African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 979 Opportunities in the West

There are many people who have the same idea as Boors. Among them, Ambassador Lawrence of France wrote in a report to the French government: "We are determined not to allow East Africa and Germany to reach an agreement. We must make sure that the East African government does not stand with Germany no matter what." people’s side, even if they remain neutral.”

Zhang Heng, Ambassador of the Far Eastern Empire, also reported on the East African military parade. He said: "East Africa is a relatively friendly country among the great powers. It has strong military strength, a territory larger than that of the Empire, and a population no less than that of European countries. Here, At this time of crisis for the survival of the empire, it is particularly important for our country to maintain friendly exchanges with East Africa.”

After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Far Eastern Empire encountered more troubles. Although it was much better than the same period in history, the improvement was limited. Therefore, in the international community, the Far Eastern Empire did not have many fair-weather friends, and everyone wanted to come and absorb them. A mouthful of vampires. In this case, the Far Eastern Empire naturally became closer and closer to East Africa in diplomatic relations.

Of course, even if they are so close, it is impossible for East Africa to help the Far Eastern Empire take refuge. After all, it depends on everyone to fall. East Africa’s face can only be a deterrent to some small countries. The Far Eastern Empire can solve such small troubles by itself.

The British Ambassador Wilson did not pay much attention to the situation in East Africa. He said to his subordinates: "British interests have always been in the sea. No matter how powerful the East African army is, as long as they do not expand their navy, there will be no threat. On the contrary, even if East Africa is We will not allow any changes in the navy.”

According to Wilson, it is estimated that there will not be much conflict between Britain and East Africa in the next five years. After all, East Africa has not had the idea of ​​expanding its navy in the past few years, and has no plans to go out to sea to occupy more colonies. In this way, East Africa will also have Basically nothing big happens.

Of course, East Africa will not have to consider what will happen in five years. Ernst will definitely strengthen its maritime power by then, and Britain may not have the energy to find trouble in East Africa.

 …

 After the founding ceremony, the Rhine Empire government continued its work without much impact. In the new century, the East African Government Planning Commission also began the preparation of its first formal national industrial plan.

Sweet: "In the past few years, we have made preliminary attempts. The five-year industrial plan is generally feasible. The industrial growth rate in East Africa has been extremely high in the past five years, and the industrial scale has more than doubled, especially The southeastern coastal areas have been vigorously developed.”

“It has formed a new hotspot for economic development in the south with Beira as its core. This area is already close to more developed industrial areas such as the east and Bohemia (Zimbabwe), so the construction speed is the fastest.”

“The construction of multiple railways has opened up the development of Mozambique. It can be said that Mozambique is an extension of the eastern coastal economic belt and the two industrial provinces of Bohemia and Lorraine in the middle.”

“In Mozambique, the cities of Beira, Tete, Pemba, Nacala, Colimane, Hindé, Maputo, Chaukwe, Inhambane, etc. have all received rapid Development, regardless of population, infrastructure, industry, and agriculture, has achieved leaps and bounds, filling the gap in development between New Hamburg Port City and Mtwara City. "

“In the new five-year plan, which is also the first time our Planning Commission has formally formulated a five-year plan, I decided to focus on the west coast with Angola as the core.”

“Although the development of the west coast was not weak in the past, it did not receive much support compared to Mozambique. We only optimized and partially expanded based on integrating the legacy assets of the Portuguese, and Angola’s location advantage is obviously more important than Mozambique. Therefore, Angola’s development should be taken seriously to make it one of the most economically developed regions in East Africa in the future.”

Sweet's words are obviously very courageous. You must know that in the previous life, due to long-term war, Angola's industries left over from the colonial era were almost completely destroyed, making it one of the countries with the weakest industrial base in the world.

Without the support of oil resources, Angola would have become one of the poorest countries in its previous life, and its economy is estimated to be not much better than Tanzania.

 Hence, East Africa’s goals for Angola are obviously quite high. Of course, Angola’s situation today can be said to be much better than in its previous life, at least the foundation is much better.    In the 1990s of the last century (19th century), East Africa made massive investments in the coastal areas of Angola, including energy, minerals, agriculture, and fisheries as the main contents.

 The East African government’s direct investment in the energy sector includes three refineries, two of which are in Cabinda and one in Luanda. It is worth mentioning that the main raw materials for the current oil industry in both places come from the United States across the ocean.

Although Angola is rich in oil resources, it has not yet been developed and explored. Therefore, in order to lay out the local oil industry in advance, Ernst deliberately positioned Cabinda and Luanda as the oil industry centers in East Africa.

The advantage of this is that when East Africa develops Angolan oil in the future, the local area already has a certain industrial foundation and accumulated considerable experience, so it will not be in a hurry. Secondly, the west coast of East Africa itself is forming a large market, and the demand for oil will sooner or later be in line with the central and eastern regions. So there’s no harm in laying out your plans early.

In the field of minerals, Angola is also rich in resources, especially local diamond minerals, which are the main export minerals. East Africa has integrated mines and workshops from the Portuguese colonial era, making the west coast the diamond processing and sales center of East Africa in the Atlantic region.

In addition, iron, copper, manganese, lead, tin, zinc, tungsten, gold and other resources are also distributed in Angola. However, because East Africa occupied Angola late, the development of these resources still requires survey and analysis.

In terms of agriculture, crops grown in Angola mainly include sugar cane, cotton, peanuts, corn, cassava, rice, wheat, beans, etc. These crops are basically a continuation of Angola’s agriculture under the Portuguese colonial system.

Relying on local agricultural characteristics, East Africa has built a number of sugar mills, oil mills, textile mills, etc. on the west coast.

During the Portuguese colonial period, Angola was the closest source of raw materials to the Portuguese mainland. These agricultural products were basically transported to the Portuguese mainland, processed, and sold with added value.

 After East Africa’s investment in the local area, these agricultural products can complete various processing procedures locally and directly become commodities, and are finally sold to Western Europe, North America and South America through the Atlantic route.

The development of fishery resources ranks at the forefront of East Africa. Of course, due to the influence of the Benguela Cold Current, the best fishing grounds are along the coast of Southwest Province (Namibia), so Walvis Bay Port will most likely become one of the future fishery centers in East Africa, especially After the Walvis Bay Railway was built.

 So the conditions in Angola that East Africa now faces are not too bad. Although it was affected by the South African War in the early days, it has experienced ten years of stability and rapid development.

Of course, the focus of this development includes, in addition to Angola, Southwest Province, Ubangi Province and East and West Azande Provinces (mainly including Angola, Namibia, Congo, and Central Africa), that is, the entire western part of East Africa.

The Southwest Province is subject to terrain and climate factors and does not require much investment, while Ubangi Province is second only to the provinces in Angola. Although it is inland, Ubangi Province borders Belgium, France, and German colonies. This is its location advantage.

However, the most important thing is the development of Angola. The East African government hopes that it can become an economically developed region with competitiveness in the central and eastern parts of the country in a relatively short period of time. After all, the capital of East Africa has been moved to the Rhine City. If the west coast cannot develop, it will not be able to develop. It forms the core economic zone in East Africa that connects the two oceans as envisioned by Ernst.

 (End of this chapter)