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In response, the European Union and the United States devised free trade initiatives for African countries. The EU has the Contonou Agreement of 2000 that provides a framework for negotiations towards establishing free trade agreements (referred to as Economic Partnership Agreements or EPAs) with Europe's former African, Caribbean and Pacific colonies by 2007. The US has devised the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a unilateral offer by the US to open its market to selected African exports provided qualifying countries undertake to meet certain US conditions. Before elaborating on and dissecting these economic initiatives, it is essential to provide a context by looking at Africa's position and needs as a regional trading block in the global economy, as well as the nature of its relationship with the West. Needless to say, the continent's share of world trade is negligible, accounting for not more than 2 percent. This is principally because of two factors; the first one concerns structural supply-side constraints pertaining to production capacity, which has resulted in many African countries failing to meet their preferential trade quotas (for selected products) with the EU. Secondly, owing to the haphazard partitioning of the continent by the colonial powers, the majority of African countries are not viable as economic entities, with many today requiring donor assistance to balance their annual budgets. It is therefore only through a united, integrated Africa that the continent can realise its true economic potential. This is because integration results in a larger domestic market essential for large-scale production and economic diversification, as well as economic and negotiating clout in the global production and trading system. According to the Southern and East African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), there is no country in Africa, not even South Africa, that has the capacity and strength to leverage in the negotiations that take place, for example, in the WTO or under the Contonou Agreement, (2005). However, given the legacy of colonialism, continental unity cannot be achieved overnight; it has to be a gradual, incremental process that starts with sub-regional trading blocks. To this end, the foundation for this unity is being laid down in the form of SADC in Southern Africa, ECOWAS in West Africa and EAC in East Africa. The 'free' trade partnerships imposed on Africa by the West, however, pose the greatest threat to continental unity because these economic initiatives are based on divide and rule. SEATINI identifies four types of economic regionalism or partnerships. The first is the "integrative partnership" whereby the integrating partners have a common goal of integrating into a single economic or political unit. The EU is a good example. The second is "distributive partnership" - here countries do not have any overriding common interests except those that are negotiated on the basis of the relative strength of the negotiating partners. An example would be the Southern African Customs Union. The third type is the "enforced partnership" - whereby one country is subjected to the dictate of another largely because of unequal power relationship. In this arrangement, according to SEATINI, it is difficult for the weaker country to walk out because of a "locked -in" situation where walking out may be even more costly than a bad bargain. The colonial relationship was an enforced partnership, so too is AGOA. The fourth type, a sub-set of the enforced partnership, is "structured partnership" - here the relationship is determined not by negotiations but historically created conditions. "Thus, for example, in the decades when the Europeans colonised Africa, it was an enforced partnership that was yet to be structured. Once the institutions of industry, trade and governance were put in place, the relationship became institutionally structured. The structured relationship may include not only institutions but also social groups (that emerge in the process of production and trade), modes of thought, and even a certain kind of psychology (dependent psychology), that the imperial power creates within the colonised society." (SEATINI, 2005) The Contonou Agreement of 2000 is an excellent example of a structured partnership and with its EPAs, it seeks to prolong the historic relationship between Europe and Africa, with the latter being a source of cheap raw materials for European industries, and a market for European finished goods and investments. I shall expand on this next week.
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