Americas > North America > United States > US President Barack Obama’s 'Doing Business in Africa' campaign,

United States: US President Barack Obama’s 'Doing Business in Africa' campaign,

2014/06/11

US President Barack Obama’s 'Doing Business in Africa' campaign, aimed at increasing US investment in Africa, is gaining momentum ahead of an August Summit with African leaders. Senior Obama government officials, however, said while the US' commitment to engage in business is clear, achieving the desired goals would require critical groundwork.

“America’s commitment to this issue is clear,” said Ernest Moniz, the US Energy Secretary. “I hope our discussions can begin to answer...basic questions. What has to happen for US private business to increase their investments in Africa’s energy sector?”

Secretary Moniz, who met 30 ministers of energy from across Africa during an Energy Ministerial conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 3-4 June, called for a review of potential obstacles to energy financing in Africa.

The US official said addressing the shortfalls and creating a system to enable US government agencies and African governments to work together will break the barriers.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, currently constructing electricity projects with an installed capacity of 8,400 Megawatts, said Ethiopia had experienced the energy investment challenges.

“The private sector has not shown interests in power projects due to low returns…there is still long-term perceived risk associated with private sector investment in the energy sector. This dialogue will accelerate the opportunities available in Africa’s energy sector,” Hailemariam said.

African nations require US$300 billion worth of investments in the energy sector alone, the kind of investment that Moniz said would require the private sector.

“We have had discussions on how to attract large investments. The emphasis is on the importance of regional solutions particularly on the use of the natural gas and how it could help the regional economies,” Moniz said at the conclusion of the US-Africa Energy ministerial talks.

African Union (AU) regional energy and infrastructure plan is focused on developing nine major electricity generation projects, and includes four power transmission lines across Eastern and Southern Africa and a West African gas pipeline originating from Nigeria and extending far north to Algeria.

The combined portfolio of the projects under the AU flagship Programme for Infrastructure Improvment(PIDA) is estimated at US$40 billion, according to the AU Department of Energy.

President Obama, whose election caused excitement in Africa in 2008, is set to host 50 African heads of national for the Initial US-African Leaders Summit 5-6 Aug. in Washington.

During Secretary Moniz’s visit, the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) announced US$1.1 billion to finance US exports to Africa in the initial seven months of 2014 fiscal year.

Ex-Im Bank President Fred Hochberg, who attended the Ministerial conference, said the funds would help to create and sustain jobs by increasing American exports to Africa.

Ex-Im Bank executives said they expected to approve additional loans to benefit small-business exporters of spare parts, consumer goods and other products.

Related Articles
  • United States sees China investment talks ‘productive’ after new offers

    2016/06/20 Bilateral investment talks between the United States and China “continue to be productive,” the US Trade Representative’s office said on Friday next the two sides exchanged new offers this week. A USTR spokeswoman said US and Chinese negotiators exchanged revised “negative lists” of sectors that would remain off-limits from foreign investment as they try to reach a transaction for a bilateral investment treaty.
  • Trump says Britain should leave EU

    2016/06/20 Donald Trump told Britons on Sunday he supported Brexit, repeating just days before the vote on June 23 that he thinks the UK would be better off outside the European Union. As the campaign to decide Britain’s EU membership restarted next a three-day hiatus following the killing of lawmaker Jo Cox, Trump, the presumptive Republican US presidential candidate, said in a newspaper interview he was backing an “out” vote.
  • My Diplomatic Moment with Mohammed Ali Written by Ambassador Herman J. Cohen

    2016/06/11 While a lot of recall and some still criticize Mohammed Ali’s refusal to be drafted to fight the U.S. war in Vietnam as a conscientious objector, I remember the time at the same time as the boxer conscientiously took on a tough fight for his country. In December 1979, the army of the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. What did this event have to do with Mohammed Ali, the American boxing champion? The Soviet aggression against Afghanistan was such a blatant illegitimate act that President Jimmy Carter was totally enraged. He wanted to punish the Soviets. He decided that the United States would boycott the Olympic games scheduled to be held in Moscow during the summer of 1998. In addition, he unleashed an international diplomatic offensive designed to persuade each other government to boycott as well.
  • Obama Japan Trip 2016: US President Calls For End To Nuclear Weapons On Historic Hiroshima Trip

    2016/05/28 Next laying a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a brief speech, “The memory of the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, must at no time fade.” “Death fell from the sky and the world was changed,” Obama said. During his historic visit to Hiroshima over 70 years next the Japanese city became the target of an American atomic bomb, Obama reiterated his call for a “world without nuclear weapons.”
  • USAID to grant Ethiopia $128M to fight drought

    2016/05/16 U.S Agency for International Improvment(USAID) just announced it would grant Ethiopia $128 million to fight the drought it has been facing over the completed 50 years. This grant should serve to buy food, water, treat malnutrition, and pay mobile health teams, said Thomas Stall, assistant at the humanitarian affairs, conflicts and institution’s democracy office.