African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 981 Shortcut
For example, in the Far Eastern Empire, it was difficult for East African products to squeeze into the business sphere of Britain and France. After all, countries such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain had been operating in the Far East for much longer than in East Africa, and they had built a stable network framework and had many fixed partners.

A big reason why the Huaihai Economic Zone in East Africa was successful was that the local consumption capacity was originally poor, not to mention the per capita purchasing power. When East Africa entered the Far East market, the local population was small due to war and famine.

This is also the reason why East Africa can easily build a northern trade system with Jiaozhou as the center, because other countries do not look down on it. Of course, with more than 30 years of joint efforts from local and East African countries, the Huaihai Economic Zone is no longer the poorest and most backward area in the Far East.

But this is what the East African government deserves. After all, East Africa has invested a lot of energy and financial resources in the local area, which has enabled East Africa to have a place in the trade of the Far East Empire and to keep pace with the United States, Britain and France.

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"The economic development of the West cannot be separated from the support of trade. Among the countries along the Atlantic coast, there are developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and France, as well as underdeveloped countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Argentina. There are also backward but equally large countries such as Brazil that cannot be ignored."

"Among these countries, we should focus on developing low-end industrial products in industrially underdeveloped markets such as Spain, Brazil and Argentina."

Spain is a very important country for East Africa. It is the hub for the west coast of East Africa to enter the Mediterranean. After all, both Portugal and Britain (Gibraltar colony) have poor relations with East Africa.

The Suez Canal in the east is under British control, and there are British colonies near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. In this case, if Britain cuts off the eastern route between East Africa and the Mediterranean, the importance of Spain will be further enhanced.

Of course, the possibility of this is almost zero, unless Britain is determined to lose its global hegemony and suffer mutual losses with East Africa.

But as long as there is a possibility, the East African government must take this into consideration, so Spain has always been an object worthy of being wooed by East Africa, as its geographical location is related to the strategic security of East Africa's commercial trade.

At the same time, Spain's economic development level is relatively poor compared to other European countries, especially in the industrial field. It and Portugal have missed opportunities due to historical reasons, which also means that East Africa will have more opportunities.

Similarly, the birth of East Africa is also a new option for Spain. After all, Spain has competition and cooperation with Britain, France and other countries in the region. After the Spanish-American War, Spain’s relations with the United States have deteriorated. In this case, it is beneficial for East Africa to replace the United States’ interests in Spain.

Argentina is a high-quality market. Relying on various advantages, the purchasing power of Argentines ranks first among South American countries, even exceeding the European and American average. What's more, the most important thing is that Argentina's own industry is very backward, and many industrial products cannot be self-sufficient.

Therefore, Argentina in the early 20th century was like the oil-rich countries in the Middle East in the past. It was impossible for it not to pay attention to East Africa as a high-quality trading partner. Moreover, Argentina is located on the South Atlantic shipping route, and transportation between East Africa and Argentina is relatively convenient.

Needless to say, Brazil is a mess now, and East Africa does not expect to make big money from Brazil. Brazil's positioning in East Africa is that its supply of raw materials is greater than its market.

Before the mining industry in West Africa was developed, Brazil was the only external country that could provide large amounts of relatively cheap raw materials to the west coast of East Africa.

"The United States and Western Europe are the main destinations for my country's western agriculture. The Mediterranean is divided into two parts by the Strait of Tunisia. This is an important geographical dividing line for my country's east and west coasts in trade with Europe."

The Eastern Mediterranean is to the east of the Tunis Strait, and the Western Mediterranean is to the west. In the past, in East Africa's trade with Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East were East Africa's most important markets in the world. After the economic development of the west coast, it will be beneficial for East Africa to develop trade with Western Europe and Northern Europe through the Atlantic route.

The most important thing is that this trade route will hardly be threatened, as there are no easily clamped terrains such as the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Malacca Strait along the route.

For example, the trade between East Africa and France used to be basically carried out through the Red Sea route. Now, from the west coast of East Africa to France, it only needs to pass through the Atlantic Ocean.

The same goes for the Nordic countries. In the past, maritime trade between East Africa and the Nordic countries had to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Tunisia, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the English Channel. Now it can be done through the Atlantic route and the English Channel.

In short, the west coast of East Africa, especially the coast of Angola, has opened up the Ren and Du meridians of East Africa's maritime trade, which is of strategic significance to the national economy of East Africa, especially its industry.

The area covered by East Africa's commercial trade basically covers the vast majority of the world, and the barriers to direct trade with other parts of the world are greatly reduced.

Now the only channel that can block East Africa's maritime trade with the world's major economic regions is the Strait of Malacca. However, East Africa can also bypass the Strait of Malacca. After all, the main body of East Africa is in the southern hemisphere, and the location of the Strait of Malacca is not as important as the trade between the European continent.

East Africa can go directly through the East Indies and then head north to Australia. In the British colonial system, Australia does not have the ability to blockade the waterway like India. At least it cannot blockade a big country like East Africa. Not to mention blockading East Africa, East Africa may take the opportunity to get the British out of Australia forever.

The East Indies were mainly controlled by the Dutch, and it was impossible for them to do such a thankless task.

Siwei Te went on to say: "If the Atlantic Economic Zone can reach half the size of the Indian Ocean Economic Zone, it will have a significant impact on the size of our national economy and will become a new pillar of economic growth in East Africa."

The Indian Ocean Economic Zone mainly covers East Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, accounting for more than 80% of East Africa's foreign trade.

In addition to East Africa, the Atlantic Economic Zone can also connect with West Africa, Europe, South America and North America, and its importance is no less than that of the Indian Ocean Economic Zone.

Its only drawback is that there are fewer available ports and coastlines than in the east. However, according to the economic zone it is connected to, if the west coast of East Africa can be developed and no longer affects the foreign trade of the east, East Africa's foreign trade should be able to increase by at least 30%.

This is too attractive to East Africa, and this is the fundamental reason why East Africa is determined to obtain the Angola region at all costs.

The advantage of countries in the two oceans is reflected in this point. For example, the United States' trade is mainly connected with Europe on the Atlantic side and with the Far East on the Pacific side. The same is true for East Africa.

Therefore, building the west coast industry and economy is the easiest way to achieve results and has the highest success rate. It also plays an important role in East Africa's trade security. The west coast relies on the raw materials and market development of the Atlantic coastal countries. This is a shortcut to enhance the industrialization of East Africa in a short period of time.

(End of this chapter)