BRICS Expansion and West Africa's Trade Architecture

The 2023 BRICS expansion to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE marks a watershed moment for Global South economic architecture. For West Africa, this creates both opportunities and challenges as traditional trade relationships with the EU face new competition.

Our FDI flow analysis (28K+ World Bank observations) tracks the evolution of investment patterns. Chinese FDI into West Africa grew 340% between 2010-2023, while EU investment remained flat.