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What’s On The Agenda At The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

What’s On The Agenda At The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

Each country in Africa provides a dynamic and unique market for U.S. corporations looking to expand, NationalLawReview reports.

U.S. President Barack Obama will welcome more than 45 African heads of government and state and to Washington D.C. Aug. 4-6 for the first-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit reflects the administration’s desire to forge a deeper
relationship with African governments especially when it comes to investment, trade, democratic development and security.

This summit will shine a light on the variety of investment and trade opportunities on the continent.

Here’s a quick look at what’s on the summit agenda, courtesy of NationalLawReview:

African Growth and Opportunity Act

AGOA is the preferential trade legislation that is the centerpiece of the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship. In the decade following the passage of AGOA in 2000, U.S.-African trade increased by 221 percent. Furthermore, it is estimated that to date AGOA “has generated about 350,000 direct jobs and 1,000,000 indirect jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa and about 100,000 jobs in the United States.”

Renewing AGOA is critical to U.S.-Africa relations and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will host an AGOA ministerial to discuss the renewal and future of the program.

U.S.-Africa Business Forum

With six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies and nearly 1 billion people whose median age is 18, Africa is as an increasingly important destination for trade and investment. An entire day of the Summit will be devoted to a U.S.-Africa Business Forum focused on “U.S. private sector engagement in Africa including finance and capital investment; infrastructure; power and energy; agriculture; consumer goods; and information and communication technology.”

Women, peace, and prosperity

The African women’s movement has been described as “the most successful social movement in Africa in recent decades.”

Progress has been particularly notable in the area of civic and political leadership but major
hurdles remain. The “Investing in Women, Peace, and Prosperity” forum will discuss “promising practices and reinforce U.S.-African partnerships” at the intersection of women, peace, and prosperity.

Investing in health

Across Africa, pharmaceutical spending is expected to reach $30 billion by 2016 and has the potential to reach $45 billion by 2020. The “Investing in Health: Investing in Africa’s Future” forum will address “the future of U.S.-African global health partnerships in achieving global health security” by tackling some of the key public health challenges
on the continent.

Food security, climate change, and resilience

The Obama Administration’s Feed the Future, and the private sector-led New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, are multi-billion dollar initiatives to transform African agricultural through modernization and commercialization. The ultimate goal of the initiatives is to lift 50 million people out of poverty.

The “Resilience and Food Security in a Changing Climate” forum will discuss how to achieve this goal in the face of climate change and its impact on temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events.