ppt focus on the role and responsibilities of these two Asian power house in Africa. Based on the article published in Livemint newspaper

1. Are China and India the new colonial
powers in Africa?
Presenter – Sunil Pareek
Based on an article from Livemint

2. Objective of an article
• Whether the China and India follow the same colonial model of trade or
not ?
• Whether this is a fair trade or balance trade or competitive trade in
nature?
• Who invest how much and in which sector?
• African export and contribution in trade with India and China?
• How significant India and Africa trade is and How it is shaping up in
2017?

3. • China and India’s trade with Africa does resemble the traditional model of
colonial trade.
• It extends to investments and projects that aim to cater local demand.
• Asia has surpassed Europe as Africa’s biggest trading partner today, accounting
for around 45% of the continent’s total trade.
• Africa exports raw materials to the emerging Asian giants, and imports
manufactured goods from them.
• Africa exports raw materials to the emerging Asian giants, and imports
manufactured goods from them.
• However, commodities and natural resources in Africa’s export basket raises
questions over whether increased trade will boost the continent’s economic
prosperity.

7. How colonial trade wrecked Africa?
• Colonial pattern of trade for Africa’s has delayed its journey towards economic
development.
• Asia has surpassed Europe as Africa’s biggest trading partner today.
• The pattern of trade hasn’t changed much since colonial times.
• China and India mainly buy commodities or natural resource-based products from Africa,
while exporting mainly manufactured goods to the continent, thus reinforcing the classic
colonial pattern of trade.
Can the emerging trade in oil and gas make a difference?
• Exporting commodities, that is, crude oil, can often be a gateway to increased prosperity.
• One-third of Africa’s exports to China and India consist of crude oil, natural gas and other
hydrocarbons.
• Nigeria, a member of OPEC and dependent on oil and gas for 90% of its exports, reported
a relatively high poverty rate of 53% in 2009 using the global poverty line of $1.9 per day,
according to the World Bank . In contrast, Namibia reported a much lower poverty of 23%
in 2009, despite hardly exporting any oil.

8. Is history repeating itself?
• Colonial trade is associated with the “de-industrialization” of the sub-continent.
• China is being accused by some observers of bringing similar ruin to the
domestic textile industry of Nigeria through its exports which have been often
termed as dumping, that is, selling below cost.
• Chinese companies in Africa are also sometimes charged with mostly hiring
Chinese labour.
• India, perhaps, escapes such scrutiny due to the much larger size of China’s
presence.
• Over 70% of Africans reportedly have a favourable view of China, according to
the Pew Research Centre’s Global Attitudes survey for 2015.

9. India and Africa
• According to Rajrishi Singhal , senior geo-economics fellow at Gateway House,
Mumbai, there are broadly four layers to India’s engagement with Africa
1. Indian government’s involvement in the oil and gas sector in a few countries like
Mozambique and Sudan.
2. A number of Indian private sector companies like Jindal Africa and Vedanta
have invested in extractive sectors like mining.
3. A host of Indian private sector companies have invested in a wide range of
industries like solar panels and sugar mills in Africa, often aimed at meeting
local demand.
4. India’s engagement with Africa is the Indian government’s investments in the
continent to aid capacity building, through the Indian Technical & Economic
Cooperation Programme (ITEC) under the Ministry of External Affairs.

10. Conclusion
While it is true that China and India’s trade with Africa resembles the traditional
model of colonial trade, the fact remains that the engagement of these two
countries with Africa extends beyond merchandise trade to large-scale
investments, not necessarily in extractive industries, and to other projects often
aimed at catering to local demand.
Thank you