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British PM wraps up Africa tour with post-Brexit trade promises
NAIROBI, Aug 31, 2018 (bss/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May ended
a three-nation tour of Africa in Kenya on Thursday, promising post-Brexit
trade continuity and hoping to strengthen ties before quitting the European
Union.
May’s first Africa visit is part of a campaign to promote Britain’s global
ambitions and relations with just seven months left until Britain formally
leaves the world’s biggest trading bloc.
After meeting with May, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he felt
reassured, amid the uncertainty brought on by Britain’s decision to quit the
EU next year.
“I don’t see Brexit as meaning anything detrimental towards the strong
trade ties we have,” Kenyatta said.
Both leaders referenced the historically close ties between Britain and
its former colony.
However May is the first British prime minister to travel to Kenya for 30
years and, at one point, Kenyatta struggled to remember the surname of former
foreign minister Boris Johnson, who visited last year, eventually referring
to him as “the bicycle guy”.
“We wish to prosper together so let us do business together. We have
democracy in common so let us defend it together,” said Kenyatta. “And as for
our common enemies, such as terrorism, let us fight it together.”
In Kenya, as in South Africa and Nigeria earlier this week, May was eager
to ease worries and emphasise opportunities as Britain leaves the EU.
“As Britain prepares to leave the European Union we are committed to a
smooth transition that ensures continuity in our trading relationship with
Kenya, ensuring Kenya retains its duty-free, quota-free access to the UK
market,” she said.
“Continuity is what’s important, to business, to traders: no cliff-edge,
no sudden disruption to trading relationships,” May added.
The leaders agreed to strengthen security cooperation — with British
soldiers regularly training in Kenya — and to ensure that proceeds of Kenyan
corruption stashed in British banks would be repatriated to Kenya.
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“We signed an agreement to ensure that any proceeds of corruption in Kenya
that end up in the UK will be given back to the Kenyan people and spent for
their benefit,” May said.
She added that cooperation on anti-terrorism and law enforcement was not
one way. “Already British terrorists and child abusers are in UK jails
because of our cooperation,” she said.
“Our co-operation today makes our people safer, more prosperous and more
secure — here in Kenya, and in the UK,” she said.
– Stagnating trade –
In Nigeria on Wednesday, May met with President Muhammadu Buhari and
oversaw the signing of a security partnership agreement and establishment of
an economic development forum.
She also held talks on stemming the migrant flow to Europe from Nigeria,
Africa’s most populous country.
On Tuesday, May kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town, South
Africa, pledging to prioritise investment in Africa — although it was her
diffident dance moves rather than diplomacy that captured the headlines.
May declared her ambition for Britain to become the G7’s biggest investor
in Africa by 2022 and announced a new four-billion-pound ($5.1 billion, 4.4
billion euro) investment programme.
Britain remains Kenya’s biggest trading partner but the relationship has
stagnated in recent years with Kenyan exports growing only marginally and
British exports to Kenya falling.
May’s visit comes as Kenyatta returns from meeting with President Donald
Trump in Washington and before all three of the heads of state she met travel
to Beijing to participate in a China-Africa summit.
As the US and European nations have neglected the continent, African
leaders have increasingly turned to China for no-strings-attached loans to
fund large infrastructure projects and opened their markets to cheap Chinese
goods.
“There has been a comparative decline in the UK’s visibility in many parts
of the continent over the last decade, just as many other states, including
France, Turkey, China and Japan, have been upgrading their Africa
engagement,” wrote the London-based Chatham House thinktank.
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