Africa Programme Transcript

Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

Speaker: James Duddridge MP

UK Minister for Africa

Chair: Alex Vines OBE

Research Director, Area Studies and International Law; Head, Africa Programme, Chatham House

15 September 2014

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2 Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

James Duddridge MP

Africa has long been a special place to me. About 20 years ago I arrived in Swaziland where I met my wife, and we’ve travelled around Africa extensively since then. Over the years I have worked as a banker in Swaziland, Cote d’Ivoire, and Botswana. I have also chaired the UK Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Africa, which has been very influential to me over the last few years.

I was delighted when the prime minister appointed me as minister for Africa. It is a vast and challenging portfolio, which mirrors the vast challenges and opportunities to the continent more generally. I want to focus today around two questions: why is the UK so engaged in Africa, and what do we want to achieve there?

Firstly – what drives our engagement? As you already know, the UK has great historic links with Africa. But it is part of our present as well as our past. We have a large African diaspora across the UK. Hundreds of thousands of British nationals visit Africa every year, and many thousands more live there.

Today, Africa’s story is increasingly one of opportunity. Sub- Saharan Africa has a population of a billion people. Africa has six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world - and forecast to outpace the world economy by almost 2 per cent a year to the end of the decade. Its population is young - and growing. It has access to vast resources – Nigeria is the 12th largest oil producer in the world and has the continent’s largest gas reserves. There remains huge potential across Africa. So it is in all our interests to foster its long-term, sustainable growth.

To achieve it, though, you need peace and security. Around 70 per cent of UN Security Council business is on Africa - and as a P5 member, the UK has a central role. Security also requires what Prime Minister David Cameron calls the ‘Golden Thread’, of open societies and open economies, the rule of law, transparency, free markets, a vibrant private sector, stable government, free media, fair elections, an effective civil society, and the ability of African citizens to hold their governments to account. Tackling both conflict and poverty helps Africans live more secure and prosperous lives – and reduces threats to the UK.

Finally, the UK’s core values drive us to be active in Africa - whether promoting human rights, or preventing sexual violence in conflict. No other continent has such a range of opportunities and challenges. So, it is clear that Africa must be at the heart of British foreign policy.

Our primary aims for Africa are peace, prosperity and partnership. Let me take each in turn.

Partnership with African countries is happening across the board already. One in four of the world’s countries are in Africa. Three African countries, Chad, Nigeria, and Rwanda, currently sit on the Security Council. 18 African countries are Commonwealth members. These are crucial and complicated alliances in a turbulent world and these alliances help us build peace and prosperity for all.

We need a genuine partnership with Africa. Under this government, we have opened six new embassies or high commissions in Africa. We have increased our political and commercial resources across Africa. We have accelerated our engagement with the African Union. We have re-energised the UK’s relationship with the Commonwealth, of which 18 African countries are members. We work closely with those African countries on the Security Council, not just on African issues, but on a range of global challenges. 3 Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

Our partnership is about prosperity and investment, about security and peace, about building the linkages between the UK and Africa to ensure both Brits and Africans can seize the opportunities that the 21st century presents.

However, partnership with Africa is also about values and how to pursue them. We do not seek to impose a model, or claim we always know best. Societies evolve at a pace only they can set. But we should, and do, stand up for certain universal values to which African, European and other countries have signed up to, and promote them when we feel they are under threat. Like everywhere else, we believe Africa will prosper when the rights of all are respected. That is why we will continue to work with governments, businesses and civil society on human rights and the rule of law.

We will stand up for equal rights for all; challenge the death penalty; and forcefully condemn mistreatment, torture, and the abuse of rights. Africans would not forgive us if we chose to ignore such universal values. It should be recognised that these are not African issues- they are global issues.

There are strong partnerships with Africa to help us achieve our objectives on prosperity, peace and security. Our aim on peace and security is to protect citizens in the UK, as well as Africa, by preventing, managing and resolving conflict, and combating threats like terrorism and piracy. I will give some examples, which show just how crucial international partnerships are.

Two weeks ago, I made my first overseas trip as a minister to Nigeria, for a multi-national summit on Boko Haram. The immediate focus is on strengthening efforts to bring stability and security to the region and preventing more incidents like the Chibok abductions. We have dramatically increased UK developmental, military, and intelligence capability to Nigeria to tackle the security threats in the northeast.

However, there must also be a holistic approach to the northeast. An effective humanitarian response, economic development and political initiatives – these are all crucial parts of the jigsaw. Nigeria must lead on delivering these, and I stressed that to the Nigerian government. But international support will be key if we are to tackle the issue of Boko Haram, not just for Nigeria but for the African Union.

Resolving conflicts, such as those in Somalia and South Sudan, is also a priority. We hosted international conferences in 2012 and 2013 to help Somalia rebuild its institutions and public financial management systems. And this week I will meet the Somali prime minister ahead of an international event we are jointly hosting in London to support development of the Somali National Army, which is critical for Somalia’s long-term stability.

In South Sudan, the UK helped secure the EU sanctions regime announced in July. We are using our diplomatic might to ensure the issues South Sudan is facing are brought to the fore so that there is a lasting settlement to what is an utterly unacceptable and entirely man-made conflict.

But, progress in resolving conflict is fragile and easily reversible. Her Majesty’s government’s engagement, whether bilaterally, regionally, or through our leadership of the UN and European Union, is long-term and designed not just to promote immediate peace but also to get lasting solutions to, and prevention of, conflict.

