Africa continues to ship its minerals out in minimally processed forms, only to re-import them as finished electronics, batteries and defence systems at multiples of their export value.
AS the global order fragments into multiple centres of influence, developing nations face a hard-nosed practical question: How to convert natural endowments into durable industrial capacity without postponing the immediate demands of social development.
For African strategic thinkers, India’s recent technology and supply chain partnerships offer a useful analytical case.
Through agreements like the Australia-India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains and participation in emerging multilateral corridors, New Delhi is methodically inserting itself into the high-value segments of global production without compromising it’s development targets.
Read from an African perspective, these moves sharpen a central problem: A continent that holds the largest share of the minerals essential to the global digital and green transition remains structurally confined to the most basic stages of their extraction and export.
