Chapter 860 Industrial Development

As early as when the African Union established a peacekeeping mission to assist Mali, Colo promised to donate US$25 million to this African Union peacekeeping operation and provide training and weapons and equipment worth US$10 million to the Malian government forces.

In addition to enhancing Kolo's influence throughout Africa, the other purpose of these donations is naturally to promote their locally produced weapons and equipment.

At present, Standard Defense Company's weapons production base in Bogu, a small town in the north of Colo, has been put into production and can produce firearms, ammunition, various landmines, grenades and other conventional army weapons.

Next, they will also build a new factory near Bogu to produce L118 105mm light howitzers and supporting shells.

It can be said that the price of the same type of weapons produced in Colo is lower than that of the same type of equipment produced in Europe. The weapons and equipment they support for the African Union peacekeeping forces and Mali can be used as a "trial". If the quality can also make these If the country's troops are satisfied, they will receive many orders in the future.

Prior to this, Kolo's neighboring countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso, which are also members of the West African Free Trade Organization, have accepted Kolo's low-interest and interest-free Kolo shilling loans and purchased part of the Bogu base. The evaluation of the weapons and equipment produced is still very good.

This time when he came to Colo, Barron originally wanted to visit Standard Defense Company's production base in Bogu, but was ultimately persuaded by his security team.

After all, there are factories for gunpowder and weapons and ammunition there, and his security team doesn't want Barron to take risks - things like accidentally igniting gunpowder explosions in arsenals are not unheard of in England, not to mention the production base here in Colo. It also employs a lot of local people, and to be honest it doesn't feel that reliable.

Otherwise, why did Standard Defense Company choose Bogu, a remote town in the north, as its production base, instead of near big cities like Loti and Bulita? There are also such worries, just in case.

It is worth mentioning that Kolo President Thomas Kabore has just concluded his visit to China and returned to Kolo not long ago.

This time when he went to China, Colo continued to reach a series of cooperation with China, and Thomas Kabore's purpose was to go to China to "attract investment" and promote Colo's preferential policies and fair and open business. environment to attract investment from Chinese companies.

At this stage, China is also encouraging its companies to go global and explore international markets.

However, it is not that easy to enter the European and American markets for acquisitions and investments. The African market is also growing rapidly, but what is more worrying is that the unstable political situation in many regions will affect their investments.

Kolo's current political situation is stable, and with its continued investment in education, health care, transportation infrastructure, etc., it can be said that it is one of the few countries in Africa that is suitable for investment in all aspects, and it can also radiate the entire West African market. , so it really attracted many Chinese companies to come and inspect.

“Our previous cooperation with Honor Electronics was very successful. The mobile phone manufacturing base they invested in Kolo is the largest mobile phone manufacturer in West Africa. The products with affordable prices are not only very popular in West Africa, but have also been established throughout Africa. Sales network, with such a successful example, many Chinese companies have also become interested in Colo..."

Of course, what Thomas Kabore said to Barron, he knew very well, was that Dopod, a low-end brand of Honor Electronics, had previously built a mobile phone assembly base in Loti, Colo. Its products are very cost-effective and are popular in the market. It is very popular throughout Africa. Currently, Honor Electronics has started to build the second phase of this assembly base, which can provide more jobs for Colo and cultivate skilled workers.

In addition to Dopod, Transsion Holdings, a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer that specializes in the African market, also takes a fancy to Kolo's good regional location and business environment. The production base they invested in Lodi is about to be completed, and is located in Dopod ( Lottie) not far from the assembly base...

It is very likely that that area will also become the mobile phone manufacturing (assembly) center of Kolo in the future.

This time Barron came to Loti, it was very different from the first time he came to this city.

The most obvious point is that the slums that were once everywhere in Loti City have disappeared - or in other words, there are still areas where low-income groups live here, but the environment is completely different.

It is also because Loti is the best port in Kolo and even in West Africa. With the development of Kolo's economy and the expansion of their re-export trade, Loti has attracted more and more capital to settle in. This has also made the city of Loti The scope has been expanded compared to before.

Very early on, Loti had already begun to carry out urban transformation, especially with the relocation of its administrative and financial functions to the new capital of Bullita, which also provided conditions for their urban transformation.

The Kolo government, through the Golden African Real Estate Company, has built large-scale low-rent housing in Loti City, especially near the new urban area. These low-rent housing are owned by state-owned asset management companies and charge very low fees to low-income earners. rent and allowed to move in.

This will gradually move the residents of the original slums in Loti City to low-rent housing, so that the vacant slums can be transformed and newly built into office buildings or high-end apartments - these newly built buildings in the city center can bring a significant appreciation of assets to the state-owned asset management company, which is enough to subsidize the construction costs of those low-rent housing.

Using this method, in just a few years, the municipal landscape of Loti City has been greatly improved.

It can be said that Loti is now a benchmark for cities in West Africa.

Foreigners who come to Loti, the largest city in Kolo for the first time, will inevitably be amazed - it is not that this place can surpass international cities such as London, New York, and Shanghai, but Loti's municipal planning and the cleanliness and orderliness of the city completely subvert their impression of African cities.

Of course, these changes in Loti are also based on its industrial, manufacturing, and commercial industries, which enable the city government here to have the capital to improve its appearance.

Even though Britta is the capital of Kolo, Loti is still the economic center of Kolo due to its excellent geographical location. It has more than half of the industry, manufacturing and other industries in Kolo and is the most dynamic city in Kolo.

Similarly, in terms of education, although the University of Kolo has moved to Britta, Loti still has a large number of technical colleges, including the Loti Petroleum College, the Mining College, the Maritime College, etc., to continuously train technical workers for their industries.