New Development-Model and FDI-Focused Partnerships for Africa to Achieve Fast-Paced Growth

Over the last few decades, seeking to redefine its global partnership, Africa joined new cooperation domains both as a continent and through its states, serving individual states and nations’ economic and political interests alike. A good chunk of critics see the efforts to join the clubs of new regional organizations focusing on economic activities as futile, as living experiences have been evaluated as not impactful. In summary, they argue that African states and the continental umbrella lack key tools to employ to secure the underlying objectives that led to joining the partnerships. The African-US partnership, the African-EU partnership, and the African-Japan partnerships, for example, magnify the pessimism the critics hold. On the other hand, supporters of Africa’s several engagements praise existing endeavors as promising and call for the formulation of new development-led strategic partnerships and the enhancement of engagements to enable Africa to prosper.

In the ensuing paragraphs, the piece highlights the continued significance of the multilateral, bilateral, and targeted engagements that Africa pursues through its membership in regional organizations, including new and growing strategic partners such as BRICS, Russia, Türkiye, various Gulf states, and China, focusing on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

Emphasizing Multilateral Partnerships

As the world grows to expand cooperation among actors of different structures, states, and non-states alike, a crucial language, namely interdependence, captures attention. The rich and strong actors and the poor and weak actors are significantly interdependent on each other. The world spheres of interactions have increasingly been witnessing how strongly interdependent weak and poor actors are within. Interdependence (the economic) continues significantly high, and multilateral partnerships, not colonial era formulations, give life to it.

Within this ever-expanding global context, Africa, as the world’s leading supplier of numerous key raw materials, learns the growing relevance of joining multilateral partnerships, emphasizing more on economic platforms. The new circle of partnerships that Africa has been entering into with Türkiye, Russia, China, and the BRICS marks a significant expansion in engagement, seeking more opportunities to translate developmental ambitions into meaningful change on the ground through investments. This has remained unachievable for decades due to several factors, primarily the systematic disabling engagements of powerful and unfair actors.

The Economic Consequences of Africa in Partnerships

African Trade Report 2024 revealed the buildup in the remarkable shift that Africa observed in its efforts to redefine its strategic partnership in development-led trade. The report highlighted a steady and measurable decline in the share of European (merchandise) trade in Africa between 2014 and 2023 to 28.6 percent from about 48 percent in the 1990s. The decline has been due to the rapid emergence of African export trade with Asian partners, led by India and China. The report shows Asia’s export trade to Africa has risen significantly to 23 percent of the continent’s imports in 2023 from less than 10 percent in the 1990s.

On the other hand, however, Europe, once Africa’s leading partner in export trade in the 1990s, moves to focus on investments. According to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2025 report, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa jumped to 75 percent in 2024, showing a record rise in FDI. And, the World Investment Report shows European countries top Africa’s FDI rank, turning Europe, Africa’s traditional economic partners in export trade, into the largest investment partners with Africa. This encouraging improvement in partnership that changed the approach from export trade to investment is a key indicator that Africa employed in its attempt to cooperate with the new regional and global strategic partners.

FDI as a Leading Agenda in Africa’s Partnerships

Two reasons stand out to push FDI into the increasing strategic partnership Africa has been turning to in redefining its development model engagements globally.

First, for Africa, it guarantees the continent a consolidated aspiration to become a real partner that works more and more to contribute to the world economy and politics alike. FDI means engaging in business whose twin objectives are transactions that ultimately require agents’ involvement and also make profits that will fairly benefit the same involved agents. As such, Africa increasingly shows its immense potential and human capacities to become a relevant hub of business activities with viable returns.     

And, FDI slowly but powerfully enables Africa to decouple the crippling foreign aid that often comes with endless socio-political demands from a work-and-earn environment where productivity flourishes, hope blossoms, and the emigration of Africa’s human capital eventually ceases.

The strategic new partnerships Africa forged with Türkiye, Russia, China, the BRICS, and some GCC countries center on appreciating the importance of addressing Africa’s quest for sustainable development led by FDI. 

Areas of Focus to Push Strategic Partners to İnvest in Africa

As the continent’s expanding pursuit of multilayered strategic partnerships with various state and non-state actors gains momentum, the opportunities for these partnerships to thrive are growing. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the key focus areas for Africa based on reliable data, where business collaborations with Africa yield strong returns for all involved. For this reason, Africa’s FDI-focused partnerships should aim to leverage the continent’s large youth population. Africa is home to the world’s youngest demographic, with a median age of 19 years, compared to 30 for Latin America and the Caribbean, 31 for developing Asia, and 42 for Europe, according to the African Union. Investments in manufacturing, agriculture, and information technology can accelerate Africa’s development, fostering inclusive growth across nations and ensuring sustainable continental progress.

Manufacturing industries rely mainly on the resources Africa has, for generation been exporting with no value added to them. This immense opportunity has been less appreciated and underutilized to help Africa bring global industrial manufacturers to the continent and invest.

Agricultural activities in Africa have consistently attracted business partners. Increasing mass production through stronger partnership engagement has long been the missing strategy. Ironically, the land of natural resources still relies on aid in the form of agricultural imports from donors to feed its population.

The massive inflow Africa has recently been struggling to wisely manage, for the phenomenon by itself is new, remains an area that will sufficiently accommodate Africa’s growing size of information technology-prone young generation. Despite the drawbacks attached to the investment in information technologies in terms of intensive power consumption and environmental pollution, Africa’s continued efforts to keep a balance between generating fairly sufficient energy for investments and protecting the environment with a green legacy are remarkably productive.

References

Africa in the global economy: development challenges and investment opportunities for Europe: https://rdcu.be/eUCUE

Demystifying Africa’s dependence on foreign aid: https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2025/demystifying-africas-dependence-foreign-aid

Africa: Foreign investment hit record high in 2024: https://unctad.org/news/africa-foreign-investment-hit-record-high-2024

Why strong regional value chains will be vital to the next chapter of China and Africa’s economic relationship: https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2024/why-strong-regional-value-chains-will-be-vital-to-the-next-chapter-of-china-and-africas-economic-relationship

Jones, Grace, and Nils Olsen. “The New Influencers: A Primer on the Expanding Role of Middle Powers in Africa.”  Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, August 5, 2024

African Trade Report 2024: https://www.afreximbank.com/reports/african-trade-report-2024/

The potential of manufacturing and industrialization in Africa: Trends, opportunities, and strategies: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-potential-of-manufacturing-and-industrialization-in-africa/