U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is headed to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa this week to discuss trade expansion, investment and the U.S. commitment to African economies.<\/p>\n
This comes after a promise from President Joe Biden at the U.S.-Africa Leaders\u2019 Summit last month that he and members of his Cabinet would visit Africa in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is the first in many steps to engage Africans on the continent,\u201d said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies\u2019 Africa Program. But he told VOA, \u201cThere\u2019s an overall message [U.S. officials] are trying to send as well, which is Washington is present, and that message is not only for the Africans but for the Chinese, Russians competing with the U.S. in these markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior U.S. Treasury officials maintain that the purpose of the trip is to exchange ideas with African government officials, private sector leaders, entrepreneurs and youth, and to deepen economic ties between the U.S. and Africa, charting new opportunities for trade and investment.<\/p>\n
Senegal<\/p>\n
Yellen\u2019s first stop is Senegal, where she will visit a business incubator providing credit and sector-specific technical assistance to young women entrepreneurs in the capital, Dakar.<\/p>\n
She will also participate in a business forum with leaders from the American Chamber of Commerce in Senegal and the groundbreaking of a rural electrification project being led by U.S. engineering firm Weldy Lamont.<\/p>\n
The project, Treasury officials say, is supported by a U.S. government initiative known as Prosper Africa and $100 million in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.<\/p>\n
Secretary Yellen also plans to visit Gor\u00e9e Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site that served as a slave trading post in West Africa.<\/p>\n
The Treasury chief will meet with Senegalese President Macky Sall, the African Union chair whose country is also a leading member of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This could be an opportunity for Sall to discuss other issues including unfair international trade practices, said Chisanga Chekwe, president of the Canada-based Masomo Education Foundation charity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Four African countries \u2013 Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali \u2013 are among the most efficient cotton producers in the world, says Chekwe. “Three of the countries are in ECOWAS, and all four are in the AU,\u201d Chekwe said. Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali are ECOWAS members. The AU refers to the African Union.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHere is an interesting thing. Despite their efficiency, they only contribute 3% to world cotton production,\u201d Chekwe said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The reason, Chekwe said, is that cotton production is heavily subsidized in most countries, a reality that tends to distort markets.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Zambia<\/p>\n
Chekwe is also the author of many books on African issues, especially on Zambia, where he said America sees an opportunity to counter Chinese influence with a new government that is considered pro-West.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s seen as a government that\u2019s weary of China. \u2026 One possible area of immediate cooperation is the restructuring of a $6 billion debt Zambia has to China, and let\u2019s remember that makes up 24-25% of the country\u2019s GDP [gross domestic product],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In 2020, Zambia became the first African country in the COVID pandemic era to default on its debt. But regardless of whether money is owed to China or financial institutions, Zambia is not the only African country with a debt burden, said Hudson.<\/p>\n
\u201cGhana, another successful African country, is really experiencing a mounting crisis there, so Washington is seen as partly responsible,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause like it or not, Washington is seen as controlling the international financial institutions of the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund], which have pushed for austerity measures on African states, kept interest rates on international lending very high to African states and at the same time has been critical of concessionary lending they\u2019ve received from China, Russia and others outside of a multilateral system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Treasury secretary met with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema at the summit last month and emphasized the need to work on a debt plan treatment for Zambia under the Common Framework, an initiative endorsed by the G-20 and others, as quickly as possible. The G-20 represents the 20 largest economies in the world.<\/p>\n
While in Zambia, Yellen will meet with Hichilema again, along with his finance minister and that nation\u2019s central bank governor. She\u2019ll also tour two agriculture-related sites in an effort to promote climate-resilient agriculture and food production and mitigate the effects of the Russian war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The war has had enormous economic effects on the global wheat, energy and fertilizer supplies, \u201call of which are affecting Africans much more acutely than anyone else in the world. This comes on top of a slow recovery from the COVID pandemic,\u201d said Hudson.<\/p>\n
During the summit last month, Biden announced his administration will spend $2 billion in humanitarian assistance to address acute food insecurity in Africa, to \u201chelp ensure that children and families don\u2019t have to go to bed hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
South Africa<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In South Africa, Yellen will meet with the country\u2019s finance minister and reserve bank governor.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll also visit a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant outside Pretoria. The facility, which employs more than 4,000 people, is slated to become carbon neutral by next year.<\/p>\n
Yellen\u2019s Africa tour coincides with a visit by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to Zambia next week. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang just completed a five-nation Africa tour that took him to Ethiopia, Angola, Benin, Gabon and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Prior to arriving in Senegal, Yellen will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in Switzerland on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: Voice of America<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is headed to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa this week to discuss trade expansion, investment and the U.S. commitment to African economies.This comes after a promise from President Joe Biden at the U.S.-Africa Lead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n