UK looks to fast-growing Africa for trade ties after Brexit

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson t outed the U.K. as an ideal business partner for Africa on Monday as the U.K. prepares for post-Brexit dealings with the world.

But Britain faces tough challenges as it seeks to assert itself on a continent with several of the world’s fastest-growing economies and whose youthful 1.2 billion population is set to double by 2050, the challenges are stark.

Far fewer of Africa’s 54 heads of state or government are attending the first U.K.-Africa Investment Summit than the dozens who attended the first Russia-Africa summit last year or the gatherings China regularly holds.

The U.K.'s department for international trade says two-way trade with Africa in the year ending in the second quarter of 2019 was $46 billion. Meanwhile, Africa’s two-way trade with China, the continent’s top trading partner, was $208 billion in 2019.

Johnson told delegates at the conference it was “an event that is long overdue.”

He acknowledged that British officials and companies needed to work to convince African nations to do business with the U.K.

“We have no divine right to that business," he said. "This is a competitive world. You have may suitors" — especially China and Russia.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, and Johnson said the U.K. would become a free-trading “global Britain after Brexit.”

He pledged that the post-Brexit immigration system would "put people before passports," acknowledging a common frustration across Africa.

While other global powers including Gulf nations and India have been increasing their diplomatic and economic presence in Africa, some observers have wondered about the U.K.’s interest.

When Theresa May visited Kenya in 2018, even Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta noted it was...