities exchange, which will help Acorn Housing raise local currency to build environmentally-friendly student housing in Nairobi – a great example of how British soft power can help coordinate action on pressing issues without expending masses of resources.

By 2050, one in four global consumers will be African. Africa is home to eight of the fifteen fastest growing economies in the world, yet only 4% of foreign direct investment is focused on the continent, despite British plans to become the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit should serve as a springboard, not just to greater investment in Africa, but to the start of serious relationships with major African governments. There is a wider picture: European countries are stepping up their presence in Africa to challenge Islamic terrorism and stem migration, in response to a void left by the United States as geopolitical rivals China and Russia expand theirs.

Stronger relationships with African states is also popular amongst the UK public. According to BFPG research, developing greater ties with Commonwealth nations (of which nineteen are African) should be a key priority. Nearly 9 in every 10 Conservative voters polled argued that the Commonwealth was a good thing, as did 7 in every 10 Labour voters. Working towards greater relations with African governments may not just be good for the global economy and for stymying the threat of terrorism – it’s in tune with the foreign affairs views of the British public.