President of the United States, Joe Biden, has affirmed the commitment of his administration to facilitating more trade and investment to the Africa.
In a message to African Heads of States due to participate in the upcoming 34th African Union Summit scheduled to take place on February 6 and 7, 2021, President Biden said, “My administration is committed to building partnership around the world and re-engaging international institutions like the African Union as we must all work together to advance our shared vision of a better future, a future of growing trade and investment that advances prosperity for all our nations.”
“We believe in the nations of Africa. In the continent-wide spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. And through the challenges ahead although they are great, there is no doubt that our nations, our people, the African Union are up to this task,” he stated ending his message to the African Heads of State.
President Biden was expected to participate in the Summit.
.@POTUS Biden: "We believe in the nations of Africa. In the continent-wide spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. And through the challenges ahead although they are great, there is no doubt that our nations, our people, the @_AfricanUnion are up to this task." pic.twitter.com/ExWlwYnj8A
— US Africa Media Hub (@AfricaMediaHub) February 5, 2021
Trade and investment between the US and Africa have been on the decline in recent years, between 2013 and 2015, US foreign direct investment (FDI) to Africa dropped from $61 billion to $50 billion. Even so, the United States remained the third largest source of FDI on the continent behind France and the Netherlands.
Half of US exports to Sub-Saharan Africa mainly goes to two countries—South Africa and Nigeria. The remaining eighty percent goes to Ethiopia, Angola, Ghana, Togo, Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Benin.
US exports to Africa are fairly diversified, but fall largely in the categories of capital goods, industrial supplies and transport equipment.
