Africa-South Korea Summit Kicks Off Today...
Have You Ever Wondered What Countries in These Summits Mean When They Say They'll Share Tech With Africa in Exchange for Minerals?
The South Korea-Africa summit kicks off today. At least 30 African heads of state are attending, and as per a statement by the South Korean Foreign Ministry,
“Sharing South Korea’s expertise and technology with Africa could expedite the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), thereby contributing to Africa’s economic development.”
Underline the word “could” because, more often than not, it means it will not happen.
I am not the biggest fan of chores and cannot count how many times my mom asked me to clean utensils, and my response was, “I could.” I could have done it, but I never did.
But that is not the most alarming aspect of that statement. It is that in exchange for the very tangible critical minerals (cobalt, manganese & chrome) South Korea wants out of Africa to boost its electric vehicle and semiconductor industry, Africa only gets the intangible ‘expertise and technology that could.”
Have you ever wondered what developed countries mean when they say they want to share technology with Africa?
Technology has become a buzzword in all these African summits, yet no one can quite explain how that translates practically.
Exploring Some of the Past Africa-World Summits
During the second Russia-Africa Summit, Russia proclaimed boldly that
“The event’s goal was to promote comprehensive cooperation between Africa and Russia on all areas of society including politics, security, science and technology…”
The technology is non-existent, but data has it that Russia has extracted $2.5 billion worth of gold from Africa in the past two years 🤦♀️
Next, there was the EU-Africa summit of 2022. Many hailed it as an opportunity for a renewed partnership built on a foundation of equal benefit. The European Union promised a 150 billion Euro package that would, among other things, support digital transformation in Africa.
Two years later, I’m struggling to identify the digital transformation—and I wear strong eyeglasses. Maybe we all need a magnifying glass to find it.
Meanwhile, illicit financial flows (illegal movement of money from one country to another) from Africa to the EU continue to rise, especially from trade misinvoicing.
Finally, the China-Africa collaboration. I must confess that there is tangible proof that China has promoted tech advancement.
Sure, China gets a lot more out of the deal. For example, Chinese companies such as Huawei have a strong foothold on the continent, make a ton of profit, and implement sneaky strategies.
Did you know that in Tanzania, a Chinese company constructed the ICT backbone only to be compatible with Huawei routers? That’s a story for another day.
Still, since establishing the China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership Plan (CASTPP) in 2009, China claims to have invested USD 60 billion in various research and technology projects.
While we cannot guarantee the validity of that claim, upgrading telecom infrastructure in Africa, such as the internet backbone, proves that China is trying to walk the talk.
One thing to note: this was a plan, not a 2-day summit full of buzzwords that sound pretty.
I dare you to investigate all the other Africa-X summits and see how often technology comes up without any follow-through. So far, the only summit I identified that did not promise technology transfer and advancement was the Italy-Africa summit.
Still, I do not lay the entire blame on the Koreas and EUs of this world. I also blame African leaders who approach these summits with side agendas that lower the collective bargaining power and facilitate unfair deals that benefit other countries more than they benefit Africa.
Our leaders are determined never to learn.
It is not all gloom and doom, though. We can collectively look forward to two years from now when there is zero tech transfer to show for the summit, but Samsung and Hyundai’s market share has exploded thanks to critical minerals from the continent. Fun times!
P.S. Please keep educating yourself on the AfCFTA and do your part to implement it because as Ngugi wa Thiong’o said,
“The real reckoning of Africa’s colonial past is when African countries can control their resources and make things with their raw materials, then exchange with the west and any other country based on equal give and take.”
Till that happens, all these summits will continue being a zero-sum loss for Africa.
Thank you for reading Africa: Not an Afterthought, where we lead the conversation on how Africa can leverage tech, trade (AfCFTA), regional integration, and PanAfricanism to build a continent that is no longer an afterthought.
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Good insight in our collaboration with developed countries