BCN-11, 12 May vows post-Brexit UK will be leading investor in Africa

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May vows post-Brexit UK will be leading investor in Africa

CAPE TOWN, Aug 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Theresa May on
Tuesday pledged to prioritise investment in Africa as she started a three-
nation visit to the continent to drum up trade deals ahead of leaving the
European Union.

But her diplomatic efforts threatened to be overshadowed by mixed reviews
of her tentative dance moves as she was greeted by singing pupils during a
visit to a Cape Town school.

Her tour of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya — May’s first to Africa since
becoming premier in 2016 — is part of a campaign to promote Britain’s global
ambitions after Brexit.

“By 2022, I want the UK to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa, with
Britain’s private sector companies taking the lead,” May told business
leaders in Cape Town.

The G7 groups major industrialised nations but does not include China,
which is one of the biggest investors in Africa.

“As prime minister of a trading nation whose success depends on global
markets, I want to see strong African economies that British companies can do
business with,” she said.

“I want to create a new partnership between the UK and our friends in
Africa built around shared prosperity.”

May is facing pressure at home from so-called Remainers sceptical of her
ability to forge trade deals once Britain severs ties with the EU, as well as
from Brexiteers fearful she will not deliver a complete break.

On her journey to South Africa, May suggested to travelling British press
that a no-deal Brexit would not be a disaster for Britain and played down
warnings of serious consequences for the UK economy.

– Diplomatic dance –

Former foreign minister Boris Johnson, whose July departure from the
cabinet brought May’s government to the brink, said in his resignation speech
that May’s current Brexit policy would hamper London’s ability to strike
independent trade deals.

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BRITAIN-AFRICA-ECONOMY-SAFRICA 2 LAST CAPE TOWN

But May used her speech to stress that Britain was well-placed and had
many companies ready to invest in Africa.

She announced a new four-billion-pound ($5 billion/4.4 billion euro) Africa
investment programme, though there were no details about the initiative.

May added that Britain would also host an African investment summit next
year and would open new diplomatic missions across the continent.

The prime minister had earlier gamely — if awkwardly — joined in dancing
with pupils at the ID Mkhize Secondary School in the Gugulethu district of
Cape Town, wearing her trademark leopard skin shoes.

May also presented President Cyril Ramaphosa with the bell from the
troopship Mendi, which sank off the British coast in 1917 drowning more than
600 mainly South African troops who were set to join Allied forces fighting
in World War I.

It was the worst maritime disaster in South Africa’s history, and became a
symbol of its Great War sacrifice.

Ramaphosa described the gift of the bell as “like returning their souls
back to the land of their birth.”

– S.Africa urges smooth Brexit –

After talks with May, Ramaphosa welcomed Britain’s role in his efforts to
secure $100 billion of foreign investment to revive South Africa’s sluggish
economy and soaring unemployment.

But he added that he hoped Britain would soon conclude Brexit negotiations
in a manner “that restores stability to economic and financial markets… as
their exit also has an impact on our economy.”

May also headed to Robben Island to visit the cell where former president
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades.

The prime minister will travel to Nigeria on Wednesday for meetings with
President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital Abuja and with victims of modern
slavery in Lagos.

On Thursday she will meet Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, shortly after
his return from seeing US President Donald Trump in Washington.

London and Brussels have yet to reach an agreement on the terms of
Britain’s exit from the EU in March, with both sides now speeding up talks
ahead of the March 29 exit next year.

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