Speaking at the Africa China Business and Investment Event organised by okra eXpress, at The Foreign Press Association in May last year, Ms. Khan, Regional Head of Economics for Africa at Standard Chartered Bank, a renowned Economist who is frequently called on to provide analysis on African markets on BBC, CNN, CNBC as well as the BBC World Service, said in her keynote speech at the event, {since 2001, Africa has outperformed global economic growth, and one contributing factor driving this has been the emergence of China as a major trading partner in Africa}.

In February 2009, China’s President, Mr. Hu Jintao made a very fruitful tour of Africa including a number of non-oil producing countries and granted $22m (£15m) in aid to Tanzania as he continues his tour of Africa to countries namely Senegal, Mali and Mauritius.

 At the IMF meeting in Dar-es-Salaam in March 2009, Yuan Chen, the head of the China Development Bank told the BBC that “he expects investments in the continent by China to continue and China is keen to work with countries on agriculture and infrastructure projects”. 

This Event will examine the significance of China’s interest in Africa. Professor Raphael Kaplinsky, Professor of International Development at The Open University will shed some light on the growing economic diverse opportunities for investment in Africa and will address the question of whether the investments are only in few areas such as the oil and gas sector whilst other potential agricultural commodities, which include food crops (such as grains), beverages (such as tea and coffee) are under-invested. China’s keen interest in Africa is accelerating beyond the search for minerals and energy supplies to focusing on agriculture. The extent to which agriculture can better enhanced development in Africa will be examined at the event.

This event will be entirely driven by a greater focus on promoting foreign direct investment flows in  Africa. Dr. Gang Zhang, Manager, Exploration and New Business, China National Offshore Oil Corp, CNOOC Africa (UK) Ltd, will attend the event to give guest speakers' perspectives and an account of China's success stories in regard to investment in Africa. Mr. Youssouph Diallo, Counsellor, Senegal Embassy, UK, will attend the event and speak on trade and investment opportunities in Senegal. 

The keynote speech will be delivered by Mr. Boris Martor, Paris based Partner, Eversheds LLP. Boris has diverse experience particularly in relations to infrastructure and public projects. He advises in the sector of energy, mining, transports and telecommunications, in the course of the structuring of investments and institutional reforms. Boris is coauthor of two books in French and English on the subject, namely: "Business Law in Africa). OHADA and the Harmonization Process", and "Le droit uniforme africain des affaires issu de 'OHADA".

This event will focus on Agribusiness and encourage investors to embrace and take advantage of the growing agri business opportunities in Africa. Non-oil producing African countries will showcase their agricultural products at the event.  

Journalists including Nik Wood, a correspondent for BBC TV will attend to cover the event. Please click the link below to access Nik Wood’s recent interview with  Yuan Chen, head of China Development Bank at the IMF Conference in Dar es Salaam in March 2009  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7935901.stm 

Food for thought 

Invest and grow your way out of the global food crisis.

Update on Unilever’s positive and successful agricultural activities in Africa - Speaking at the AFRICA – EU Business and Development Event in London, organised by okra eXpress in February 2009, Mr. Miguel Pestana,Vice President, Global External Affairs, Unilever PLC, UK, who has responsibilities for Unilever’s external and public affairs activities worldwide, said in his presentation at the event,“The potential of agriculture is enormous” -  {Unilever are producers of food and in addition to producing the finished products. Unilever has therefore quite a significant footprint in tea buying. We currently buy about 12% of the world’s tea just as a company and we have a large plantation which is in Kenya and employ about 20,000 people in one tea plantation. We see tremendous opportunities to expand the capacity to develop more agriculture in many many countries across Africa which is so critical}.

 We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a spectacular event to focus on positives, prospects and potentials. With all good wishes, Bertha Oluwole, Director, okra eXpress

Go Green  if you can help it…