The Biden administration is set to announce on Tuesday a new plan to expand business ties between U.S. companies and Africa. This aims to build the needed digital, health and physical infrastructure in the U.S., a senior U.S. official has said.
Dana Banks, senior director for Africa at the White House National Security Council said the administration’s goal was to “reinvigorate Prosper Africa as the centerpiece of U.S. economic and commercial engagement with Africa.” More details will be provided soon on a companion initiative called Digital Africa.
Banks is set to start a U.S.-Africa business summit to revive Prosper Africa, an initiative unveiled by the Trump administration in 2018.
She said this is an area that is a priority both at home and abroad. African countries were eager to expand their cooperation with the United States and its companies, she added.
Chinese influence is growing in Africa. China and Europe are already having investments and trade agreements across the continent. That said, U.S. business executives warn the United States of the possibility of being overtaken by the two.
Banks said, President Joe Biden aims to focus the initiative on women and equity, with an expanded role for small- and medium-sized businesses. Biden requested nearly $80 million for the initiative in his budget proposal in May.
13th U.S-Africa Business Summit Kicks Off Today
Meanwhile, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) 13th U.S.-Africa Business Summit commences today via teleconferencing, to run until 29 July. With a theme “New Pathways to a Stronger U.S.-Africa Economic Partnership”, this year’s summit will focus on working together on the path to economic recovery from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is hosting African Heads of State and key ministers, USG Cabinet and senior officials, and more than 1,000 private sector executives and stakeholders from across the United States and the African continent.
The Summit is CCA’s flagship conference and is known as the premier business event bringing together captains of industry from the United States and Africa. More than 500 CEO’s and senior private sector executives are participating in this year’s event.
The last U.S.-Africa Business Summit was held in Maputo, Mozambique in 2019. This year’s summit is sponsored by leading global businesses and organizations such as Abbott, Chevron, Citi, Google, Pfizer Inc., ExxonMobil Corp., Trade and Development Bank, Visa, Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC, Prosper Africa, among many others.
