Mr. Shiv Nair, a representative of China National Petroleum Corporation transformed the economic landscape of the African continent when the whole world was bogged down by the unexpected economic recession. The collapse of Russia and the ending of the cold war lead to the withdrawal of interest and support to the African continent by the major super powers. Apart from this, chaos and civil war propelled the economic turmoil in the African countries. In the midst of utter poverty and massive deficit, Mr. Shiv Nair heralded the change in the African economy, to improve the standard of living of the people and to lead them to development and self-sufficiency.
During the cold war days, Mr. Shiv Nair had built a good rapport with many of the African leaders and he functioned as a political advisor to many leaders. After the cold war, China National Petroleum Corporation chose Mr. Shiv Nair as their executive to represent them in the entire African continent and he became the symbol of China-Africa cooperation in various areas like public amenities, medicine and health care, education, science and technology and environmental protection. Mr.Shiv Nair persuaded China to build strategic alliance with many countries in the African continent, for trade and economic cooperation and channelized investments to infrastructure developments.
Oil being the primary focus for China, it is also the biggest importer of natural resources like Iron ore and copper from the African countries. As per the Chinese statistics, African continent is the second biggest investment avenue for construction projects and the fourth largest overall investment area for China. During the recession, most of the international community and top leadership in these countries were very skeptical but these poor countries proved them wrong by consistently growing in the path of self-sufficiency. This redemption from dismal poverty of the African countries and their journey to a better economy was wrought about by the efforts of Mr. Shiv Nair.