Akunna Cook, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, spoke with James Anyanzwa about the Joe Biden administration’s investment strategy for Africa

What is the purpose of your visit to Africa?

Explore ways to deepen trade and investment between the United States and Africa, especially two-way trade and investment.

We are rolling out the Prosper Africa initiative and talking with entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers to understand how we can better engage with African businesses to attract American investment to the continent.

We have particularly focused on the creative and digital technology industries.

We also look at health and climate technology because we understand that there is a lot of vibrancy, a lot of sparkle and a lot of energy and creative ideas on the continent. There are African solutions to global problems and many of them are here in Kenya.

Your visit to Africa is the first in a series of economic diplomacy visits the U.S. government has planned for the continent. Why did you choose Kenya, South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria as part of your initial tour?

Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are three of the largest economies on the continent. These countries, along with Egypt, are the main destinations for American investments in Africa and in particular in the creative industries and the field of digital technologies.

Namibia is of particular interest because of the significant potential for investment in climate technologies.

What are the main obstacles to trade and investment between Africa and the United States and how does the Prosper Africa initiative address them?

The first, I think, deals with what I think is an exaggeration of the perception of risk in Africa. Perhaps because of Western media, many Western companies are either unaware of Africa and its opportunities or have come to view Africa as much riskier than the rest of the world. And so what the US State Department is doing through Prosper Africa is addressing some of those perceptions of risk.

This is partly why we focus on the creative industries, as we understand that storytelling and media is a great way to change ideas and stories on the continent, as well as being an important economic driver. . So (we) help companies understand why Africa’s priorities are strategic for the United States, by involving them in delegations and simply by facilitating the access of companies to African markets.

The second element is working with governments to create a predictable regulatory environment to attract US investment. The last is the mobilization of financing to carry out multiple transactions. For example, the US Development Finance Corporation is a major player in this area. Exim bank is also a major player and there are other tools such as the American Trade and Development Agency which often finance feasibility studies for example.

How much funding and financial guarantees has the US set aside to help African businesses access the US market under the initiative?

Prosper Africa is not a development assistance program where there are billions of dollars that the US government gives in aid, but it is an effort to harmonize more than 70 tools that may exist within the US government, coordinate and modernize them. For example, the US Development Finance Corporation has added much more capacity to finance transactions and now has the ability to provide equity financing.

It’s about two-way trade and investment; we want to see more African companies investing in the United States and being able to access the American market just as we want to see more American companies and entrepreneurs being able to access African markets.

It’s a collaborative approach. The private sector leverages US government resources in a coordinated way.

African traders are currently accessing the US market duty-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) initiative. Do we expect to see the continuation of these privileges under Prosper Africa once the Agoa window closes in 2025?

AGOA, as you mentioned, is due to expire in 2025 and it is up to the US Congress to decide whether or not to renew the agreement. We believe there is much more room for African businesses to take better advantage of AGOA.

There are a number of countries that have positioned themselves to make the most of Agoa and have the ability to export to America and so we would like to see many more countries able to export to the United States. But we also know that there are a number of countries that have done extremely well with Agoa and frankly could move to a different model that isn’t just one-sided trading partners. So we’re exploring ways to look at this model.

What are the key sectors of interest to US investors in Africa?

We see huge potential in music, fashion, film and television not only as economic drivers, but also as a way to address the risk perception issues I mentioned earlier.

Secondly, there is a lot of interest in infrastructure, whether it is manufacturing vaccines on the continent or improving the continent’s capacity to produce vaccines and improving infrastructure health care so that Africans can get quality health care at home without having to travel to the United States, Europe. , or other places.

Climate and energy will also be another big priority for the US administration – understanding how we finance our renewable energy and even thinking about investing in future technologies and developing more technologies so that we can meet our needs while protecting our planet. The other sectors are of course agriculture, agribusiness and digital.

What is US policy on trade and investment in Africa?

Africa has a young and vibrant population, and creating jobs for the continent’s youth is going to be of strategic interest to the United States.

We also want to ensure that our private sector companies are able to take full advantage of the opportunities that the African market offers and also with the introduction of the AfCFTA it will be one of the largest trading blocs in the world. with 1.3 billion consumers. We want to make sure we are part of it.

Our strategy therefore includes regulatory environments to make it an attractive investment destination for American companies and also to understand, for American companies, what the needs of governments are, what are the particular strengths of each of these markets so that we can approach trade and investment as partners.

How is the United States positioned to leverage the AfCFTA to advance its interests on the continent?

We are excited to see the African Continental Free Trade Area implemented and brought to life. We believe this is not just transformational for the continent but also for American companies that are focused on Africa. Regional integration will mean it will be easier to operate across the continent and a harmonized set of rules will be easier for private sector players to navigate.

We stand ready to help with implementation, with technical assistance, and are looking for ways to deepen engagement between the US private sector and the AfCFTA Secretariat.