Africa now has a champion in BRIC and is shifting position in the new world order, say John Battersby and Yingni Lu

There are periods in the dynamics of global power when the shift in trends is of such a scale that it is almost impossible to perceive the full impact in the moment.

It was certainly the case with the phenomenal rise of China as a major global economic power.

And it is happening again with the rise of Africa as a priority investment destination as it moves into a similar position that China was in three decades ago when that country began opening its economy to global forces.

The key elements in China's economic miracle have been an integrated market, special economic zones with incentives for foreign investors and widespread reform of the agricultural system which has freed up more labour for economic development.

Africa is moving in the right direction on these key elements but there are fundamental differences with China and the evolution of Africa's economic miracle will be different.

China's lifting of 400 million people out of poverty in three decades, maintaining 10% GDP growth for three decades, the helter-skelter rate of urbanisation at almost 20 million per year and now the unprecedented growth of the middle-class – mainly took the West by surprise.

Probably Africa's greatest disadvantage is in the area of perceptions. The huge deficit between the reality of Africa and the Western media's obsession with negative stereotypes of conflict, famine and failed states undermine the continent's potential.

The mainstream media has dominated the grand narrative for the past four decades and through selective – rather than inaccurate – reporting, has buttressed Africa's negative trends at the expense of its potential.

But the reasons why Africa's growing potential as an investment destination is not yet conventional wisdom are multiple:

It is fitting that Africa should play a key role in the search for a global trade-off on climate change as Africa has the lightest carbon footprint of any region yet stands to lose most from the impact of climate change.

But there is a twist in the tail here.

As the industrialised world focuses increasingly on management of the corporate carbon footprint, it may well be that the “biodiversity footprint” – which focuses on maintaining the balance in the entire eco-system – is even more relevant for Africa because of the greater diversity of species on the continent.

It may therefore be a priority for African countries to re-consider their growth patterns in order to ensure the preservation of this diversity.

China, South Africa, India and Turkey are now leading the way in the development of Africa while traditional trading partners and investors – such as Britain, the US, France and Germany – battle to maintain their share of market.

The new grouping of promising emerging markets known as the CIVETS – Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa – already include two countries from the Africa Continent.

The rest will follow in time. Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Senegal etc.

Africa is fast approaching the tipping-point but it has not quite registered in the industrialised club of nations.

South Africa's position as voice and advocate of the African cause in the shifting sands of global economic power and institutional reform now becomes even more critical as it takes its place both in the BRICS and the UN Security Council.

As the shift in global economic power gains momentum, South Africa's trade is moving eastwards and southwards in what has become a clear pattern which both reflects the global trend and is helping drive it.

It is no coincidence that since the beginning of the last year, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has paid his first State visits to India, Russia and China and, in July. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva paid his first State visit to South Africa following a working visit by President Zuma earlier in the year.

There is no doubt in the minds of either China or African nations that President Zuma is speaking not only on behalf of South Africa but the whole African continent on these trips abroad.

Even the notion that the much smaller South African economy could join four mega-economies in BRIC would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

While attending a UN conference on trade and investment in Beijing in mid-September last year, the South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said South Africa would prioritise China and India as export destinations of choice as these countries were now its biggest export markets.

Two-way trade between China and SA reached R119,7 billion in 2009, surpassing the US as the country's largest trading partner, according to South Africa's department of trade and industry. South Africa's exports to India last year reached R5 billion while imports totalled R2 billion, in favour of South Africa, the department's trade statistics show.

The fundamental shift in South Africa's trading patterns was also clear from statements made by President Jacob Zuma during and after the State visit to China in August.

South Africa would look to China for investment in meeting its infrastructure projects including transport systems, freight transport, renewable energy projects and mining. The agricultural sector and car manufacturing were also potential recipients of Chinese investment.

In the past three years, while the pace of Chinese investment has been slow, it has been strategic, and clearly paving the way for accelerated investment in the future.

In 2007 the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) bought a 20% stake in Standard Bank for R36 billion making it China's largest foreign investment to date. In 2009, China announced that the African headquarters of the China-Africa fund would be in Johannesburg.

China has more recently invested in a South African platinum mine and a cement factory and one of the most concrete agreements emerging from the State visit to China in August was the intention to build a high-speed rail link between Durban and Johannesburg.

But the most consistent message that President Zuma conveyed in the State visits to China and Russia was that South Africa wanted to learn from both countries on how to ensure high levels of beneficiation of South African mineral wealth to ensure that the country was able to speed up development, create more jobs and roll back poverty.

President Zuma also stressed that South Africa needs to balance its trade with China to reduce the heavy deficit in China's favour. He also foresaw co-operation between the two countries in reforming the global architecture and multilateral institutions.

The growing relationship with China is seen both as a means to boosting South Africa's global trade and of accelerating the development of the Africa continent.

With its world-class financial sector, deep experience in African markets and an extensive corporate footprint on the African continent, South Africa is well-placed to lead an African miracle similar to China's achievement over the past 30 years.