For French people investing or engaging in trade in East Africa, they believed East Africa's economy was no less vibrant, and the chances of running into fellow countrymen here were extremely high.
"Hey, Burleigh, you went back home last month. I thought I wouldn't see you again for a long time!" Kross said in surprise when he spotted a familiar figure.
"So it's you, Mr. Kross. Of course I couldn't be away for too long. After all, our business with East Africa is a long-term one. I only returned home last month to report some matters to the company."
Burleigh was the East African commercial manager for a French machinery company. As East Africa recently implemented policies in its central and eastern regions to phase out outdated industries, much equipment and technology needed upgrading, increasing imports of related foreign products. Under these circumstances, Burleigh had negotiated a major order with East African manufacturers, drawing the attention of the company headquarters.
"I really envy you people in machinery and equipment. Recently, many East African factories have been replacing their equipment. So many old machines in Dar es Salaam city have been dismantled and shipped away by rail, then replaced with more advanced international equipment. Your company must have made a killing this time, right?"
Kross asked enviously. Dar es Salaam city was one of the key cities in East Africa's industrial upgrading efforts, mainly eliminating a batch of obsolete equipment introduced into East Africa during the seventies and eighties. Some of that equipment could even be traced back to the forties and fifties.
When East Africa introduced European and American industries during the economic crisis of the seventies to build up its domestic industrial system, it had not imposed particularly high standards on equipment.
After all, East Africa had then been