Over the past eight years, the Swedish exports to Africa have increased by nearly 200 percent and in 2007 it amounted to almost 16 billion. In order to continue this positive development, the government has presented a new action plan to support Swedish companies in Africa.
MORE COMPANIES ARE BECOMING interested in Africa as a lucrative and attractive market to invest in and the export to the continent has had a tremendous development since the year of 2000. With almost 50 percent, South Africa is still the biggest market, followed by Nigeria at 15 percent and Ghana at 6 percent. However, the strongest export growth in recent years Sweden has had to countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Angola and DR Congo.
IN THE GOVERNMENTS TRADE POLICY declaration it states that Africa, along with the Middle East, will be given priority as a trading partner in the near future. During the fall, the Trade Minister Ewa Björling together with a Swedish business 
delegation visited Angola, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda to explore business opportunities there. In connection with these visits, the government presented an action plan in order to increase trade in Africa. Since many people unfortunately still associate Africa with AIDS, poverty and conflict, one of the priorities of the Action Plan is to provide the Swedish companies with a modern and realistic picture of this dynamic and interesting continent. In many African countries such as Angola, there have been significant improvements in recent years and according to the IMF's World Economic Outlook, the economic growth during 2009 - 2010 will be between 8 to 12 percent.
IN ADDITION TO HIGHLIGHTING the great potential for trade that exists in many of the fast-growing economies in Africa, the Government also highlights and promotes Swedish companies in African countries. According to Marie Andersson de Frutos, who is the Industrial Promoter at the UD, one of Swedish company's strengths is that they are prominent in the Corporate Social Responsibility, which means that they make allowances and responsibility to comply with human rights, working conditions, environment and care about the society in which they operate in.
- An active CSR work provides a competitive advantage and will be highlighted in the contacts with representatives of both African governments and companies.
WITH THE HELP OF THE GOVERNMENTS´ new action plan, Marie Andersson de Frutos hopes that the coordination between the various employees who are now working to increase trade between Sweden and Africa should be improved, and that the plan will lead to enhanced effects of the Swedish trade promotion Emelie Ring