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Файл:Будущее Африки. Борьба новых и старых акторов. Материалы международной научной конференции. Москва, 13-14 марта 2012 г.
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Апараджита Бисвас
образом, неудивительно, что договоры России с Алжиром и Нигерией
вызвали возмущение в Европе. Россия пытается поддержать и укрепить свою позицию на энергетических рынках.
Однако следует отметить, что большинство проектов остается
пока на стадии разработки и результатов еще надо дождаться. Хотя
российские компании, в целом, пользуются, прежде всего, положительным к ним отношением африканцев, которые помнят о помощи
Советского Союза во второй половине ХХ века, компании также сталкиваются со многими проблемами, вытекающими из непривычной
для них деловой обстановки и многих рисков, которые до сих пор связаны с предпринимательством в Африке.
В последние годы наблюдается усиление внимания мирового сообщества к проблемам Африки. Континент приобретает особую значимость в связи с разрастающимися экономическими проблемами
в мире. Африка становится зоной стратегических интересов новых
полюсов власти. Таким образом, взаимодействие стран БРИКС как
отдельно, так и в качестве объединения, со странами Африканского
континента является важным направлением их внешнеполитической
активности. Так, в последнее десятилетие наблюдается всплеск экономической и политической деятельности Китая и Индии, а также
Бразилии на континенте. Привлечение ЮАР в «клуб» является подтверждением важности африканской составляющей в современной
системе международных отношений. Вступление ЮАР в БРИКС вызывает необходимость дальнейшей активизации внешней политики
России на африканском направлении.
111
Д-р Апараджита Бисвас (Индия)
GROWING TRADE RELATIONS OF BRICS
WITH LOW INCOME COUNTRIES
(with special reference to the rle of India and China
in Africa’s Development Paradigm)
International relations in recent times have witnessed a new power
dynamic, symbolised by the entry of emerging economies in the centre
stage of world politics. The rise of middle power states like India, China,
Brazil and Russia, and formation of BRICS with the inclusion of South
112
Growing Trade Relations of BRICS
Africa, have together brought about a change in the established power
structure. Although the BRICS countries are not an obvious set and are
dissimilar in many aspects, with their increasing economic strength, they
have demanded a new set of international norms, a new trade agenda and a
more equitable representation in multinational agendas.
With a combined GDP of $13,6 trillion in 2012, the BRIC economies
have accounted for 30% of global economic growth. The BRICS collective
trade with the world increased almost 6-fold – from $790 billion to
$4,4 trillion
154
. While intra-BRICS trade stood at around $230 billion in
2011, the member countries are targeting $500 billion by 2015. In addition
to their contribution to global trade, the BRICS economies have contributed
upto 60% to an increase in trade among developing countries, which at
present is growing three times faster than the growth among advanced
economies… According to the IMF Policy paper, with the expansion of
bilateral trade, nancial ows from BRIC to LICs – both in the form of
foreign direct investment and development nancing – have also increased
rapidly. The bilateral trade, which grew exponentially over the past decade,
is the «backbone of LIC-BRIC relations»
155
.
Consequently, while the rapid growth of BRICS economies has helped
create the global commodity boom of the past decade and contributed to
a signicant improvement in the terms of trade for LICs, the growth of
LIC-BRIC ties have signicantly helped alleviate the adverse impact of the
recent global nancial crisis on LIC economies
156
.
Another signicant achievement was that the BRICS already have a
bigger share of world trade than the US. In recent years, China, probably the
world’s biggest goods exporter, has been supplemented by India’s software
and back-ofce exports, Russia’s oil and gas and the domination of a
number of agricultural commodity markets by Brazil’s super-competitive
farmers
157
.
Because of the growing inuence of their economies in global trade, the
BRICS countries are vocal about changing dollar supremacy in international
trade transactions. In the New Delhi Summit held in March, 2012, the BRICS
154
BRICS can build common currency // China Daily. September 22, 2011 –
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2011-04/08/content_12292017.htm
155
Samake Issouf and Yang Yongzheng. Low-Income Countries’ BRIC Linkage:
Are There Growth Spillovers. IMF Working Paper. November 2011.
156
Ibidem.
157
Beattie Alan. BRICS: The changing faces of global power – http://www.
ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/95cea8b6-0399-11df-a601
113
Апараджита Бисвас
countries signed an agreement to promote trade in local currencies among
themselves with the aim to reduce their dollar dependency and ‘protect
themselves from the high volatility of the US currency and conversion
charges’. The BRICS nations also “considered” the possibility of setting
up a new development bank for mobilizing resources for infrastructure and
sustainable development projects within the bloc and in other emerging
and developing countries
158
.
This article provides some initial perspectives on the growing trade
relations between BRICS and Low Income African Countries, and examines
the role of India and China in Africa’s developmental paradigm. It may
be noted that the BRICS member countries have vast interests in Africa.
This is reected in the ofcial resolution of the BRICS Summit of 2012
held in New Delhi, that laid emphasized on their supports to the economic
development and stability in Africa. The agreement intended to take their
“cooperation forward through infrastructure development, knowledge
exchange and support for increased access to technology, enhanced capacity
building, and investment in human capital, including within the framework
of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
159
.
Summit diplomacy is one of the foreign policy strategy adopted by the
BRICS member states to enhance their cooperation with African countries.
For instance, India-Africa Forum Summit, held in 2008 and 2011, and
China’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2000 and 2006 offered
signicant loans, grants and development assistance as a means to woo
African countries .In 2006, Brazil co-hosted the rst ever African-South
American Summit in Abuja with the then President of Nigeria, Olusegun
Obsanjo. In fact, these emerging economies are quietly beginning to change
the rules of the game, giving aid on terms of their own choosing. None of
these countries belong to the donors’ club established within the OECD,
called the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
At the bilateral level, there are also outreach efforts towards Africa by
BRICS member states. The Chinese President has been a frequent yer
to most of the African countries, and the former Brazilian President, Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva’s visited Africa 10 times and opened 16 new embassies
during his tenure. Present Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff visit to
Southern African countries of Angola, Mozambique and South Africa in
158
BRICS-TERN Resolution(Adopted at New Delhi on the 27th day of March
– http://cuts-international.org/BRICS-TERN/pdf/BRICS-TERN_Resolution.
2012
pdf
159
Ibidem.
114
Growing Trade Relations of BRICS
2011 represented a continuation of a strong and longstanding interests of
Brazilian foreign policymakers in the African continent.
From India, Presidents, Prime Ministers and ministers are also visiting
Africa at regular intervals. Even Russian President Putin visited South
Africa in 2006, followed by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to
Egypt, Angola, Namibia and Nigeria in 2009. Moreover, along with the
major emerging economies, the Next-Eleven (N11) as identied by the
Goldman Sachs, stands out as a new mode of inuence in this multipolar
world. Although only Nigeria and Egypt have been included in N11, the
economic future of African countries appears increasingly bound to this
global shift.
An important aspect of the African economic scene is that new partners
are bringing new opportunities to African countries. The African economies
are more integrated in the world economy in recent years and have managed
to diversify their partnership, besides offering unprecedented economic
opportunities to emerging economies in recent years. BRICS member states
are now the top 5 trading partners in Africa, with China (38%), India (14%),
Brazil (7,1%) taking the highest share. In 2009, China surpassed USA to
become Africa’s main trading partner. Although USA and the European
Union continue to be the signicant traditional partners of LIC’s, their share
of exports has fallen from 60% in 1980 to less than 45% in 2009. The
major point to be noted here is that it is BRICS member-states and not the
developed economies who are redening Africa’s role in the global economy,
a direction driven by solid commercial needs and shared interests.
To promote trade and investment across a broad spectrum, BRICS
banks are securing a strong foothold in Africa. For example, Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) China’s Exim Bank, Brazil’s Bradesco
and state-controlled Banco de Brasil, the State Bank of India (SBI) all have
a signicant presence in African countries.4 Moreover, the FDI of BRICS
to LICs touched approx. $2,2 billion in 2009, about 2–3% of the total FDI
ows from BRICS, of which Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) LICs received
about $0,9 billion. Although developed countries are the most important
source of FDI ows to African countries, their policy is selective. FDI from
the OECD is concentrated in a few countries and sectors, and does not
reach the whole continent equitably. Between 2007–2009, 60% of OECD
investment in Africa was made in just three countries – South Africa, Egypt
and Nigeria
160
.
