Start the Week

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Start the Week: Trade deals and human rights – in Africa and China

Trade deals and human rights – in Africa and China

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Trade deals and human rights – in Africa and China

Andrew Marr with Tom Tugendhat, Geetha Tharmaratnam and Michela Wrong.

Tom Tugendhat, Geetha Tharmaratnam and Michela Wrong discuss foreign affairs, trade and human rights in Africa and China.

Tom Tugendhat MP is the Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He tells Andrew Marr that he’s very much focused on British foreign policy priorities after Brexit. But the government’s new Trade Bill is facing opposition from those insisting that human rights abuses must be investigated before any deals are done. The MP for Tonbridge and Malling also highlights the need to be more aware of China’s economic ambitions and global role. 

Geeta Tharmaratnam is keen that more focus should be placed on Africa. As a venture capitalist and CEO of an investment company she see huge economic possibilities across the continent, especially in relation to African women entrepreneurs. She looks more closely at the African Continental Free Trade Area which was signed by a majority of countries in Kigali, Rwanda in 2018 and came into force this year.

But the journalist Michela Wrong questions whether the Rwandan government, and especially its much feted leader President Paul Kagame can be trusted. Following the civil war and genocide in 1994 Kagame became vice-President and then leader of his country. He has prioritised national development and been successful in securing international aid, but Wrong follows the story of his rise to power and argues that he has overseen a regime intent on political repression.

Producer: Katy Hickman

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Trade deals and human rights – in Africa and China

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