southeast asia vs sub saharan africa

[Merovee]

Southeast Asia = China's backyard as much as Latin America = the United States' backyard

[Motion]

A good speech on African development.


George Ayittey - African Solutions for African Problems on Vimeo

[slick828]

Africa is lagging because companies and countries don't invest in these nations. It is too unstable. This is primarily due to colonization happening less than 150 ish years ago. Many people in African nations probably still view themselves in there respective clans or tribes rather than members of a nation (which probably includes rival clans). This has lead to violence and genocide in several nations. It can't be overstated the effect AIDS has had on the area. It's very difficult to be productive when you're breadwinners of families are dying off in high numbers.

[Motion]

Africa suffers from artificial poverty caused by negative publicity in the developed countries that scare away potential investors to the continent.

Africa’s poverty is also due to bad policies that restrict people in the continent from exchanging commodities amongst themselves. Many countries in Africa use agricultural boards to regulate agricultural activity which in the long run discourage farming outputs.

Wealthy nations protect their farming populations through agricultural subsidies which in turn rob the continent an estimated $ 2 billion annually.

With a colonial mindset that restricted African entrepreneurship, African governments have criminalized local entrepreneurship that is locked up in small businesses and what is popularly known as hawking thereby sustaining Africans in the informal sector. The African business climate is unpredictable, contracts are difficult to enforce due to inefficient judiciary and high levels of insecurity...

The African Executive | Africans can make Poverty History

In other words African countries won't improve until their leaders change their policies and adopt policies that help with wealth building among their citizens.

[Motion]

Interesting article.

The statistics on intra-African trade in comparison with other regions are sobering, with only a mere 10 percent of African countries trading with each other. In comparison, 40 percent of trade from North America is done with other North American countries. That figure rises to 63 percent when looking at trade between European Union countries. In all these regions, the intra-continental trade is a major source of employment and wealth, but in Africa, this is still not the case.

afrol News - Great potentials in intra-African trade