160
BRIC banks – http://www.asianbankerpublication.com/A556C5/update.nsf/0/
7C4EFD8491CDD64148257776000EDA94?Opendocument
115
Апараджита Бисвас
However China and India clearly stand apart from other BRICS countries
in their economic positions and in their involvement in Africa, with both
of them having long historical relations with the African countries. Not
only is their trading relations age-old, they also have signicant diasporic
populations in most of the African countries. These populations with their
good knowledge of Africa, have business ties with India and China, and
have played a signicant role in attracting new investments from India and
China to the African continent.
There is growing literature on the impact of Asian drivers engaged
in African countries. Scholars on the subject emphasise that Asian
engagements in Africa differs fundamentally from that of western countries,
particularly with regard to aims, objectives and political discourse, besides
the instruments and modalities of engagement. The continent which was
categorized as ‘doomed’, ‘marginal’ and economies with a ‘free fall’ by
the World Bank and western countries scholars, now boasts of a signicant
growth rate. The report of African Development Bank predicts a growth
rate of 5.8% for African economies in 2012.
In this context, several key questions have been addressed in this
article. Do the engagements of India and China help in Africa’s economic
upliftment? What are the patterns of their engagements in Africa and the
trends in trade, investment and ofcial outows?
India and China in Africa
There are some key forces that are pushing and pulling India and
China into Africa. Since the last 10 years there are signicant shift of their
foreign policies towards Africa. The purpose of the Sino-African Forum
in 2006 and 2006 was «the construction of an international political and
economic order and [to] explore new Sino-African cooperation». China
announced the establishment of China Africa Strategic Partnership at the
Summit.
India, on the other hand, adopted two agreements in the 2008 Forum
Summits. These are the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework
for Cooperation in 2008. Both agreements offer a direction to Indo-African
relations in the coming years, and provide a platform on which to assess
long term synergies and successes of the partnership between India and
African countries.
The respective roles played by India and China in boosting SubSaharan African economies in recent years are of considerable signicance.
Over the past ve years, Africa’s trade with China and India has increased
dramatically, re-orienting trade away from their traditional partners,
OECD countries. Both China and India are heavy consumers of crude
116
Growing Trade Relations of BRICS
petroleum, copper, iron ore, nickel, etc. and are also important markets
for various agricultural products like cotton, rubber, etc. The demand for
these commodities in the markets has signicant impact on world prices.
Sub-Saharan Africa has an export structure that is highly concentrated
on primary commodities and thus, sufciently beneted in the process.
Between 1999 and 2010, Africa’s terms of trade improved by around 30%,
far more than any other developing region. This reects in the increase in
international prices of a number of primary commodities, particularly oil
and minerals.
Both India and China are providing economic and political support
to the fragile and conict-affected states which are suffering from lack of
development of productive capacity. Traditional donors often neglect them
because of the conict situation and lack of infrastructural capacity. For
instance, China has supported Angola, Sudan and Zimbabwe while India is
known to have provided support to Angola, Sudan, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire
and Niger. By extending support to these countries nancially, both India
and China are helping them rebuild their economies. More importantly,
as India and China’s aid and investments are not tied to any political
conditions, it helps the African countries to frame their infrastructural and
other developmental programmes on their own terms.
Moreover there are no asymmetrical relationship between India, China
and Africa. It is based on mutual benecial relationship. African countries
have massive voting clout at the UN and other international bodies
like the IOC and the WTO. Despite having 53 independent countries,
African countries often vote mostly en bloc on topical international issues.
For example, China got the Beijing Olympics awarded it because of an
“en bloc” vote by Africa during the IOC decision-making process. India
gets support from African countries in international forum on various
issues like climate change or issues on agricultural subsidies issues in
WTO.
In this paper, I have documented the size and rate of change of India
and China’s growing presence in Africa, focusing primarily on trade and
investment.
India’s engagements in Africa
The most important initiative that India has taken to advance its
relationship with African countries is its Focus Africa Program. The
Government of India launched the “Focus: Africa” Programme under the
EXIM Policy 2002-07, the main objective being to increase interactions
between the two regions by identifying the potential areas of bilateral trade
117
Апараджита Бисвас
and investment. Effective April 1, 2003, the “Focus Africa” programme
was extended to cover effectively the entire African continent
161
.
