China, India outpace Europe in Africa trade
29 Sep 2007
Mumbai: Emerging Asian economic powers China and India have pushed Europe behind in the race to snap up trade and investment deals in resource-rich Africa, Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade said.
While western investors and institutions like the World Bank tend to delay investment decisions, China and India, hungry for raw materials to fuel their fast-growing economies, take trade and investment decisions much quicker, Wade said.
He was addressing students at the John F Kennedy School of Government in Boston on 27 September.
Traditionally
a staunch ally of the West, former French colony Senegal has been awarding investment
contracts to Middle Eastern, Asian and even African firms - often at the expense
of its traditional trade partner France.
