Chapter 981 Shortcut
For example, in the Far East Empire, it is difficult for East African goods to enter the commercial scope of Britain and France. After all, Britain, France, and even the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain have been operating in the Far East for much longer than East Africa, and have built a stable network of contacts and many fixed partners.
The success of the Huaihai Economic Zone in East Africa is largely due to the poor local consumption capacity. Not to mention the per capita purchasing power, when East Africa entered the Far East market, the local population was not large due to war and famine.
This is also the reason why East Africa can easily build a northern trade system with Jiaozhou as the center, because other countries do not look down on it. Of course, with more than 30 years of joint efforts by the local and East African countries, the Huaihai Economic Zone is no longer the poorest and most backward area in the Far East.
But this is also what the East African government deserves. After all, East Africa has invested a lot of energy and financial resources in the local area, which enables East Africa to occupy a place in the trade of the Far East Empire and keep pace with the United States, Britain, and France.
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"Western economic development cannot be separated from trade support, and among the countries along the Atlantic coast, there are developed countries such as Britain, the United States, and France, as well as underdeveloped countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Argentina, and backward but equally large countries such as Brazil."
"Among these countries, we should focus on developing low-end industrial products in Spain, Brazil, Argentina and other underdeveloped industrial markets."
Spain is a very important country for East Africa. It is the hub for the west coast of East Africa to enter the Mediterranean. After all, Portugal and Britain (Gibraltar Colony) have poor relations with East Africa.
The Suez Canal in the east is under British control, and there are British colonies near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. In this case, if Britain cuts off the eastern route between East Africa and the Mediterranean, the importance of Spain will be further enhanced.
Of course, this possibility is almost zero, unless Britain is determined to lose its global hegemony and East Africa will suffer losses.
But as long as there is a possibility, the East African government must take this into consideration, so Spain has always been a key target for East Africa, and its geographical location is related to the strategic security of East African commercial trade.
At the same time, Spain's economic development level is relatively poor compared to other European countries, especially in the industrial field. It and Portugal have missed opportunities due to historical reasons, which also means that East Africa can have more opportunities.
Similarly, the birth of East Africa is also a new choice for Spain. After all, Spain has competition and cooperation with countries such as Britain and France in the region. After the Spanish-American War, Spain's relations with the United States have deteriorated. In this case, it is beneficial for East Africa to replace the interests of the United States in Spain.
Argentina is a high-quality market. Relying on various advantages, the purchasing power of Argentines ranks first among South American countries, even exceeding the average level of Europe and the United States. What's more, Argentina's domestic industry is very backward, and many industrial products cannot be self-sufficient.
So Argentina in the early 20th century was like the oil-rich countries in the Middle East in the past. It is impossible for East Africa not to pay attention to such a high-quality trading partner. Moreover, Argentina is located on the South Atlantic route, and the transportation between East Africa and Argentina is also relatively convenient.
Needless to say, Brazil is a mess now, and East Africa does not expect to make a lot of money from Brazil. Brazil's positioning in East Africa is that the supply of raw materials is greater than its existing market.
Before the mining industry in West Africa was developed, Brazil was the only external country that could provide a large amount of relatively cheap raw materials to the west coast of East Africa.
"The United States and Western Europe are the main destinations for agriculture in western my country. The Mediterranean is divided into two parts by the Strait of Tunisia. This is an important geographical dividing line for trade between the east and west coasts of my country and Europe."
The Eastern Mediterranean is to the east of the Strait of Tunisia, and the Western Mediterranean is to the west. In the past trade between East Africa and Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East were the most important markets for East Africa in the world.
After the economic development of the west coast, it will be beneficial for East Africa to develop trade with Western Europe and Northern Europe through the Atlantic route.
The most important thing is that this trade route will hardly be threatened. There is no terrain that is easily clamped, such as the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Strait of Malacca.
For example, the trade between East Africa and France in the past was basically achieved through the Red Sea route. Now, from the west coast of East Africa to France, it only needs to pass through the Atlantic Ocean.
The same is true for Nordic countries. In the past, East Africa's maritime trade with Nordic countries needed to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Tunisia, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the English Channel. Now it can be done through the Atlantic route through the English Channel.
In short, the west coast of East Africa, especially the coast of Angola, has opened up the Ren and Du meridians of East Africa's maritime trade, which is of strategic significance to the national economy of East Africa, especially the industry.
The areas that East Africa's commercial trade can radiate basically cover most areas in the world, and the obstacles to direct trade with the rest of the world have been greatly reduced.
Now the only channel that can block East Africa's maritime trade with the world's major economic regions is the Strait of Malacca, but East Africa can also bypass the Strait of Malacca. After all, the main body of East Africa is in the southern hemisphere, and the Strait of Malacca is not as important as the trade between the European continent compared to the location of East Africa.
East Africa can go directly through the East Indies, and then go north to the Australian route. In the British colonial system, Australia does not have the ability to blockade the waterway like India. At least it cannot blockade a big country like East Africa. Not to mention blocking East Africa, East Africa may take the opportunity to get the British out of Australia forever.
The East Indies are mainly controlled by the Dutch, and they can't do such a thankless task.
Siwei Te went on to say: "If the Atlantic Economic Zone can reach half the size of the Indian Ocean Economic Zone, the data that can be improved for our national economic scale will be very considerable, and it will grow into a new pillar of economic growth in East Africa."
The Indian Ocean Economic Zone mainly covers East Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, accounting for more than 80% of East Africa's foreign trade.
In addition to East Africa, the Atlantic Economic Zone can also connect with West Africa, Europe, South America and North America, and its importance is no less than that of the Indian Ocean Economic Zone.
Its only drawback is that it has fewer available ports and coastlines than the east. However, according to the economic zone it connects to, if the west coast of East Africa can be developed, without affecting the foreign trade of the east, the foreign trade of East Africa should be able to increase by at least 30%.
This is too attractive to East Africa, which is also the fundamental reason why East Africa wants to obtain the Angola region at all costs.
The advantage of the two-ocean countries is reflected in this point. For example, the United States mainly connects its trade with Europe in the Atlantic and with the Far East in the Pacific. The same is true for East Africa.
Therefore, building the industry and economy of the west coast is the easiest to achieve results and has the highest success rate. At the same time, it plays an important role in the trade security of East Africa. The west coast relies on the raw materials and market development of the Atlantic coastal countries. This is a shortcut to improve the industrialization of East Africa in a short period of time.