Globewatch of February 18, 2024
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00:00 Hello and welcome to Globe Watch with me Charles Ebune Ed from the British Residence here in
00:08 Yaoundé, Cameroon today and this is Globe Watch.
00:12 Next April, Britain will be receiving Africa in the latest edition of the United Kingdom
00:18 Africa Investment Summit.
00:21 What will be unique this time as the summit comes on the heels of the US Africa Summit,
00:27 the Africa Russia Summit and the Saudi Arabia Africa Summit.
00:31 My guest today on Globe Watch is the United Kingdom Envoy for the UK Africa Summit.
00:38 Sir Alastair McPhail thank you very much indeed for being guest on Globe Watch.
00:45 Thank you for having me, it's my pleasure to be here.
00:48 The next United Kingdom Africa Investment Summit takes place in April this year and
00:57 just 25 African countries have been invited, Cameroon included.
01:04 Why not the entire continent?
01:08 Well I would start by saying that the summit is not the totality of our relationship with
01:13 Africa.
01:14 It is focused on investment, trade and investment and for that reason we have chosen to focus
01:21 on a number of countries to try and make the most success we can from that sort of focus.
01:28 It doesn't mean that we're not interested in trade with other countries or investing
01:32 in other countries, it just means that we think there's going to be the best chance
01:36 of success by having a greater degree of focus.
01:40 The summit will be taking place within a world-defined global context.
01:45 It comes after COVID-19 which was quite devastating and even prevented the physical holding of
01:52 the conference or the summit.
01:54 It equally comes after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and of course the geopolitical
02:00 tensions going on in the Middle East now.
02:03 What will be unique in April?
02:07 Well of course it is a challenging economic climate in the world at the moment but the
02:14 UK continues to play its part around the world and that includes in trade and investment
02:20 relationships with our African friends and partners.
02:24 Our vision for this summit is to build modern partnerships of mutual benefit based on respect
02:32 and we are engaging with all of our partners to make sure that this summit will be a success
02:39 which is why I'm here and why I'm visiting all the other countries we have invited.
02:45 This will be about creating those partnerships, creating those investments that will help
02:51 create new opportunities to build those relationships but also unlock the potential that there is
02:58 around the continent and in our country too.
03:02 You are here in Cameroon, you met the Prime Minister and you met the President of the
03:06 Republic and before coming to Cameroon you were in the Democratic Republic of Congo and
03:12 all the African countries invited.
03:15 What specifically are you discussing with them and what is the feedback you are getting
03:19 from the leaders of the invited countries to participate?
03:24 What I'm doing in each country is a similar mission.
03:29 My mission has three elements.
03:32 The first element is to encourage participation.
03:36 Our Prime Minister who will be hosting the summit has sent personal invitations to all
03:42 the heads of state and government of the invited countries.
03:46 So the first thing I do when I come here is to encourage participation.
03:50 The second thing I do is to explain the summit and why it will be different this time from
03:57 the last one but also to explain the format, explain what we hope to get out of it.
04:04 The third element which is based on the vision I described before where we are building modern
04:12 partnerships of mutual benefit based on respect is to listen.
04:18 The important thing is that we listen to our partners and therefore a large part of the
04:24 meetings I'm having is to listen to our partners to benefit from their wisdom, to hear their
04:30 advice on what it is they would like to see in London so that they can attend confident
04:37 that there will be success.
04:38 You talked about trade and investment and of course that is the central element of the
04:44 investment summit in April in London.
04:48 Africa is evolving within a unique economic environment today with the African continent
04:55 of free trade area.
04:57 How do you intend as a country to leverage on that to do more business with Africa?
05:04 Well we will take all opportunities there are but of course government doesn't do everything
05:09 and government to government relations don't do everything.
05:13 They create an enabling environment.
05:16 We will talk about the private sector in a moment.
05:19 The private sector will decide for itself where it will invest but of course we engage
05:23 with regional economic communities and we engage with the African continent of free
05:29 trade area secretariat and so when I visit Accra I will be speaking to them too.
05:37 I followed the development of the AFCFTA from when I was in Ethiopia.
05:43 As British ambassador?
05:46 But I wasn't just British ambassador to Ethiopia I was also permanent representative to the
05:50 African Union.
05:51 To the Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
05:53 That's right.
05:54 So I was following the development of the free trade agreement at the time.
06:02 It's very interesting and we will be following closely its development.
06:08 But what we do as a government is to engage with governments, other governments with the
06:14 private sector and I'll be engaging with the private sector here too but also these regional
06:19 organizations as well just to see what it is we can do to enable a successful summit.
