The expansion of Africa’s
multilateral trade interactions with Asia countries is constrained by a number
of factors. These include the imbalance in the structure of level of their
trade, the inadequacy of the industrial infrastructure for promotion of
relations, the incidence of flooding of the African market with substandard
goods from Asia countries, inability to implement various multilateral
agreements between the two continents and most significantly, corruption.
Corruption is a dreadful
phenomenon, which destroys the fabric of all governmental structures in a
nation. It is a canker worm which should be abhorred by any nation that want
progress and development. Corruption has been with societies throughout
history. However, in Africa, the insatiable appetite for corruption has become
an endemic disease, which has brought concomitant sufferings, untold economic
dilapidation, unrest, poverty and lack of infrastructural facilities and
underdevelopment to the people so much that the dividends of democracy are not
earned and the continent’s economic objectives have become an illusion.
Corruption in Africa has been traced to colonialism, arguing that colonialism
in Africa was built on corruption. The corruption has weakened all democratic
processes in local, state and federal levels of government in Africa. It has
dampened morality, weakened meritocracy and produced an avalanche of misrule,
selfishness, ineffectiveness, colossal misappropriations of funds and
unwillingness of those who were elected into governmental power to quit their
offices as at when due.
However, despite these challenges, the multilateral
relationship should be symbiotic and mutually beneficial to both continents.
Therefore, it must be emphasized that Africa’s multilateral policy towards Asia
has undergone a number of shifts of emphasis and reappraisal of priorities. Africa
– Japan relations should, however, go beyond rhetoric’s. The possibilities and
potentials of a multilateral cooperation between the Africa and Japan have not
been fully exploited. Africa should move beyond the bounds of marginality and
peripheral association where we are looked upon as marginal factors merely for
tilting matters in favor of developed market economies. Africa abounds with
immeasurable reservoir of opportunities for trade, investments, business, and
cooperation. The indifferent response to invitations of Japanese investors to
come and invest in the continent has not been encouraging, as one would have
expected.
Globe Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is an independent, non-political
and non-profit global organization dedicated to fostering
international trade, cultural and humanitarian cooperation with
main focus on economy growth and development. In collaboration with Federal
character agencies, Trade Nigeria, Global Trade Organizations is instituting a Japan
-Africa Economic and Investment Forum, which is part of the Organization’s
annual joint trade mission.
The Japan -Africa Economic and Investment Forum
will help to promote, expand and diversify Africa’s export base by making the
non-exports contribute significantly to the continent’s gross domestic product
(GDP) and it should be aided under the current multilateral agreement of Africa
and Japan for mutually beneficial, sustainable economic development and balance
of trade.
Globe Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be using the platform to
evolve a cooperative mechanism that would enable Africa increase its export of
manufactured goods to Japan and Asia at large. This will to a large extend
reorient the Japanese companies in Africa to diversify their economic
activities, rather than restricting themselves to merely importing finished
goods from Japan for sale in Africa countries; they should invest in the
productive sectors of the African economy and thereby gain from the export of
such African-made goods. It is true that Africa has created an enabling
environment for investors, but beyond this, Globe
Chamber of Commerce and Industry is encouraging the development of trade on a wider scale that will
eventually leads to industrialization and more investments.
The aforementioned subject is brought to
you, courtesy of National Mail.
National
Mail is an online news platform of Globe Chamber of
Commerce and Industry and Trade
Nigeria that focuses on business development, Investment, trade, economic
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