African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 720 - 24 Trade and Markets

"Ambassador Aland, both railways and telegraphs are what we need, but we also need military equipment to resist invaders, otherwise we cannot even guarantee national security, and we have no intention to build our own country." John IV said.

Aland: "I understand Your Majesty's concerns. Our East Africa will make some preparations to ensure your country's security!"

How to ensure the safety of the Abyssinian Empire? That naturally involves resolving the current military conflict between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire.

Therefore, Aland's promise is very important to the Abyssinian Empire, as the Abyssinian Empire alone definitely cannot reach a consensus with Italy.

Of course, extending such treatment to the Abyssinian Empire is related to the importance of the Abyssinian Empire to East Africa. The Abyssinian Empire is the only large country with a population in the tens of millions whose trade is monopolized by East Africa.

Although the Far East market is large, East Africa's potential in the Far East region is quite limited, and even the Huaihai economic zone market is shared with Germany, Austria, and other countries.

German regions, while prosperous in trade, cannot compete with domestic German counterparts in industrial products and end up exporting to East Africa, which is not favorable for East Africa's industrial goods export.

In 1887, East African trade suffered a major setback, especially with industrial products changing from growth to stagnation, which is a huge obstacle for East African industrial development.

Secondly, the essential areas of the Middle East are currently under Ottoman control, and East Africa can only compete with Oman.

Therefore, looking at the current situation of several major markets, the importance of the Abyssinian Empire to East Africa is self-evident.

Supporting the Abyssinian Empire is currently a vital strategy for East African industrial development. First of all, roads must be built; otherwise, southern Abyssinian trade will never replace Red Sea trade as the main trade route of the Abyssinian Empire.

The reason why the Abyssinian Empire has become East Africa's largest import and export country is that the Italians have blocked the Red Sea, but wars and hostile actions can never be unchanging.

If Italy and the Abyssinian Empire were to reach a compromise, allowing the Abyssinian Empire to reuse the Red Sea route, East African trade would quickly suffer, as the southern Ethiopian highlands are mountainous and naturally less advantageous than the Red Sea region.

So the current goal of East Africa is to solve the transportation issue between the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa, to further expand trade volume, especially industrial exports, to support the development of East African industries.

... 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

East Africa, First Town.

Von der Leyen: "Over the past decade, our export trade has faced fierce competition from various countries, especially in the Southeast Asian market. The colonial expansion of Britain and France in this area has greatly squeezed East Africa's export volume in the region, affecting Myanmar, Cambodia, An Nan, and even Thailand to some extent."

"In Africa, our trade has also been somewhat affected since spheres of influence were delineated in West Africa."

"If it weren't for the continuous growth of the Huaihai economic zone, this year's export of industrial products might have entered negative growth, so developing new markets is an urgent issue for East Africa to address."

"In the fields of electricity and the automotive industry, we can compete with European and American countries and even have an advantageous position, but the markets for both are narrow, and it's challenging to promote them on a large scale domestically. Instead, the main market for traditional industrial products is the northern Abyssinian Empire, so we must further bolster relations with the Abyssinian Empire."

This outlines how East African trade is currently influenced by the global situation. The world's major powers are carving up colonies, compressing the space for East African industrial products. Only trades with the Abyssinian Empire and the Far East Empire remain largely unaffected.

So Von der Leyen continued: "We currently have three directions to strive for, with ensuring the Abyssinian Empire's existence as a certainty, so mediating its relations with Italy is something we should do, most importantly stopping their war."

Of course, East Africa isn't suggesting that the Abyssinian Empire should cease its animosity with Italy, only to have a ceasefire. If Italy were to truly swallow the Abyssinian Empire, East Africa's international trade would be greatly affected.

Thus, maintaining the balance between the two is crucial. In any case, Italy has made no progress with the Abyssinian Empire, and instead, it has promoted unity within the Abyssinian Empire under John IV's leadership, so continuing the war between the two nations is completely unnecessary.

"Secondly, maintaining a friendly relationship with the Far East Empire remains very important, and we need to give it more military assistance, especially in the navy. Some of our ships face the issue of replacement, while the Far East Empire is threatened by a Japan puppet government supported by Britain. Ensuring the autonomy of the Far East Empire's government will also make it lean more towards us in bilateral trade."

"Finally, there's the direction towards South America. We have insufficient natural conditions on the Atlantic coast, but we cannot ignore the scale of South American countries, especially in the eastern part of South America."

"South America is a market in the tens of millions and has a certain degree of autonomy, especially Argentina and Brazil, so the Atlantic routes must be activated. Measures to develop trade with South America should be viewed in three parts."

"Southwest Africa has our only three ports on the Atlantic coast, with the southernmost Orange Monde being inconsequential for now, as it cannot connect to the central and eastern production bases and markets. Swakopmund is a military port, so external trade cannot go through Swakopmund, leaving Whale Bay Port as the only option."

"Apart from these three main breakthroughs, we must also maintain trade with the German region, Eastern Europe, and the Arab region. Industrial and agricultural products should be viewed separately, as these three regions are the main consumer markets for East African agriculture, and agriculture remains our primary pillar of foreign economy."

Ernst: "Well said, so achieving significant breakthroughs in external industrial goods trade boils down to two main directions for now: developing new markets and upgrading industries.

In emerging industries, we aren't far behind other countries, and are even in a leading position, so we need to expand this advantage. Especially in the fields of electricity and the automotive industry, we should continue to increase layout, while establishing relevant research institutions and universities to promote development, providing follow-up momentum for development, and freeing ourselves from reliance on the German region."

Enhancing industrial production capacity and reducing costs are essential means to increase the competitiveness of East African industrial products and expand the market.

Of course, the current mainstream approach in Europe and America is to seize colonies and forcibly open markets for goods, which not only provides markets for their own industry and commerce but also keeps competitors "outside the door."

This is, in essence, another form of isolationism, so East Africa's national policy isn't problematic. The domestic market is East Africa's lifeline, and ensuring domestic market stability requires ensuring social order stability.

This is also East Africa's biggest challenge, so East Africa must not initiate wars lightly, ensuring that major economic areas remain unaffected.

Naturally, not initiating wars lightly doesn't mean East Africa doesn't want to wage war, but rather that it wants to do so after preparing adequately for a major war in southern Africa. East Africa's desire for war is no less than that of the people of southern Transvaal, the British, and the Portuguese.