06:27 Well it is stated that the United Kingdom has the largest foreign assets in Africa and
06:34 this is a continent you have known over the years.
06:39 What kind of assets are we talking here in particular?
06:43 The banking sector, agriculture, forestry?
06:45 There are a variety of investments in Africa and they are different in different countries.
06:54 But yes according to UNCTAD the UK is the largest investor in Africa by stock.
07:00 We think we can improve on that.
07:03 We have a certain level of bilateral trade with Cameroon which we think could be improved.
07:09 It's the same with many countries and it's the same continentally.
07:13 The holdings we have are not held by government, they are held by British companies and we
07:20 hope that we can encourage them and that our partner governments will be able to attract
07:26 their investment too.
07:32 This isn't just about British investment in Africa.
07:36 This as I said earlier is of mutual benefit so we are looking at two way trade and two
07:41 way investment or many ways and so we are all about growth and jobs.
07:49 So for instance if a British company invests in Cameroon they don't bring their workforce,
07:56 they will be employing Cameroonians and so it is about creating jobs for local people
08:03 not for British people in your country.
08:06 You project to seal deals during the summit of nearly £7 billion, actually it's about
08:15 £6.8 billion.
08:20 In what sectors are you currently interested in Africa today and a country like Cameroon?
08:26 Energy, agriculture, digital transformation?
08:30 All of those.
08:31 All are intertwined.
08:32 London is a global financial centre so at the summit we want to showcase London as a
08:45 financial centre as well because finance is at the heart of a lot of what the deals are
08:51 about and they will be involved, the City of London and London Stock Exchange Group.
08:57 But also we look at things like technology including agri-technology, agriculture, infrastructure,
09:07 energy particularly renewable energy because we are very interested in climate change,
09:13 COP26 was held in our country and we remain...
09:16 The universal movement towards a green economy.
09:20 Absolutely and what we will be doing and what our companies will be doing in the future
09:26 is exploring ways of making the transition and adaptation in a way that the world sorely
09:33 needs before it becomes too late.
09:35 So we are looking at a variety of sectors in the economy and my mission as I travel
09:44 is to listen to our friends and partners about the sorts of sectors they would like to discuss
09:50 in London and they pretty much align when it comes to technology, infrastructure, telecommunications,
09:59 technology and sectors of the economy which empower women because there is still underemployment
10:11 and under-enablement of women.
10:17 Also youth, Africa has a very young population, there is a lot of potential, a lot of talent
10:25 which needs to be unlocked and developed.
10:28 Let's narrow the debate to a country like Cameroon where you are in today.
10:34 When you look at British investments in the country over the past few years they have
10:39 been mostly in the energy sector, they have been in the road infrastructure sector, the
10:46 east entrance to the country's main economic city, Douala, all of these have been financed
10:52 by UK finance and oil orders.
10:54 Are there specific projects that are in the pipeline that you know that the British government
11:02 is engaging which of course propels Cameroon's heightened participation for the summit in
11:08 April?
11:09 Well I don't want to go into specific projects that may well be commercially confidential
11:15 but what I would like to say is there are projects under consideration, there is a great
11:23 deal of room for expansion of our trading relationship and we do have extra capacity
11:30 for financing projects in Cameroon.
11:34 Today British trade investments in Africa is, oh, you export goods to Africa of roughly
11:43 $18 billion and you import goods from Africa of roughly $16 billion.
11:53 When you hear statistics like that, I know that one of your biggest trading partners
11:57 on the continent is South Africa and of course Nigeria, the most populated country on the
12:02 continent, such data, how do they define the trading policy from 10 Downing Street?
12:12 Well it's not determined by 10 Downing Street.
12:16 What governments do, as I said earlier, is create opportunities, create an enabling environment.
12:23 Companies themselves will decide where to invest.
12:26 So the task of not only me but our trade commissioners, our Prime Minister's trade envoys, our embassies,
12:34 our high commissions around the continent is to engage in each country to explore where
12:42 useful investment might be and put people into contact with each other.
12:47 In some countries it's easier to do business than in others.
12:51 So the data don't necessarily reflect the policy, they just reflect the reality.
12:56 What we want to do is build the relationships so that there will be more investment in Africa
13:04 and in African countries by our companies, but also engagement with African companies
13:09 to find new ways of operating.
13:12 In a moment the interview will be coming to an end.
13:14 Let's talk about the private sector, which you say are the ones to drive the needed growth
13:22 and businesses on the continent, as they have been doing in the years past.
