Chapter 1507 - 41: World Economic Recovery

Chapter 1507: Chapter 41: World Economic Recovery

In fact, in Ernst’s previous life, Africa had a Southeast African Common Market organization, officially called the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, with its secretariat located in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka.

And the reason why this regional organization led by East Africa is still called the Southeast African Common Market is closely related to the current political landscape of the African continent.

East Africa is a unique country, occupying a significant portion of Africa’s area, and its territory covers large tracts in the eastern and southern parts of Africa.

Thus, using Southeast Africa to encompass the surrounding countries of East Africa is most appropriate.

Neither the East African Common Market nor the Southern African Common Market can achieve this effect.

Take the East African Common Market as an example; not to mention that East Africa itself is traditionally referred to as the Rhein Empire in the international community, which does not reflect internationalism and is liable to cause misunderstandings.

Moreover, from the perspective of current African geography, the narrow definition of Eastern Africa basically falls within the borders of East Africa, with only a few colonial islands in the Indian Ocean, Eastern South African colonies, and the northeastern part of North Africa barely related to East Africa.

For instance, Egypt’s location can be termed "Northeast Africa," situated at the northeastern corner of the African continent, making the inclusion of Egypt in Eastern Africa rather forced.

Furthermore, in terms of Egypt’s culture, history, and religious attributes, it is more commonly classified within the broader geographical concept of North Africa globally; here, North Africa refers to the part of Africa north of the Sahara Desert, contrasting with the broader concept of Sub-Saharan Africa, where North Africa can be seen as the region influenced by desert or Arabian sect culture.

Therefore, to classify the surrounding countries of East Africa into one system, the concept of the Southeast African Common Market is currently the most appropriate.

In fact, the Southeast African Common Market in a previous life wasn’t limited to South Africa and East African countries; Libya, a typical North African country, was also a member state.

In the view of the East African Government, the Southeast African Common Market is merely an initial attempt and transitional regional international organization, with the potential in the future to transform into powerful international organizations like the African Union or Africa-OECD, which could unify the majority of the African region.

At this stage, the colonial forces of Europe and America remain relatively strong throughout the African continent, so East Africa can only first test the waters with the "Southeast African Common Market."

Subsequently, the East African Government engaged in vigorous discussions regarding the framework and participation of various countries in the organization; however, the most contentious issues arose concerning Italy and Belgium.

Even though Spain holds a higher status than these two countries, West Spanish Guinea’s real value and presence are minimal, leading the Spanish Government to pay little attention to it.

After a month of discussion, the Southeast African Common Market organization was officially established, a relatively fair economic cooperation organization, which, at least seen from the perspective of the early 20th century, was considered progressive.

Undoubtedly, the headquarters of this economic organization was located in the Eastern Africa Capital Rhein City, while functional departments such as the development bank and arbitration court were set up in some northern cities of East Africa to facilitate transportation and communication among member states.

In the future, as the organization grows and its influence expands, there might be plans to shift some key functions northwest.

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During the conference of the Southeast African Common Market organization, global economic trends began to undergo new changes.

Although international competition was increasingly intense, with the end of World War I, the overall world situation returned to the mainstream of peaceful development.

Under normal circumstances, following the end of World War I, there should be a wave of post-war reconstruction, stimulated by the renewal of the world economy.

However, due to the sudden outbreak of a pandemic, the world economy remained in a depression until the early months of 1922, showing no signs of improvement.

With the pandemic now over, combined with the overall peace situation worldwide and the resumption of post-war reconstruction efforts in Europe, East Africa and the United States also needed to digest the spoils from the war.

Thus, by mid-1922, East Africa’s sluggish economy finally saw a glimmer of light, market confidence was restored, and investment activities emerged from the doldrums, allowing the national economy to reawaken with energy, much to the relief of the East African Government.

Nevertheless, compared to East Africa, the economic recovery process in North America and Western Europe was much more rapid.

The slower response in East Africa’s economic recovery compared to Europe and America was due to the ongoing economic transition in East Africa during this period, making it naturally difficult to show results in the short term.

A typical example of this is the steel industry of Europe and America, which not only recovered to pre-war levels by early 1922 but also began to target higher productivity.

The steel outputs of the United States and Germany had returned to their peaks by late 1921, and in early 1922, they were advancing rapidly.

The United States benefited from gaining more world market during World War I, while Germany created a significant market demand due to post-war reconstruction efforts.

The situation in Europe and America was naturally noted by the East African Government.

Rhine Palace.

Having just seen off the representatives of various countries, Crown Prince Friedrich was quick to start work in other areas, and the current economic situation was presented to him by Ernst.

Ernst, looking at his rapidly growing and already capable son, felt deeply gratified: "Friedrich, in these past few months, your performance has been quite commendable, and your handling of government affairs overall has been satisfactory. Therefore, I need to increase your responsibilities further to accumulate more work experience."