Through this programme, Government of India provides nancial
assistance to various trade promotion Organizations, export promotion
councils and apex chambers, Indian Missions in the form of market
development assistance
162
. In 2004, India pledged $500 million in the form
of concessional credit facilities to 8 energy and resource-rich West African
countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau,
Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal – to help private Indian rms carry out
development projects (Team-9)
163
.
It is reported that under this scheme $280m worth of projects have
already been approved against concessional lines of credit. These include
$970 000 for the construction of a national post ofce in Burkina Faso,
$30 mn for rural electrication in Ghana, $4m for a bicycle plant in Chad,
$12 mn for a tractor assembly plant in Mali, and $15 mn for potable
drinking water projects in Equatorial Guinea. Firms exporting to these
markets are given ‘Export House’ status subject to a minimum export value
of Rs 5 crore
164
.
India’s active promotion of economic interaction with Africa is
reected in the signicant increase in trade with African countries. While
Africanists like Sanusha Naidu and others perceive India as ‘sleepwalking
in Africa’, especially in terms of its trade partnership, signs are that India
is awakening to the reality that Africa is a strategic market
165
. In fact, to
facilitate trade, India strengthened the commercial wings of its African
missions in 2003 as a trade promotion measure and to provide market
assistance to African countries. To boost India’s trade through multilateral
forum, the EXIM Bank of India has extended Lines of Credit (LOCs) to
several regional organizations in Africa such as the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern African countries (COMESA), Economic Cooperation
161
G.O.I. Ministry of Commerce. Focus Africa Program: a Program for Enhancing
India’s Trade with the African Region – http://www.pdexcil.org/news/53N0204/
focus1.htm
162
Ibidem.
163
Exim Bank. General Guidelines on Government of India – Approves Export
Lines of Credit Routed through Exim Bank of India (Under Team-9 and NEPAD
Initiatives, 2004.
164
Collected from Ministry of Commerce website.
165
Naidu Sanusha. India’s African Relations: Playing Catch up with the Dragon –
http://www.international.ucla.edu/media/les/84.pdf
118
Growing Trade Relations of BRICS
of West African States, (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development
Community (SADC).
These LOCs supplement the ‘Focus Africa’ Programme of the
Government of India. At present , 66 LOCs are in operation, amounting to
$2,25 billion and covering 47 countries in the African region. These LOCs
are seen as a facilitator for strengthening and expanding export trade
between the respective regions and India through deferred payments terms.
At the same time many of these LOCs are earmarked for infrastructure and
related projects
166
.
As of 2010, almost two-thirds of India Exim Bank’s total operative
LOCs were in Africa, amounting to a sizeable $2,8 bn. Half of these LOCs
to Africa had a direct infrastructure focus
167
. Nigeria and Sudan are the
main beneciaries of Indian infrastructure nance, although countries like
Angola, Mozambique, Kenya, Algeria, Zambia and Senegal have also
received support for the development of their rail systems. In the IndiaAfrica Forum Summit in May 2011, India’s Prime Minister announced a
substantial chunk of the credit line, $300 million, to support the development
of a new Ethio-Djibouti railway line linking Addis Ababa and the port of
Djibouti.
Already, Indian Railways has made furtive forays into Africa, having
supplied locomotives to Mozambique, Tanzania, Mali and Senegal,
and coaches to Angola. It has also rehabilitated sections of railway in
Mozambique and Liberia. Two currently operative LOCs ($27,7 mn to
Mali and Senegal combined and $10,25 mn to Benin) by the India Exim
Bank are for the acquisition of railway coaches and locomotives from
India.
To enhance trade, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) regularly
held the ‘Made in India Show’ to various African countries. With this show,
CII encouraged Indian companies to display their products in textiles, drugs
and pharmaceuticals, food processing, machine tools, auto components,
construction equipment etc. to the trade and business representatives of
countries from Africa. Let us have a cursory look at the India’s trade with
Africa.
166
The Exim Bank. Indo-African Business. Mumbai. November-January 2009.
