HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY
Note from Publisher
US-Africa relations is complex and there are various angles to address in order to better comprehend this precious relationship that has developed throughout the centuries. In the 21st century, as the African continent is becoming even more pivotal for the US, we wrote a blog to focus on the official beginnings of the ties between these two regions. Throughout the years many sources from books to articles have explored this relationship emphasising that the US growing interest in Africa is less than a 100 years old. Understanding the importance and vitality of this relationship, we have been established since 2009, to provide cross-cultural and multicultural brand marketing services to demystify and align perceptions of these two regions in time of globalization and convergence of cultures. Hereunder our latest blog as a reminder of the beginnings of US-Africa relations.
Remember, today's sanctions are tomorrow's troubles.
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US-Africa Relations: The Beginings
The presence of Africans in the Americas can be argued it predated 1492 though since the formation of the greatest experiment on Earth in 1776, the official United States of America - Africa relations began before World War II, when the United States only dealt directly with the former American colony of Liberia, the independent nation of Ethiopia, and the semi-independent nation of Egypt. The beginning of this official US-Africa relationship was not only reinforced by the need to internationalize American values but also due to the undying drive of African-Americans to reconnect to their roots. Although US-Africa dialogue and agreements to build on common grounds is a gradual process and progress that has yet to come to fruition, official US-Africa relations commenced with three countries that have proven to be critical for the US. (...) In fact, African Americans who in 1865 gathered at the Charleston racetrack to commemorate their fallen soldiers apparently started even Memorial Day. (...) US-Africa relations has come a long way and despite the turbulent and at times convoluted rapport, the US is strategically positioned to develop a privileged partnership with the African Continent that can be a mutually beneficial affinity with each African country. As it has been known to serve as the “moral compass” of the world, the US would need to chart its path in Africa based on economic linkages that would align with its international order and security. Read more
Agrifrica Digital Magazine - March/April 2021
These sectors are part of the SDGs and are imperative for the #FutureofEarth. If you want to receive our Agrifrica Newsletter, subscribe at agrifrica.com To learn about agrifrica.com contact us. In this issue you will find:
- Exclusive Article from Climate Bonds Initiative.
- List of selected sustainable American brands.
- Interview with filmmakers from Seed: The Untold Story.
US-Africa Engagement
Impact of Sanctions in Africa
DFC ADVANCES COVID-19 RESPONSE IN AFRICA WITH $5 MILLION INVESTMENT IN AFRICA HEALTHCARE NETWORK(HN).
HN is the largest and most expansive dialysis services provider in East Africa with 18 dialysis centers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda offering high-quality, affordable care. DFC funding will allow AHN to support growth throughout Sub-Saharan Africa as it continues to build and operate additional dialysis centers through partnerships with leading hospitals in the region. Read more
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: KEY ISSUES AND US ENGAGEMENT
Certain African countries have drawn consistent attention from Members of Congress and other policymakers, notably those afflicted by conflict and instability (including terrorist threats), humanitarian crises, severe human rights violations, or poor or deteriorating governance conditions. These include DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, among others. U.S. policymakers have sought to deepen relations with regional economic powerhouses Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola, notwithstanding challenges and policy concerns in each case. Successive Administrations also have invested substantial diplomatic engagement and foreign aid in countries seen as regional leaders in security and development, such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania. Read more.
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US-Africa Business Summit
ONE OF THE LEADING TRADE ORGANIZATION, CORPORATE COUNCIL ON AFRICA TO HOST IT'S US-AFRICA BUSINESS SUMMIT 2021
Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) will hold this year's 13th U.S.-Africa Business Summit virtually to build sustainable partnerships and opportunities between key government and private sector decision-makers across America and the African continent. Read more.
Visualizing Africa Post Covid
To read more
Interesting Articles
MAJOR POWER RIVALRY IN AFRICA
Although major power competition is a reality, giving it an outsized role in policymaking would be a mistake. Rather, U.S. policy should be dictated by a farsighted understanding of its goals in regard to peace and security, prosperity and development, and institutions and norms in Africa. The United States benefits when African states are able to provide for their own security and address transnational threats emanating from within their borders; when African economic growth provides opportunity to African citizens and to those abroad who trade, invest, and co-create with them; when Africa is a rule-governed region that bolsters respect for universal rights and the rule of law; and when Africa is invested and active in international institutions that mitigate global crises. To help realize this vision, the United States should capitalize on what makes it a compelling partner to African states, work more closely and strategically with like-minded partners, create more space for African agendas in its vision for future global governance, and work to build lasting affinities. Read more
REMARKS BY WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT DAVID MALPASS AT THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA REGIONAL MEDIA ROUNDTABLE
Over the last ten years, the WBG has invested over $200 billion in Sub-Saharan Africa, and, as I announced on Tuesday, at the Summit of Financing African Economies in France, in just the next five years, we intend to invest and mobilize about $150 billion in Africa to support the continent’s recovery from the pandemic and its long-term development Read more
SUMMIT ON THE FINANCING OF AFRICA ECONOMIES, PARIS MAY 2021 DECLARATION
We will leverage on the international financial system to create the much-needed fiscal space for African economies. We call for the swift decision on and implementation of an unprecedented general allocation of IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that is expected to amount to $650 billion, of which about $33 billion to increase reserve assets of African countries, and urge countries to utilize these new resources transparently and effectively. We are determined to significantly magnify its impact for Africa, by exploring on-lending SDRs on a voluntary basis through the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), and by exploring a range of additional options with the IMF, World Bank and other MDBs to enable possible on-lending of SDRs to support IMF members’ green, resilient and inclusive recovery, as we emerge from the pandemic, in line with Sustainable Development Goals. Read more
APPETITE FOR AFRICA: UNCOVERING NEW OPPORTUNITIES
During 2020, we found 82 new policies where the “country of risk” was in Africa, with an aggregate limit of $2.4 billion. The most prevalent countries of risk across these policies are Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria. As commodity finance persists as the lifeblood for many African economies and commodity traders, we have concluded transactions in Nigeria, Ghana, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Morocco, Burkina Faso and Libya. Read more
LESSONS FOR AFRICA FROM INDIA'S DEADLY COVID SURGE
The recent surge in COVID-19 cases in India underscores why African countries cannot let their guard down or succumb to myths that cast doubt on how to bring the pandemic to a halt. Most directly, the Indian variant has already reached Africa. It was first detected in Uganda on April 29, 2021 and is now circulating in at least 14 African countries . Moreover, hospitals and ICUs in Uganda are now reporting an overflow of cases linked to the Indian variant. Many of the incoming patients are young people. India also shares similar social features with Africa: a young population, extended family structures that include caring for the elderly at home, and returning to less-populated rural areas of origin when crisis strikes. Read more
UBA Africa Day Discussion
UBA Africa Day - Watch here
Fun Facts
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African Unity Day, also known as Africa day is celebrated annually on May 25th. It commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on this day in 1963. The leaders of newly liberated Africa countries, 30 of the 32 independent, came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to sign the founding charter. The only two African states that didn’t sign the charter on this day were Togo and Morocco, but they signed it before the end of that year. South Africa was the last to join in 1994 after the end of Apartheid.
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Prosper Africa initiative, launched in 2018, which spans 17 U.S. government agencies, has facilitated more than $22 billion worth of deals in more than 30 African countries, with agreements focusing on small and medium-sized African businesses. The International Development Finance Corporation is the federal government’s development finance institution that works on financing private development projects in lower and middle income countries. Since its launch at the beginning of 2020, it has invested more than $8 billion in 300 projects in Africa, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is working on $10 billion worth of deals.
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