Chapter 707 Trade and Market
"Ambassador Alande, we need railways and telegraphs, but we also need military equipment to resist invaders. Otherwise, even national security cannot be guaranteed, and we have no intention of building our own country," said Johannes IV.
Alande: "I am also aware of your Majesty's concerns. We in East Africa will make some preparations to ensure your country's security!"
How to ensure the security of the Abyssinian Empire is naturally to resolve the current military conflict between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire.
Therefore, Alande's promise is very important to the Abyssinian Empire. After all, the Abyssinian Empire alone would certainly not be able to reach a consensus with Italy.
Of course, the courtesy given to the Abyssinian Empire was related to the importance of the Abyssinian Empire to East Africa. The Abyssinian Empire was the only country with a population of tens of millions whose trade was monopolized by East Africa.
Although the Far East Empire market is huge, East Africa's imagination in the Far East is very limited. Even the Huaihai Economic Zone market is shared with Germany, Austria and other countries.
Although trade in the German region is prosperous, East Africa's industrial products cannot compete with similar German counterparts, and are instead exported to East Africa, which is not friendly to East Africa's industrial exports.
In 1887, East African trade suffered a great setback, especially industrial products, which went from growth to stagnation, which was a great obstacle to the industrial development of East Africa.
The second is the Middle East. Currently, the core areas of the Middle East are basically under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and East Africa can only compete with it through Oman.
Therefore, judging from the current situation of several major markets, the importance of the Abyssinian Empire to East Africa is self-evident.
Therefore, supporting the Abyssinian Empire is an important strategy for the current industrial development in East Africa. The first thing is to build the road. Otherwise, the southern trade of the Abyssinian Empire will never replace the Red Sea trade and become the mainstream trade route of the Abyssinian Empire.
The reason why the Abyssinian Empire is now the largest importer and exporter in East Africa is that the Italians have blocked the Red Sea, but wars and hostilities cannot remain unchanged.
If Italy and the Abyssinian Empire reached a compromise and the Abyssinian Empire could reuse the Red Sea route, East African trade would soon be hampered. After all, the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau is mountainous and its natural location is not as good as the Red Sea region.
Therefore, the goal of East Africa now is to solve the transportation problem between the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa, and further expand trade volume, especially industrial exports, to support the development of East African industry.
…
East Africa, the first town.
Von der Leyen: "In the past decade, our export trade has been subject to fierce competition from various countries, especially the Southeast Asian market. The colonial expansion of Britain and France in this region has greatly compressed East Africa's exports in the region. Countries like Myanmar, Cambodia, Annan, and even Thailand have been affected to a certain extent."
“In Africa, our trade has also been affected to a certain extent after the division of spheres of influence in West Africa.”
"If it weren't for the continued growth of the Huaihai Economic Zone, this year's industrial product exports would likely enter negative growth, so exploring new markets is an urgent issue for East Africa."
"We can compete with European and American countries in the power and automobile industries, and we are in an advantageous position, but the markets for both are narrow, and it is difficult to promote them on a large scale even in China. The main market for traditional industrial products is the Abyssinian Empire in the north, so we must further improve our relationship with the Abyssinian Empire."
The above is the impact of the world situation on East African trade. The great powers divided colonies all over the world, which squeezed the living space of East African industrial products. Only trade with the Abyssinian Empire and the Far East Empire was not greatly affected.
So von der Leyen went on to say: "We now have three directions to fight for. Among them, the Abyssinian Empire must be guaranteed to exist, so coordinating its relationship with Italy is what we should do. The most important thing is to stop the war between the two."
Of course, East Africa was not about ending the hostility between the Abyssinian Empire and Italy, but merely about a ceasefire. After all, if Italy really swallowed up the Abyssinian Empire, East Africa's international trade would be greatly affected.
Therefore, it is important to maintain a balance between the two. Anyway, Italy has not made any progress against the Abyssinian Empire. Instead, it has promoted the unity within the Abyssinian Empire under the leadership of John IV. Therefore, there is no need to continue the war between the two countries.
"The second is the Far Eastern Empire. It is very important to continue to maintain friendly relations between the two countries, and we must provide them with more military assistance, especially in the navy. Some of our ships are facing the problem of replacement, and the Far Eastern Empire is facing the threat of the Japanese puppet government supported by the United Kingdom. At the same time, ensuring the autonomy of the Far Eastern Empire government can also make the Far Eastern Empire favor us in the trade between the two countries."
"Finally, there is South America. We lack innate conditions along the Atlantic coast, but we cannot ignore the size of South American countries, especially those in eastern South America."
"South America is a huge market with tens of millions of people and a certain degree of autonomy, especially Argentina and Brazil, so the Atlantic route must be activated. The important measures to open up trade with South America should be divided into three points."
"Southwest Africa has our only three ports on the Atlantic coast. Oranjemund, the southernmost port, can be left out for now because it cannot connect to the production bases and markets in the central and eastern parts of the country. Swakopmund is a military port, so foreign trade cannot go through Swakopmund. In this case, Walvis Bay is the only option."
"In addition to these three major breakthroughs, we must also maintain trade with Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Arab region. Industry and agriculture should be viewed separately. These three regions are the main consumer markets for East African agriculture. Agriculture is still the main pillar of our country's foreign economy."
Ernst: “That’s right. So if we want to achieve a major breakthrough in foreign industrial commodity trade, there are currently two main directions: one is to open up new markets, and the other is industrial upgrading.
In the field of emerging industries, we are not far behind other countries, and we are even in the forefront. Therefore, we need to expand this advantage, especially in new industries such as electricity and automobile industries, continue to increase layout, and establish relevant R&D institutions and universities to promote development, provide stamina for subsequent development, and get rid of dependence on the German region. "
Improving industrial production capacity and reducing costs are important means to improve the competitiveness of East African industrial products and expand the market.
Of course, the current mainstream practice in Europe and the United States is to seize colonies and forcibly open up commodity markets. In addition to providing markets for their own industries and commerce, they can also "keep out" competitors.
Isn't this just another form of closing the country to the outside world? Therefore, there is nothing wrong with East Africa's national policy. The domestic market is the lifeblood of East Africa, and the requirement for ensuring the stability of the domestic market is to ensure the stability of social order.
This is also the biggest challenge that East Africa has to deal with, so East Africa cannot start a war lightly and must ensure that major economic areas are not affected.
Of course, war cannot be started lightly. It is not that East Africa does not want to go to war, but that it must be fully prepared before launching a war in southern Africa. East Africa's desire for war is no weaker than that of the Transvaal people, the British and the Portuguese in the south.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