13:27 But apart from inviting governments, how much are your trips investing in communicating,
13:36 in discussing, in having conversations with members of the private sectors of the countries
13:42 you are visiting?
13:44 I see private sector representatives in every country I visit, and indeed I'm doing the
13:49 same here during this visit.
13:53 On both sides, Cameroonian investors but also British investors in the country, because
13:58 we feel it's important for me and for our government to understand not only how investment
14:05 is going, but what the investment environment is like, etc.
14:11 This enables us to prepare better for the summit.
14:15 So the short answer to your question is it's always important, I always engage with the
14:20 private sector.
14:21 Are you extending large invitations to the African private sector to meet with their
14:27 British counterparts in London?
14:29 Yes.
14:30 There will be a lot of business to business engagement at the summit.
14:34 In what sectors particularly?
14:36 The sectors that, well I've outlined the sectors that matter to us.
14:39 We will continue to discuss in each country the sectors that matter, but it will be undoubtedly
14:49 things like energy, infrastructure, agriculture, technology, finance.
14:57 Companies operational in those sectors will probably make the effort to come to the UK,
15:04 but of course we are inviting the private sector, and we certainly hope to see strong
15:10 representation from the private sector.
15:12 Let's do a bit of flashback.
15:15 This is not the first UK Africa Investment Summit.
15:20 When you look at the previous editions, what concretely have they achieved in cementing
15:27 the bond between the United Kingdom and Africa?
15:31 Well the last in-person summit was in 2020, and that generated £6 billion worth of trade
15:38 and investment, and most of it was followed through on, despite the fact that only five
15:45 or six weeks after the summit the pandemic, COVID-19, hit us, and that restricted the
15:51 ability to travel and the ability to do lots of things.
15:55 So a lot of the deals which were signed then are still being built on, and there were various
16:04 expressions of interest, there were things that were not yet ready to be announced at
16:09 the summit which were then worked on, and I think I'd like to stress that as well.
16:13 This is a process.
16:14 When I'm visiting countries, we're talking about how we can prepare together for the
16:20 summit, build momentum, at the summit some deals will be signed, some introductions will
16:25 be made, some meetings will be held between businesses, between businesses and government,
16:31 etc., and then there will be momentum after the summit.
16:34 So this isn't just going to stop at the summit, this is about building better partnerships
16:40 for the future.
16:42 For the future, my guest last week on this programme was the Chairman of the UK Cameroon
16:51 Chamber of Commerce, and I'm sure that you met him during your stay in Cameroon, Elias
16:57 Pungong, and he abundantly spoke about the huge Cameroonian goods that are found in the
17:05 UK market, banana, coffee, tea, and a trade volume of roughly several hundred million
17:15 pounds today in Cameroon.
17:19 How much of Cameroon is in the British mindset today in doing business, especially in the
17:25 post-Brick exit era?
17:29 Well, we see that we have new opportunities after our exit from the European Union, in
17:36 that we can create our own agreements, we have a partnership agreement with Cameroon
17:48 which wasn't the same as our agreement while we were in the European Union, we don't have
17:53 to have agreement with other countries in order to be able to finalise agreements, and
17:59 we believe that this flexibility that we have now that we didn't always have before will
18:06 allow us to move faster than we were in the past, but also we're not necessarily bound
18:13 by certain policies that we were before.
18:16 We believe that we're going to be able to build new partnerships, build them and grow
18:21 them.
18:22 One of the things, you mentioned 700 million pounds, well that should be more, and it could
18:28 be more, and so one of the things we hope will happen from the summit is that the next
18:34 time we have a summit we're talking about larger volumes.
18:37 Well, do you have that sense of an increased trade volume between the UK and Cameroon when
18:41 you met President Biya?
18:43 In simple terms, what did you guys concretely discuss?
18:46 Well, what I've discussed with the President, the Prime Minister and other ministers is
18:52 how we can work together to make this work.
18:57 They were all very positive about the summit.
19:00 The sectors I described are largely in alignment and so we are looking to grow the partnership
19:09 in those sectors and see what other ones we can build in, but I've had nothing but positive
19:14 messages from the President and from the Prime Minister.
19:18 One last question.
19:19 Africa is nearly 1.5 billion people with the largest trading corridor in the world today
19:27 through the African continent of free trade area, expected to take roughly 30 million
19:32 out of poverty within a decade and about 70% of that population is made up of young people.
19:40 Can you look at the African market space as somebody who has worked in Africa over the
19:47 years and you are organising an investment summit, what do you think are some of the
19:53 challenges facing businesses or British businesses in Africa?
