Thin on the Ground in Africa
By Brian Adeba, Embassy Mag, July 5th, 2006 Closing embassies and consular offices in Africa hasn't helped Canadian businesses looking to break into the market. Lack of a comprehensive foreign policy strategy that encompasses aid, trade and agriculture, is creating ambiguity in Canada's relations with Africa, says the president of an organization representing the Canadian private sector and NGOs involved in development work in Africa. Lucien Bradet, president of the Canadian Council on Africa (CCA), said such ambiguity creates difficulties for Canadian investors wishing to break into the African market. Addressing the 5th annual general meeting of the CCA two weeks ago, Mr. Bradet told delegates, including about 20 African heads of mission, that Canada is missing out in the African market, because of lack of a comprehensive strategy in its foreign policy towards the continent. It is the same message he told the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on June 7, when it met to examine Canada's foreign policy towards Africa. "As you know, we are closing embassies, so we are missing the boat there," said Mr. Bradet in an Embassy interview, adding that most of the G7 countries have comprehensive strategies for Africa. Last year, Canada closed its missions in Gabon and Guinea. Currently there are only five Canadian trade officers for 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, said Mr. Bradet. "It is a very thin presence and the numbers show, 'do we have a strategy here?'" he asked. However, Brooke Grantham, a spokesman for International Trade Canada, said there are more than five officers including locally engaged staff at Canadian missions in sub-Saharan Africa. The only clear strategy Canada has towards Africa is aid, and Mr. Bradet called for other areas such as trade, agriculture and financing to be given priority if meaningful help to develop Africa is the intention of Canada's foreign policy architects. He added that with a population of 800 million people, the African market holds great potential for Canadian investors. Canada exports $1.3 billion worth of goods to Africa annually. These include manufactured goods, construction equipment, pharmaceutical goods, communications equipment and oil and gas machinery. Mr. Bradet also said African economies have recently showed significant growth, the more reason Canadian companies should invest on the continent. "Twenty-five out of 53 countries have over five per cent growth in GDP," said Mr. Bradet, adding that political stability in also taking root as countries embrace democracy. He lauded efforts by Export Development Canada–a government agency that provides Canadian exporters with foreign market expertise–for making in-roads into the African market recently when it clinched deals with four banks in Nigeria, but insisted that more needs to be done. J. Perry Maisonneuve, founder of Northern Lights Franchise Consultants Corporation, a Mississauga-based management consulting firm for small and medium-sized businesses, argues that while there are programs that help Canadian investors in Africa through agencies like CIDA, there are still shortfalls that present a stumbling block. The government insists that a significant portion of business projects must include foreign direct investment, which Mr. Maisonneuve says is unfriendly to the export of patents, licences and franchises. "The nature of the Canadian economy now is that the greatest proportion of GNP is produced through service sectors and that means exporting intellectual know-how through patents, licences and franchising," said Mr. Maisonneuve, who has five years of experience doing business in Africa. "But the existing programs are still 20 to 30 years old," he said, adding that they are not sensitive to the knowledge-based society that Canada has become. As a result, Mr. Maisonneuve said Canadian firms are losing out to rival companies from Europe and the U.S. Companies from Britain, France and the U.S. are helped by the fact that trade commissioners based at missions in Africa do the footwork in arranging and facilitating business deals for them. "These entrepreneurs don't necessarily have to fly down there to develop contacts, they use their consulates and embassies as de facto agents," he said, adding that the recent closures of embassies in Africa is going to make the situation worse. "I just got back from Cairo, where we asked for some support in terms of going to a trade show representing a number of Canadian businesses that couldn't attend. [The Canadian embassy] didn't have the resources–human or otherwise [to help]. They couldn't do it." Mr. Maisonneuve called for reallocation of resources to involve the private sector in Canada's policy towards Africa. Isa Odido, CEO of Intellipharmaceutics, a company in Toronto that frequently does business in the pharmaceutical sector in Africa, said it is time Canada reviewed its strategy for the continent by helping Canadian entrepreneurs in feasibility studies on business in Africa. "While [government officials] are acting as big brother [by giving aid], they should also push for Canadian companies," said Mr. Odido. Mary Jo Lynch, director of Carleton International, a centre that deals with Carleton University's international activities, says lack of a comprehensive strategy for Africa can partly be explained by the fact that interest in the continent is relatively new, but added that there are signs that this is changing. She said that the government should involve the viewpoints of Canadian universities and colleges when developing a strategy for Africa because these institutions have long standing experience working with African governments. "There could be a more focused strategy and from the Canadian point of view, certainly more could be done," said Ms. Lynch. Senator Hugh Segal, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, says the current foreign policy towards Africa is "inconsistent" with existing realities on the continent and that it has changed little over the course of five or six years. "We have been very much asleep at the stick in terms of how we use CIDA relative to a broad investment and foreign policy for the region," he said. Mr. Segal said countries like Denmark, Britain and Belgium have linked approaches in their foreign polices that encourage aid and activities that foster economic growth in ways that benefit African companies and businesses from these countries. The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee will present a report examining Canada's foreign policy in Africa in the fall. brian@embassymag.ca
|
|
 |
|