Chapter 622 Somali Fisheries Prospects
“In addition to tropical fruit and vegetable cultivation, Northern Province and Juba Province have more than 1,300 kilometers of coastline, and the development of our fishery resources accounts for a large proportion of the economy Less than one percent, this is a huge waste, and the development of fishery resources should be put on the agenda,” Rollman Kalin, a senior official in the Northern Province, told the mayor of Mogadishu.
Developing fishery resources in Somali waters has actually been something that Romain Carlin has never forgotten. Romain Carlin himself is from Monfalcone, a small coastal town in Austria, so he has a lot of knowledge about the ocean. Strong sense of belonging.
Mogadishu Mayor Kranis also agrees with this point. Mogadishu is a comprehensive port in East Africa. Fishing is one of the important economic sources of Mogadishu. However, In recent years, more resources of Mogadishu Port have been used on foreign trade ships.
"Mr. Senior Official, the development of fishery resources requires fishing boats and other necessary facilities. In this regard, Mogadishu has obvious deficiencies, especially in terms of resources. We may not be naturally suitable for industrial development," Kranis said.
Mogadishu's water source mainly relies on the Shabelle River, but most of the water from the Shabelle River is used for agricultural irrigation. Ernst did not intend to develop industry in Somalia from the beginning, and with the status of Northern Province as a border province, it is even less likely that East Africa will attach importance to it. Industrial construction is here, unless it is the agricultural product processing industry directly extended from agriculture.
In addition to insufficient water resources, other resources in Somalia are also relatively scarce. For example, the forest coverage rate only reaches about 15%, and it is mainly distributed in the mountainous part of Ethiopia at the border with Turkana Province. It is at a lower level in East Africa.
It is now the end of the 19th century. In the first half of the 19th century, the world's ships were mainly driven by natural wind and manpower, and the shipbuilding materials were mainly wood.
Even now, the wooden shipbuilding industry still firmly occupies the dominant position in the shipbuilding industry. A large amount of steel is mostly used in warships or strong shipping companies, while the wooden shipbuilding industry is more concentrated in small and medium-sized ships. However, Somalia's forestry resources are obviously unable to support the development of traditional wooden shipbuilding industry.
As for the emerging shipbuilding industry, the Somali region is facing the problem of insufficient resources such as coal and iron. This does not mean that Somalia is short of minerals, but that it is not worthy of development by the East African government at this stage.
Many areas in Somalia are deserts, and mining development has always faced environmental problems. This is not to worry about damaging the environment, but to solve problems such as water shortages. The distribution of minerals will not be concentrated in the two rivers (Shabelle) like the population in Somalia. and Juba River).
Of course, the Somali coast can also learn from the experiences of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa and import iron ore or coal from the Middle East or India to develop industry, but this goes back to the previous policy restrictions. Issues of industrial development in the Somali region.
So if the Somali region wants to solve the problem of industrial development, it can only focus on agriculture and develop the agricultural product processing industry and the food industry.
Agriculture also has great development value. For example, Argentina, which is currently economically prosperous, relies on agriculture and animal husbandry. With the support of British capital, Argentina's railways, industry, etc. have developed rapidly. And these all revolve around and serve agriculture and animal husbandry.
In the late 19th century, with the surge in demand for wool in the international market and the development of freezing technology, Argentina's wool, beef, wheat and other agricultural products were exported to various parts of Europe and the United States. The export volume continued to rise, and Argentina became the world's most important agricultural product. one of the exporting countries.
In its previous life, Argentina relied on its strong agriculture. At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina had become the world's seventh economic power and the fifth largest export power. Its wealth even exceeded that of the United States.
Under the influence of East Africa, Argentina has naturally not developed to the same scale as in its previous life. In terms of population alone, Argentina was the second largest immigrant destination in Europe after the United States during this period. After entering East Africa, Argentina could only rank third. From 1865 to 1880, the immigrant population was only close to half a million, mostly from Italy and other countries. As for the fact that more than 60% of German immigrants were included in East Africa during this period, this was mainly due to the inability of East Africa to absorb most of the immigrant population in the early days. The economic crisis of 1873 was a turning point, and East Africa officially replaced the United States as the world's largest destination for immigrants. country, of which German and Chinese immigrants contributed more than 60%.
That is to say, Argentina and the United States have at least millions of immigrants intercepted by East Africa. Especially in the United States, at least more than two million potential German immigrants have been absorbed by East Africa.
However, this does not affect the overall development of Argentina's economy. The foundation of Argentina's economic development is its unique geographical conditions. It is a natural agricultural and animal husbandry power, and its railway development is not much worse than that of East Africa, at least in terms of density. Leading East Africa.
Naturally, the conditions in Somalia cannot be compared with Argentina, but the irreplaceable location advantage is incomparable to Argentina. It belongs to the first echelon in the entire East Africa, that is, it is close to the main sea lanes of the two major world markets of Europe and Asia, regardless of whether there is The Suez Canal cannot bypass the Somali region.
“Juba Province and Northern Province have long coastlines and have world-class high-quality natural fishing grounds. Although they cannot be compared with the top world fishing grounds, aside from these fishing grounds, the coast of Somalia ranks firmly in the second echelon and is rich in fisheries. Various fish, tuna, mackerel, anchovies, sardines , sharks and other resources are particularly rich. These are gifts from God to East Africa. Therefore, the development of fishery resources in Northern Province must be put on the agenda as soon as possible. As the provincial capital and the largest port city in Northern Province, Mogadishu must do more Kung Fu, enriching local industries as much as possible,” said Rollman Carlin.
Kranis: “We in Mogadishu City can only say that we are doing our best to do this, but now the main reason is that there are too many restrictions, especially around the ‘Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan’. There are too many tasks to be completed, and funds are "
Roman Carlin: "You don't have to worry too much about this. The provincial government is applying with the central government to move into Mogadishu. In a new round of investment promotion, we will focus on negotiating with the Austrian government and organizing Austrian businessmen to visit Mogadishu.
However, the central government is still discussing this time, and the focus of the 'Eurasian Fruit Basket Plan' is. I think the related infrastructure construction and the improvement of the infrastructure level should be somewhat attractive to the Austrian business people, so you should complete the infrastructure issues in an orderly manner.
As the saying goes, opportunities come to those who are prepared. To forge iron, you need to be hardworking. Only when our northern province improves its hardware and services can others see our potential and invest with confidence.
Therefore, in addition to improving infrastructure construction, the Mogadishu government must give top priority to building a harmonious business environment and build confidence for investors who come to Mogadishu in the future. ”
Money cannot be obtained from the central government, so the northern provincial government can only find ways to introduce foreign investment. In this regard, the Northern Industrial Zone in East Africa and the three open ports on the coast have already taken shape. Give an example.
Austrian businessmen are particularly keen to invest in the three coastal cities of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and New Hamburg Port, while Mogadishu was only eligible to open last year. br>
The rich fishery resources in Somali waters are an important bait for Mogadishu to attract foreign investment. This also involves business channel issues, which the Northern Provincial Government naturally cannot solve, and this must be done by Austrian capital, which they Expanding relevant markets, while the Northern Province's own market is small, cannot solve this problem. As for the domestic market, this also involves transportation problems
Somalia's transportation mainly relies on two rivers and sea transportation, so it is distributed horizontally and is not directly connected to the vast inland areas of East Africa. It cannot compete with Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and New Hamburg Port. .
(End of this chapter)