19:57 I know that the country dynamics are not the same from country A to country B.
20:01 No, there are over 50 countries in Africa.
20:05 Sure.
20:06 There is a wide variety of countries and we, that is.
20:09 Of course it is Europe, the United States, Asia combined as continents.
20:14 Yeah, so it's a lot of countries, it's a large but very young population and what we are
20:22 trying to do is tap into that potential.
20:24 We see nothing but potential in this.
20:27 There are challenges of course, there are challenges in the ease of doing business in
20:31 some countries, there is a challenge in being able to make agreements stick, but in general
20:38 we approach these with a positive view to find agreements that are mutually beneficial
20:47 and that way if people are able to work, if people are able to provide for their families
20:54 then it works for everyone.
20:56 It means we don't spend money on humanitarian assistance or particularly humanitarian assistance.
21:02 Like you do now, especially in the Sahel area on terrorism, on food security and other risks.
21:08 All sorts of things, a lot of money is spent where if people can be functioning productively,
21:14 if they are able to find work, if they are able to provide for their families, then they
21:18 are more likely to do that.
21:21 Finally, this is a question I asked last year to the visiting British Minister for Africa
21:29 and Development, Andrew Mitchell.
21:32 I asked him that before becoming King, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales was in Cameroon,
21:42 the late husband to the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip was equally in Cameroon.
21:51 I wonder when we are going to have the next British royal visit to Cameroon since you
21:57 are a member of the British government, if it is not a secret.
22:00 Is there any timetable, are we going to have King Charles here or Prince William or Andrew
22:06 or any of them?
22:07 I have no idea and I can't promise the royal family either.
22:13 There is a process we go through about state visits, both inward and outward.
22:19 It's not many, it's only three or four per year maximum.
22:23 And so I couldn't say when the royal family are going to visit any particular country.
22:31 And with that we conclude the interview.
22:34 The UK envoy for the United Kingdom Africa Investment Summit to take place in April in
22:41 London, Alastair Macphail, thank you very much indeed for being a guest on Globewatch.
22:48 You're welcome, thank you for having me.
22:52 The International Finance Corporation is plus 60 years of experience operating in plus 100
23:01 countries worldwide.
23:03 What makes you unique in the development world?
23:08 I think what makes us unique is that our mission is actually very simple but not many do the
23:14 same thing.
23:15 We are the only financial institution, development financial institution, who is focused exclusively
23:21 on private sector across the globe.
23:24 And what does it mean?
23:25 We are part of the World Bank Group.
23:27 We are an institution within that group that focuses on supporting development through
23:32 private sector.
23:33 We see the private sector as a conduit for development.
23:37 And what do we do?
23:38 We provide finance, we provide advice and we work with partners so that private sector
23:44 can drive economic growth, create employment across emerging markets.
23:50 As you said, we are present in over 100 countries across the world.
23:54 Here in Africa we have provided financing last fiscal year in over 40 countries out
24:00 of the entire continent and this is what we do across the continent.
24:05 Probably those who created the International Finance Corporation had a particular problem
24:11 to solve.
24:13 Why did they decide that your mission would be exclusively just to look into the private
24:19 sector?
24:20 You know, the problem that our founders were trying to resolve is a problem that actually
24:26 has become even more relevant today than in 1956 when we were created.
24:34 What did they think in 1956?
24:36 The world had development institutions like the World Bank, but what those institutions
24:42 were doing is supporting development through public sector.
24:46 You make a loan to a government and then that government will use its funds to help develop
24:50 the country.
24:51 They realised very early on that actually private sector had also a role to play in
24:57 development.
24:58 Over time, as governments have actually increased the level of indebtedness, the situation has
25:06 become even more critical because in today's world the challenges of development are such
25:11 that not one party, not one group of institutions can deliver it.
25:15 So public sector can play its role, but it will not be sufficient.
25:19 You need private sector to come and complement that.
25:22 And so our institution within the World Bank Group, that's what we do.
25:25 We focus on the private sector and we make sure that private sector is indeed contributing
25:30 to development.
25:31 You know, the image of private sector has often been that private sector is only there
25:35 for the money, for the profit.
25:37 In reality, when you look at many, many companies, companies have corporate social responsibility,
25:43 companies have triple bottom line, companies are looking at sustainability.
25:46 Why?
25:47 Because they realise that they will not survive, they will not be successful if the world around
25:53 them doesn't become a better place.
25:55 [Music]