Australia Affirms Investment Partnership with Africa

Australia Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr, has expressed Australia’s repeated commitment to investment in Africa.

"In the spirit of co-operation and in our own national economic interest, Australia is committed to developing a long term partnership with Africa," he said.

According to Carr, with more than 200 Australian companies undertaking more than 650 projects in 37 African countries, the continent now hosts 40 per cent of overseas Australian resource projects.

Carr stated that with Australian companies engaged in billions of dollars worth of projects across Africa, the pessimism about instability and risk has been progressively displaced by optimism.

He says with improved security and more stable government, along with a growing skilled middle class, Africa has the potential to match the economic transformation of Asia.

To further support investment ties with African countries, Carr revealed that the Australian government will provide $5 million to fund the establishment of the African Minerals Development Centre, to help guide the sustainable development of Africa's mineral reserves.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Mineral Resources Minister, Susan Shabangu, has urged Australia mining companies operating in South Africa to correct the unbalanced relationship that favours resource investors over African citizens.

She stated that Australia mining companies must move beyond partnerships that favour investors above all else to embrace a wider role in building the social infrastructure of the countries in which they are operating.

"This relationship must benefit both host mining jurisdiction and the investors alike, and not one over the other as the current characterisation of this relationship prefers the investor over others," she said.

Shabangu says companies need to see Africa as a long-term investment and do more to establish enduring partnerships.