The US-African Business Summit, which drew more than 1300 participants and took place in mid-July in Gaborone, Botswana, has focused mainly on developing measures to improve trade and economic ties between the two continents.
The mid-July summit was organized by the Corporate Council on Africa as a follow-up to the December 2022 US-African Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, which was presided over by President Joe Biden
The majority of speakers emphasized reviewing and extending government cooperation, while some emphasized the significance of the private sector as the primary driver of solid economic growth in African nations.
Most of the participants, corporate business executives, and African officials asked for an extension of the Africa Growth Opportunities Act, which allows African nations to export goods to the American market tax-free. Most of them derive their income from their national budget from this traditional market.
The chairman of the board of directors at the US Corporate Council on Africa has emphasized the value of partnerships between the public and private sectors, calling them a necessary component for achieving significant trade and economic goals in previous years.
At the summit, the White House and the US offered $55 billion to support various development projects throughout Africa.
African officials pushed for the extension of the venerable Africa Growth Opportunities Act, which grants some African nations preferential or even tax-free access to the US market for their products.
The purpose of extending or renewing AGOA, according to the report’s principal author, Frannie Leautier, who is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, is to realize its potential for long-term development through increased certainty, planning, and expert support for capacity development and investment flow.
The statute, according to him, “should be renewed by the US Congress for at least ten years as soon as possible.”
Ministers also demanded that the AGOA regulations be simplified and made less complicated so that more nations could take advantage of the program.
In terms of financial gain, South Africa has benefited most from the 23-year-old AGOA act, mostly because of the car industry.
At the conference, the CEO of the United States International Development Finance Corporation, Scott Nathan, made a commitment to continue supporting Africa.
The focus of the United States is on what we will do with rather than for African states and people. According to Scott Nathan, “We work to deepen and understand our partnership, amplify African voices, and support the empowerment of Africans.”
