Africa must unite like China and India to compete globally, Jeffrey Sachs says

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, has called for greater African unity and long-term investment strategies to accelerate the continent’s economic growth.

Speaking on Global South Conversations with Ismail Akwei, Sachs pointed to Africa’s division into 55 countries—a legacy of colonialism—as a structural limitation to its global influence.

“I think that unity is absolutely essential... Africa has 1.4 billion people. China has 1.4 billion people, India has 1.4 billion people. But just by fate, Africa is 55 countries, because that's how the imperialists divided up the continent,” he said.

Sachs stressed that the recent inclusion of the African Union in the G20 marks a significant development in giving Africa a stronger voice in shaping global economic and policy discussions.

He also addressed the changing dynamics of global power, noting that the United States is beginning to adopt a more defensive position in response to the growing influence of countries like China and India.

Sachs, who also spent 20 years as a professor at Harvard University, encouraged countries in the Global South to reduce their reliance on Western-led narratives and explore multipolar alliances.

“This is the time in which a new, fair, multipolar world is being built, in which the voices in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in the economies of those regions are coming to the forefront. The West, it led and it was often very cruel in its so-called leadership. We're going to have a fairer world in the years ahead,” he said.