DAKUKU PETERSIDE FROM PREMIUM TIMES
Africa needs a new strategy for growth, at the core of which must be the increase in productivity through industrialisation and innovation.
The global powers are wooing Africa because of its natural resources, the size of its market and for geopolitical reasons. But one thing is clear: they are all wooing Africa to achieve their national interests first. We should not be deceived. This reason is why African leaders must be circumspect in acceeding to some of these agreements they are being presented with, while they must fight for the good of Africa.
The US–African summit has come and gone. The US President, Joe Biden, and a group of US business leaders met with 49 African presidents and many business stakeholders. He made promises to improve the US bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa.
He has spent much of his first two years in office trying to assuage doubters on the international stage about American leadership after four years of Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. With this summit — a follow-up to the first such gathering held eight years ago by President Barack Obama — Biden has had an opportunity to assuage concerns in Africa about the US commitment to the continent.
This rapprochement comes at a difficult moment; a time when China is increasingly bullish about closer ties with Africa. The need to counterbalance China’s strategy is evident. The Biden administration made it plain that it believes that Chinese and Russian activities in Africa could have negative long-term consequences for the continent. The administration is of the conviction that Chinese and Russian investments and military projects in Africa present an opportunity for these countries to challenge the rules-based international order, advance their narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, and undermine transparency and openness.
To its credit, the summit produced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the new African Continental Free Trade Area secretariat that will spur more than $15 billion in new deals, which will turn, lift, and improve the lives of people across the continent. These investments will deliver tangible benefits and create new, good-paying jobs both in the US and Africa, opening the $3.4 trillion African market to the US.
Some of the highlights of the projects include investments to support small-and-medium-sized entrepreneurs and enterprises – especially enhancing the opportunity for women-owned businesses, diaspora-owned businesses, and businesses owned by members of historically underserved communities. It will also involve investing to facilitate more significant regional trade within Africa, particularly an investment of about $500 million is expected to significantly improve roads, reduce transportation costs, and ease sea cargo traffic.
However, some critics are sceptical and cynical about these investment promises by the US to Africa. They have argued that the trade deal of $15 billion and other paltry sums promised is insufficient, given that Africa has fifty-four countries with different developmental needs. Though not related, this investment promise, when compared to the US aid to Ukraine, shows how low it is.
