Connecting Africa To The Global Economy Is Paramount To Strengthening International Trade

By David Eurin
July 30, 2021

Connecting Africa to the rest of the world and unleashing its workforce potential may just be the key to catapulting international trade and markets to a whole new level. This developing continent has the largest population of young people in the world – around 200 million aged between 15 and 24. These innovative young minds are eager for a seat at the global economic table, but how do we get them there?

Africa (as a whole) desperately needs to leapfrog into the digital future and catch up with the rest of the world. The continent is in need of world-class broadband infrastructure and connectivity to the global economy. The sooner the better as each country in Africa is developing digital skills (albeit at different rates) to offer the world.

Trade with Africa

To give you an idea of how successful trade with Africa is, according to the UN, China is Africa’s largest trading partner and in the year 2000, trade totalled US$10.5 billion. It grew exponentially from there and in 2005 it stood at US$40 billion. Six years later in 2011 this ballooned to US$166 billion. And by 2019, before the pandemic hit the global economy, China-Africa trade hit a peak of US$192 billion. This is a phenomenal growth and speaks volumes about the potential of this continent.

Regardless of the current circumstance, the exponential growth potential is still palpable. So, the time to invest is now. Given the economic impact of Covid-19, it is the ideal time to harness Africa’s potential and mobilise its innovative young workforce. More developed countries should leverage off Africa through innovation.

We are connecting Africa

Liquid Intelligent Technologies recognises Africa’s potential and connects it to the global economy. We created different fibre routes to transport data across the length and breadth of the continent and provided access to submarine cables. Guided by our vision we built Africa’s largest independent fibre network, and with the East to West fibre connection, the routes are the most direct digital corridors across the southern hemisphere. These routes have set a new benchmark helping the organisation achieve historic milestones in its journey to create a more connected Africa.

The East-West fibre connectivity corridors offer a low latency path to connect Asia, Africa and the US as an alternative to busier routes via the Middle East. Our growth is a direct result of the increasing demand for infrastructure to support broadband internet on the African continent. Now more than ever before, local business needs reliable and extensive connectivity to ensure effective digital transformation.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 119 of the SubTel Forum Magazine on page 58 or on our archive site here.