African trade f lows are heading south, according to a report by the United National Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA). Speaking at the opening of the ninth Africa Development Forum hosted in Morocco in October, Inyang Ebong- Harstrup, deputy director of UN Office for South-South Cooperation, said: “I believe there is a deep sense that south-south should be the foundation for Africa.” One of the themes at the 2014 African Development Forum was new forms of partnership. Global economic trends ref lect the ongoing geopolitical and economic rebalancing in favour of developing and emerging economies, particularly Brazil, China and India, all of which call for stronger South-South partnerships, according to the UN ECA. An ECA report reveals that Africa’s imports from developing countries have increased from 26-43% over 15 years, and exports from 33-50% of the total. In 2011 African trade with the BRICS countries (a combined 24% of total) overtook the United States (17%) as Africa’s secondbiggest trading partner after the European Union, according to ECA figures. BRICS-Africa trade grew by 70% between 2008 and 2013, according to Standard Bank’s Simon Freemantle. While African export growth to BRICS countries slowed in 2013, Standard Bank calculated that African imports from China and India each lifted by around 10% in 2013. “Clearly, robust demand from fast-growing African economies is wedded to industrial output from the BRICS,” said Freemantle in a report written earlier this year. INSERT 70% The growth in BRICS-Africa trade between 2008 and 2013
