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Out of Africa

By Kevin Steel ⋅ October 13, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Please note that former Power Corp Proxy Prime Minister Paul Martin has been named to "co-chair of a high-profile panel that will advise the African Development Bank Group on its strategy." That’s great! More info please.

The independent advisory panel includes international development experts, business leaders, top economists and a Nobel laureate.

A Nobel laureate! Well, la-dee-dah. What else is happening?

It will consult widely with stakeholders and is expected to produce its first interim report at the African Development Bank’s annual meetings next May.

More info please. There isn’t any. Might as well fill it in by pointing out the Annual General Meeting is in. . . Shanghai. What? Why not hold the annual general meeting of an African bank in Africa? Because, as we know, "Africa is at the core of China’s foreign policy." (word doc link). You might want to look over your left shoulder and take a peak at this New Republic article, Manchurian Candidate: How China controls African politics.

Nothing really new here. We Canucks have been working for the Chinese in Africa for a while. Check out this Canada Export article from Nov. 6, 2003 [bolding mine];

Among the Bank’s non-African shareholders is Canada, whose Executive Director represents both its interests and those of four other countries (China, South Korea, Spain and Kuwait). In this shared capacity, Couture points out that the role of the Canadian Executive Director’s Office regarding procurement-related activities is not to represent Canada’s commercial interests - although during his tenure he worked closely with the Canadian trade representatives - but to ensure that both Canadian firms and those from the four other countries are treated fairly by the Bank.

Why this Canadian representative’s job is not to primarily represent Canada’s interest (which is mostly from Quebec and through CIDA–ah CIDA, that moneybags by which Canadian Liberals play domestic politics abroad, our real and permanent foreign policy), but to represent other countries including China, is a mystery to me. Hey, everyone knows China’s such a small place it really can’t do that on its own. Aren’t we nice?