World woos Africa with summits

Washington will host the US-Africa summit in August, but it is already late to the game of African summitry.  Japan hosted its first Africa summit in 1993, turkey in 2008 and Ahailand launched its Africa Initiative in 2013.  At the meeting of the India-Africa Project Partnership in March 2014, Delhi announced a new line of credit from Exim Bank.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) tends to be the best-attended conference, also offering the biggest financial deals.  While the Chinese government has offices devoted to FOCAC, African governments have not been quick to organize themselves.  The rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China in Africa should help to improve the terms of deals that african governments negotiate.

The Nigerian government rejected a Chinese finance package for a railway project because it was deemed too expensive, and now some Kenyan parliamentarians have launched an investigation into a China-backed railway on similar grounds.  It seems the two countries would benefit from sharing their experiences.

Experts from Stellenbosch University’s Center for Chinese studies have argued that African countries must develop their own follow-up mechanisms for these summits in order to get the most out of them.  They also suggest that African governments could get better deals in summit negotiations if they work together rather than each country trying to attract the biggest billion-dollar pledge.

Copyright The Africa Report 2014