The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that the UK-Africa Investment summit will take place in January 2020.
Hunt disclosed this during a Foreign and Commonwealth Office question time, as stated by the Department for International Trade via its official Twitter handle @tradegovuk.
The Department notes that UK-Africa trade was worth over £33bn in 2018 and that about 2,000 British businesses currently operate in Africa.
The UK Minister for Investment, Graham Stuart, added, “This summit will bring together UK and African governments, alongside major international investors, to grow awareness of investment opportunities on the continent.”
In a quick response to the tweet, Fred Harbottle @fredbottle, who described himself as a defence and security professional with extensive UK and South East Asian experience, lamented that the difficulty is how to avoid corruption.
“Please, encourage African nations to adopt international anti-corruption guidelines to enable sensible commerce with UK companies.
“If not, our anti-bribe/corruption rules will mitigate against business in the wealthiest parts of Africa,” Harbottle warns.
Another commentator, Michael Rolfe @ausbrum, lambasted UK for what it called the attempt “to save face, post-Brexit, via an uninterested Africa.”
Mr. Rolfe had tweeted, “Did you know that the MDC Zimbabwe Ambassador to the EU parliament, Eliot Pfebve, was invited to speak to the Parliament this week?
“Britain, you are way behind the EU when it comes to relating to Africa, desperately trying to save face post-Brexit via an uninterested Africa.”
The British Government had set a new ambition for the UK to be the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022.
Prime Minister Theresa May had announced it last August during a visit to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya to promote economic ties with the continent.
The ambition was announced alongside a range of measures to boost trade between the UK and Africa and encourage UK investment in the region, including the creation of a new Africa Investors Board.
The Department For International Trade noted that British investors are already among Africa’s most prolific.
“They are known and respected for the quality of their investments, the innovation they bring and their strong commitment to their local work forces,” it noted.