167
Freemantle Simon and Stevens Jeremy. Indian Construction Firms Making
Inroads in Africa – http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/indian-construction-rmsmaking-inroads-into-africa/4794/
119
Апараджита Бисвас
Table 1
India’s Trade with Africa
(Values in $ Million)
Year 1997-98 2002-03 2006-07 2010-11
India’s total Export to Africa 1492,03 2516,12 8407,53 16281,17
India’s total Import to Africa 2081,77 2889,31 11362,76 26062,02
Total Trade with Africa 3573,8 5405,43 19770,29 42343,19
Source: www.commerce.nic
Table 1 shows that India-Africa exports have jumped from $1,492 mil-
lion in 1997/1998 to $16,281 million in 2010/2011, while imports have
recorded $2081 million to $26,062 during the same period. Indeed India’s
imports from Africa increased as India’s demand for raw materials and
oil increased sharply. India’s imports from African countries are mostly
primary goods and oil, along with gold and other minerals.
Regarding India’s exports to Africa, chemical and pharmaceutical
products, machinery, transport equipment, food and livestock, products
etc occupy prominent positions than manufacturing goods in 2010/2011.
India’s top ten trading partners are South Africa, Nigeria, Angola,
Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Kenya. South
Africa is the major export partner followed by Kenya, Nigeria and
Egypt. Commodities like gold and silver became very prominent as they
accounted for two-fth of total imports from Africa. It is evident from
this that India’s import composition has changed dramatically over the
past decade. A growing economy and an increasing gold consuming class
of people have dictated this import structure. In fact, South Africa, the
largest gold producer, accounted for 68% of India’s total import from
168
Africa in 2004
.
But mostly, these trade ows are largely driven by economic
complementarities between the two regions. This point has been advanced
by Broadman in his book Africa’s Silk Trade in relation to Africa’s trade
with China and India. He writes, “Although African exports to Asia as a
whole do not exhibit a signicant pattern of product diversication, inter-
sectoral complementarities between Africa and Asia do exist… The rich
resource endowment in Africa provides a natural comparative advantage in
raw materials and resource-based products. China and India, on the other
168
DGFT. Direction of India’s Trade. Various issues.
120
Growing Trade Relations of BRICS
hand, have a rich stock of skilled labor compared to Africa and thus have a
comparative advantage in manufactured products”
169
.
India’s Foreign Direct Investment in Africa
In recent years, the Indian government has increasingly adopted a
number of policy changes to liberalize its regulations on allowing outward
foreign direct investment by Indian companies, thus creating ‘go global’ or
‘going out’ strategy. This strategy is aimed at generating new opportunities
for Indian rms on the global stage and to encourage Indian companies to
operate internationally so as to increase their competitive capabilities vis-àvis leading multinationals globally, in key sectors. The investments of India
in Africa are led by the private sector, with Indian companies investing in
oil exploration and mining projects (gold, phosphates and copper ores), as
well as in manufacturing and services.
This new orientation has been the main driver of India’s engagement
with Africa, with Indian companies investing in oil exploration and mining
projects (gold, phosphates and copper ores), as well as in manufacturing
and services. In absolute terms, Africa’s share of Indian FDI outows
increased from $243 million in 2000 to $2,4 billion in 2008. In East and
Southern Africa, the large Indian diaspora whose members have business
ties with India and a good knowledge of Africa, has played a signicant
role in attracting new investments from India to the African continent. This
is especially true given that India is ush with foreign currency reserves,
and the Government has lifted regulations and controls, to allow rms to
go abroad. It has also removed the $100 million cap on foreign investment
by Indian rms abroad.
To meet the country’s growing energy needs, India’s Oil and National
Gas Corporation (ONGC) acquired shares in oil exploration ventures in
Libya and Nigeria, which account for 15% of India’s oil imports. It has also
invested in Sudan’s hydrocarbon sector (US$ 690 million) and in offshore
drilling in Côte d’Ivoire ($12,5 million). India is undivided Sudan’s third
largest partner in the oil sector and its companies account for a 25% stake in
its Greater Nile Oil Project which produces 280,000 bpd. OVL completed
a 741-km pipeline project from Khartoum Renery to Port Sudan on the
Red Sea, for transporting petroleum products for the Khartoum renery.
Moreover, Indian oil companies are venturing into Angola, Burkina Faso,
Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, and Senegal. In fact, in addition
169
Broadman Harry G. Africa’s Silk Route: China and India’s New Economic
Frontier. The World Bank (2006).
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