International co-ordination is increasingly important to alleviate the humanitarian crises that the conflicts bring. The UK is the second largest donor to the relief effort in South Sudan, allocating £125m for refugees from the conflict there and in the wider region. 4 Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

Our support has provided food assistance to 160,000 South Sudanese and clean water to even more. But the needs are still huge and the humanitarian appeal is only half funded. So I will press my international colleagues to increase their commitments at the UN general assembly next week, as will the prime minister in bilateral meetings.

Across the border in Sudan, the UN estimates that there are now 7 million people- 20 per cent of Sudan’s population- in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 400,000 people have been displaced this year in Darfur alone. We continuously lobby all parties to the conflict to respect international law, to enable a neutral and impartial humanitarian response and allow access to those in greatest need.

Of course, I cannot talk about humanitarian crises in Africa without mentioning Ebola. The UK is supporting our friends in West African countries by providing £25 million for frontline treatment, funding to develop a vaccine and to support a 62-bed medical facility in Sierra Leone. But again, fighting the disease needs international support and coordination.

Another key ingredient needed for peace and security is human rights. Indeed, upholding our values and supporting human rights forms a central part of our engagement with the government of Sudan. We speak out on issues and cases of concern, such as when we led the campaign to free Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to death for apostasy.

Across Africa, UK funds and lobbying by HMG officials and ministers are designed to protect fundamental rights, and cement institutions that will allow Africans to hold their governments to account and drive forward service delivery. As a politician myself, I can say there is no voice stronger than an angry voter!

Our work with international partners to build Africa’s peace and security is also vital because it underpins our aims for Africa- its development into an attractive economic and investment partner. The Foreign Office is working with the Department for International Development and UK Trade and Investment to build the conditions for sustainable growth that both benefits all in Africa and helps British business.

HMG is developing new ways to help businesses of all sizes grow. In Tanzania – whose high commissioner I met this afternoon – UK funds are being co-investing in four business projects, including new tea and rice estates, with clear development outcomes for Tanzanians. This new way of using the development budget provides returnable loans and equity, rather than traditional aid grants. Then, if these businesses make a profit, the money is returned and redeployed.

HMG is also helping to create better business environments, working with governments and the private sector across the continent to remove barriers that stand in the way of businesses being able to trade freely, invest responsibly and create jobs, to help governments make the environment fairer and more transparent. For example, it is supporting the removal of trade barriers through programmes like TradeMark East Africa, which aims to increase exports from the region by 10 per cent and reduce transport costs and time by 15 per cent by 2017.

To help governments make the environment for business simpler, fairer and more transparent, HMG has supported initiatives like one in Burkina Faso, which reduced the time it takes to register a company from 18 days to just three. 5 Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

Recently, the lord mayor of London has been to Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya to encourage improved public private partnerships to drive development of infrastructure in which all three government departments were involved.

In East Africa too, recent discoveries of oil and gas mean the opportunities in the energy sector over the coming years are enormous. I am leading a government team looking specifically at this. We are already supporting efforts to strengthen local workforces, bringing increased employment opportunities and tax revenues. A key priority for me will be driving the tax base up in Africa, so that the continent is more resilient to conflict, more likely to remain in peace and more likely to be prosperous. It also offers a huge opportunity for UK skills providers to bring their experience across the board in business and particularly from the North Sea oil industry.

To support more British businesses in seizing Africa’s opportunities, we have enhanced our network on the ground. Together, the Department for International Development, the Foreign Office, and UK Trade and Investment provide a coordinated, seamless service to companies operating in African markets, as well as advancing economic development and prosperity for all in Africa. I have made it an early priority of mine to ensure that Her Majesty’s government works seamlessly together in promoting prosperity in Africa.

For example, we added 20 Foreign and Commonwealth Office prosperity officers to complement the work of our fourteen UK Trade and Investment offices. They support development of the business environment, encourage a level playing field, and give quality local advice and support to British companies like UK Trade and Investment’s export finance programme, which offers guaranteed government loans to help businesses get exporting.

The prime minister also personally appointed a number of MPs and peers as trade envoys covering seven African countries. They raise the profile of British business in high growth markets, markets with potential, or those with barriers to trade. UK Trade and Investment hold regular trade missions across Africa, with four oil and gas-themed missions to East Africa and Mozambique this year alone. Lord Marland’s largest ever UK trade mission to Angola last year secured several business partnerships, including with Travelex and the Angolan Central Bank.

Looking ahead, we are establishing more British Chambers of Commerce in places like Kenya and Tanzania this year. We are also piloting our Overseas Business Network in Nigeria and South Africa – where I was last week, as part of a three person VIP visiting team - with the aim of forming a business to business support network providing a package of practical support and advice along with the teams in our overseas posts.

One of the most innovative ways we are supporting business is by working in partnership with a number of African countries through the five High Level Prosperity Partnerships (HLPP), launched last year. These partnerships currently exist with Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania, who were chosen due to their economic potential and opportunities for business. This is a new initiative that we are keen to expand to all African countries in the future.

Jointly with my colleagues in UK Trade and Investment and the Department for International Development, our partnerships with these countries are both at ministerial level and with businesses. Together, we are building ambitious frameworks to develop and capitalise growth across a range of key 6 Values and Commerce: The UK's Political and Economic Engagement in Africa

economic sectors including education, agriculture, infrastructure, and extractives, and we are keen to work on local agendas to see what individual companies and countries require.

The British government is committed to Africa. It is in our national interest to help it tackle conflict and poverty. And it is in our economic interest to support increased investment and business, especially by British firms, in Africa.

But to achieve our aims, the word ‘partnership’ is key. That is why the British government works as one team and fosters genuine working partnerships with African nations, international partners, business and civil society. I encourage all of you to see the British government as your partner in Africa. I and my officials welcome the expertise and insights that you can offer. Together, we can all help support the exciting rise of this vibrant continent.