The Togolese Minister for the Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection was a special guest at the ministerial introductory plenary on 17 October 2023 in Paris, as part of the 5th edition of Ambition Africa 2023, Kokou Edem Tengue spoke about some African solutions to global inflation by thinking of co-industrialization, thinking win-win. He also deplored the lack of political leadership on the growth of our continent.
The annual business event between France and Africa called Ambition Africa 2023 in Paris-Bercy, keeps its bet on the 17 and 18 October 2023. And as every year, the panelists were high-level experts. From Thierry Deau (CEO of MERIDIAM), Laurent Saint-Martin (CEO of Business France) to Thomas Samuel (Founder of SUNNA DESIGN) or Aïda Tagmouti (CEO JOBBEE), all took part in several enriching round tables. But more than anything, the intervention of the Togolese Minister of Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection, Kokou Edem Tengue, during the introductory round table related to the theme: “Africa, the continent of growth of the 2nd century”, made a lasting impression.
“Thank you to Ambition Africa 2023, and to the French Ministries of Economy and Finance and Foreign Affairs for this great initiative to support this forum and also for the invitation that was sent to me, through me, to my country Togo”, these were the first words of Kokou Edem Tengue, invited to the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Paris-Bercy, during the 5th edition of Ambition Africa on 17 and 18 October 2023. “I would like to tell you that Africa does not have a card, but trump cards to play in the context of inflation. It is no secret that inflation is due to Covid-19 and the impact it has had on global supply chains. Although some companies, such as shipping companies, have benefited from this impact. I am thinking of MSI, MAERSK and also the French company CMA-CGM. This impact was doubled by the crisis in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine with tensions over food supplies,’ he said.
Right in his boots and under the admiring gaze of Laurent Saint-Martin (DG of Business France), the Togolese Minister of the Maritime Economy insisted that: “Africa has a role to play in global growth because it is a reserve of raw materials. Several African countries are oil exporters and I believe that the impact of energy on inflation is not lost on anyone. As a result, Africa has a card to play.
Africa also has a card to play in the sense that it must integrate itself more into global value chains. In the sense that, unfortunately more than sixty years after independence, economic models in most countries are modeled on our colonial debts, that is to say, export raw materials and import manufactured products. It’s unfortunate that the head of African continental free trade area is not here, but if Africa starts trading with itself, it could also be a solution to the tension we’ve experienced on global value chains.
Africa has several cards to play in this inflationary context and I also think that global economic processes and raw material processing require Africa to appropriate the fact of gaining a little value on the continent before exporting.
Instead of exporting cocoa, we could export chocolate paste even if we do not make chocolate on site. This is the example of my country, Togo, which is a major exporter of phosphate worldwide but is also a major importer of fertilizers, for example. We all know that fertilizer can play a role in agricultural production.
Should we necessarily export the phosphate or start a first process of transformation of this phosphate before exporting it. These are the cards Africa could play when it comes to inflation”.
On political instability linked to various putsch in West Africa and the lack of strong political leadership in the region, the Togolese Minister of Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection said ‘It’s too bad we had these crises, these episodes of instability because we didn’t need them. Even though the growth was slow, it was at least there. Political leadership is very important in terms of economic growth, especially if we look at the different perspectives that have just been mentioned. There will be no economic growth, for example, tomorrow without respect for the environment. That is for political leadership to embody. In Togo, one of the major assets we have is the port of Lomé.
It has become the reference port in the West African sub-region. We are now the largest container port in sub-Saharan Africa, which is important alongside major neighbours like Nigeria. This port also comes with a climate challenge because we have a real problem of coastal erosion. And I would like to commend the action of the French Development Agency which supports us in the framework of the WAKA project.
The role of political leadership is to embody this ecological ambition and translate it into the economy, so that in this area it can have opportunities for companies and in different industrial processes. The second thing is related to the demographic transition. Again, political leadership has to play a role because we have to move towards economic systems that create jobs for all of these young people because it’s a double-edged sword. If this youth is well trained and has access to jobs to fit into global economic value chains, it will allow Africa to draw the demographic dividend.
Today, I regret, our African youth is unfortunately undereducated and does not have access to the basic revenues, the resources needed to lead a dignified human life. If nothing changes, it could turn into a threat and it will be a powder keg. In this regard, the Russian writer Serge Mikhaïlov, already in 2015, spoke of “Africanistan” saying that if this demographic issue is not well treated and well resolved, it could become a threat.
For me, the state must be a strategist to solve this problem. Moreover, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé recently told an economic forum that today it must be the State that creates a general framework (in co-construction with the private sector) to induce the sectors of activity that will allow a real recovery and that allow to solve both issues that I have just mentioned.
Referring to his country’s efforts to combat youth unemployment, Kokou Edem Tengue revealed the initiative taken by his country, Togo, to carry out an on-site transformation of Togolese cotton. An industrial zone has been created, the industrial platform of Adétikopé (PIA) where Togolese cotton is processed to produce clothing. Last week, I had the privilege of attending the first ten exports of containers to the United States. This is the role of the state, a strategic role. Finally, the role of the state is to clean up the macroeconomic framework.
The issue of the debt of African countries must be resolved. The issue of monetary stability also. Our two neighboring giants, Nigeria and Ghana have good economic growth but they have had inflation problems related to Covid-19. As part of the partnership with France, African states must address this issue because ten, fifteen years after the periods of debt overruns with the HIPC initiative, several African countries have returned to very high levels of debt. The HIPC program was good but did not solve the problem of the structure of the economy to avoid generating an accumulation of debt, if there are no opportunities for wealth creation.
To conclude, I propose for the next edition of Ambition Africa to assess the number of African SMEs that have had access to the French market, to the European market, the number of employees or the number of jobs created by these SMEs. This is what will allow a real co-construction between Africa and France”.
Still on the subject of the France-Africa partnership, Kokou Edem Tengue added that “France is a major partner for Africa. Because of our rapidly growing population, Africa plays a major role in economic growth. One in five global consumers will be African in a few years. What I expect from this relationship between France and Africa is a co-construction. A co-construction insofar as France could engage in structuring projects. One of the problems in Africa is that our projects are not well connected. French companies in Africa should play the role of catalyst of this economic free trade.
The subsidiary of a same group could take raw materials in Togo, transform them in Angola. What I would like to wish for is the local content of the projects. A metro project, for example, in transport, requires expertise that we do not have in Africa. But for small tasks, it would be good to use construction companies that also participate in construction. A co-construction to move towards economic growth shared by all”.