Chapter 979: Opportunities in the West

There are many people who share the same idea as Boers. Among them, French Ambassador Lawrence wrote in a report to the French government: "We must not let East Africa and Germany reach an agreement. We must make the East African government not stand on the side of the Germans, even if they remain neutral."

Far Eastern Empire Ambassador Zhang Heng also reported on the situation of the East African military parade. He said: "East Africa is a relatively friendly country among the great powers. It has strong military strength, a larger territory than the empire, and a population that is not less than that of European countries. At this critical moment of the empire's survival, it is particularly important for our country to maintain friendly exchanges with East Africa."

After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Far Eastern Empire encountered more troubles. Although it was much better than the same period in history, it was also limited. Therefore, in the international community, the Far Eastern Empire did not have many friends who were good at drinking and eating. Each of them was a vampire who wanted to come up and suck a mouthful of blood. Under such circumstances, the Far Eastern Empire naturally got closer and closer to East Africa in diplomatic relations.

Of course, even if they are so close, East Africa cannot help the Far East Empire to seek refuge. After all, if everyone falls, East Africa's face will only have a deterrent effect on some small countries. The Far East Empire can solve such small troubles by itself.

Ambassador Wilson of the United Kingdom did not pay much attention to the situation in East Africa. He said to his subordinates: "Britain's interests have always been in the ocean. Even if the East African army is strong, as long as they do not expand the navy, there will be no threat. On the contrary, we will not allow any changes in the navy in East Africa."

According to Wilson, it is estimated that there will not be much conflict between Britain and East Africa in the next five years. After all, East Africa has no idea of ​​expanding its navy in the past few years, and does not plan to go out to sea to occupy more colonies. In this way, East Africa will basically not encounter any major events overseas.

Of course, what will happen in five years is not within East Africa's consideration. By then, Ernst must strengthen its maritime power, and Britain may not have the energy to find fault with East Africa.

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After the founding ceremony, the Rhine Empire government continued to work without much impact, and in the new century, the East African Government Planning Commission also began the first formal compilation of its own industrial plan.

Siwei Te: "In the past few years, we have made preliminary attempts. The five-year industrial plan is generally feasible. In the past five years, East Africa's industrial growth rate has been extremely high, and the industrial scale has more than doubled, especially in the southeastern coastal areas, which have been vigorously developed."

"A new hotspot for economic development in the south with Beira as the core has been formed, and the region is close to the more industrially developed regions such as the east and Bohemia (Zimbabwe), so the construction speed is the fastest."

"The construction of multiple railways has opened up the Ren and Du meridians of Mozambique's development. It can be said that Mozambique is an extension of the eastern coastal economic belt and the two industrial provinces of Bohemia and Lorraine in the middle."

"In Mozambique, Beira, Tete, Pemba, Nacala, Colimane, Chinde, Maputo, Chokwe, Inhambane and other cities have all developed rapidly, regardless of population, infrastructure, etc. , industry, and agriculture have achieved leapfrog growth, filling the gap in development between the port city of New Hamburg and the city of Mtwara. "

"In the new five-year plan, which is also the first time that our Planning Commission has officially compiled a five-year plan, I decided to focus on the west coast with Angola as the core. "

"Although the development of the west coast has been strong in the past, it has not received much support compared to Mozambique. We have only optimized and partially expanded on the basis of integrating the assets left by the Portuguese. Angola's locational advantages are obviously more important than Mozambique, so Angola's development should be taken seriously and made it one of the most economically developed regions in East Africa in the future. "

"Sweet's words are obviously very bold. You must know that in the past, Angola's long-term wars almost destroyed the industries left over from the colonial era, making it one of the countries with the weakest industrial base in the world.

"If there were no oil resources to support it, Angola would probably have become one of the poorest countries in the past, and its economy would probably not be much better than Tanzania.

" Therefore, the goal set by East Africa for the Angola region is obviously quite high. Of course, Angola is now much better than in the past, at least the foundation is much better.

In the 1990s, East Africa made large investments in the coastal areas of Angola, including energy, minerals, agriculture, and fisheries.

The East African government's direct investment in the energy field includes three refineries, two of which are in Cabinda and one in Luanda. It is worth mentioning that the main raw materials for the oil industry in the two places currently come from the United States across the ocean.

Although Angola has abundant oil resources, it has not yet been developed and explored. Therefore, in order to lay out the local oil industry in advance, Ernst specifically positioned Cabinda and Luanda as the oil industry center of East Africa.

The advantage of this is that in the future, East Africa will develop Angola's oil. The local area already has a certain industrial foundation and has accumulated considerable experience, so it will not be in a hurry. Secondly, the west coast of East Africa itself is forming a large market, and the demand for oil will sooner or later be aligned with the central and eastern regions, so there is no harm in early layout.

In the field of minerals, Angola is also relatively rich in resources, especially the local diamond minerals, which are the main export minerals. East Africa has integrated the mines and workshops from the Portuguese colonial era, making the west coast the diamond processing and sales center of East Africa in the Atlantic region.

In addition, resources such as iron, copper, manganese, lead, tin, zinc, tungsten, and gold are also distributed in Angola. However, because East Africa occupied Angola late, these resources still need to be surveyed and analyzed if they are to be developed.

In terms of agriculture, the crops grown in Angola mainly include sugarcane, cotton, peanuts, corn, cassava, rice, wheat, beans, etc. These crops are basically the continuation of Angolan agriculture under the Portuguese colonial system.

Relying on the local agricultural characteristics, East Africa has built a number of sugar mills, oil mills, textile mills, etc. on the west coast.

During the Portuguese colonial period, Angola was the nearest raw material production area to Portugal. These agricultural products were basically transported to Portugal, processed, and sold after increasing the added value.

After East Africa's investment in the local area, these agricultural products completed various processing procedures locally and became commodities directly, and finally sold to Western Europe, North America and South America through the Atlantic route.

Fishery resource development is at the forefront of East Africa. Of course, affected by the Benguela cold current, the best fishing grounds are along the coast of Southwest Province (Namibia), so Walvis Bay is likely to become one of the future fishery centers in East Africa, especially after the completion of the Walvis Bay Railway.

So the conditions in Angola, which East Africa faces now, are not too bad. Although it was affected by the South African War in the early days, it has experienced a decade of stability and rapid development.

Of course, the focus of this development, in addition to Angola, also includes Southwest Province, Ubangi Province, and East and West Azande Provinces (mainly including Angola, Namibia, Congo, and Central Africa), that is, the entire western part of East Africa.

Southwest Province is subject to terrain and climate factors and does not require too much investment, while Ubangi Province is second only to the provinces in Angola. Although it is inland, Ubangi Province borders the colonies of Belgium, France, and Germany at the same time, which is its location advantage.

However, the most important thing is the development of the Angola region. The East African government hopes that it can become an economically developed region that is competitive with the central and eastern regions in a relatively short period of time. After all, the capital of East Africa has been moved to Rhine City. If the west coast cannot develop, it will not be possible to form the core economic zone in East Africa that connects the two oceans as envisioned by Ernst.