Approaching his final two years in
office, President Barack Obama is seeking to build a legacy in
Africa by shifting the U.S. approach on the continent to
investment from aid.
The son of a Kenyan and the first black U.S. president is
playing host this week to the first U.S.-Africa Leadership
Summit, where his administration says it expects more than $900
million in deals to be signed as part of a focus on development
driven by private business.
“The importance of this for America needs to be
understood,” Obama said at an Aug. 1 news conference. “Africa
is growing and you’ve got thriving markets and you’ve got
entrepreneurs and extraordinary talent among the people there.”
In welcoming 50 delegations to Washington for three-days of meetings beginning tomorrow, Obama is working to overcome perceptions on the continent that sub-Saharan Africa has been an afterthought for his administration. For the past five years, Obama’s foreign policy has focused on its heavily promoted pivot to Asia, crises in North Africa and the Middle East, winding down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, more recently, confronting a more assertive Russia.
Bush’s Initiative
By contrast, former President George W. Bush won praise for
his initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa, including from Obama. The
biggest part of that was a $15 billion commitment to prevent and
treat HIV infections, known as Pepfar, and a $1.2 billion
program to fight malaria.
Uganda’s ambassador to the U.S., Oliver Wonekha, and
Ambassador Steve Matenje of Malawi, both Obama fans, said in
interviews last week that Africans expect more from Obama, even
as they appreciate the African initiatives he’s announced to
date and understand that U.S. fiscal challenges and
international crises have consumed his attention.
“This is a big thing for Africa,” Wonekha said of the
summit. “We want investment. There isn’t enough investment
coming from the United States.”
While calling Obama “an inspiration to many Africans,”
Matenje said, “Maybe he needs to do more to help African
countries.”
The summit “gives him an opportunity to show the continent
that at the end of his term we will see a clearly defined
legacy,” Matenje said. “That’s what we expect -- that this
will be a turning point.”
Obama’s Popularity
Obama remains more popular in Africa than he is at home,
though that has waned since he took office, according to a Pew
Research Center poll released last month.
Africans across seven nations said they have confidence in
Obama, ranging from a low of 53 percent in Nigeria to a high of
78 percent in Kenya, according to the global poll that surveyed
48,643 people in 44 countries from March 17 to June 5. That’s
down from 2010 findings of 95 percent confidence among Kenyans
and 84 percent among Nigerians. His U.S. approval rating in a
July Pew poll was 44 percent.
Africa -- cited by the White House as home to six of the 10
fastest-growing economies -- is ripe for expansion, Susan Rice,
Obama’s national security adviser, said.
“A relative little goes a long way if it’s well targeted
and well framed and if you leverage the private sector and
foundations and civil society,” she said in an interview.
“That’s a new model of development.”
Economic Growth
The World Bank projects a 5.2 percent growth rate for sub-Saharan Africa this year, driven by rising investment in natural
resources and infrastructure, and strong household spending.
With the summit, Obama aims to institutionalize the move
from a model of delivering aid to spurring development and trade
as the main path for lifting Africans out of poverty.
Part of that involves helping nations become more
attractive to investment by nudging African governments to adopt
more inclusive human rights, including for girls, women and gays
and establishing good governance. The U.S. didn’t invite leaders
from Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, Sudan or Eritrea,
which aren’t in good standing with the African Union or with the
U.S.
“He understands Africa for all of its potential and all of
its magnificence but also he understands its warts,” Rice said.
“His family members have lived them.”
Powering Up
Obama earlier unveiled initiatives to double access to
power in six African countries and expand trade, food security
and health initiatives, and his inaugural Mandela Washington
Fellowship for Young African Leaders began last month.
The Power Africa initiative, which still requires action by
Congress, envisioned a five-year $7 billion plan to double
access to power in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and
Tanzania -- singled out for good governance practices.
By bringing together 50 delegations to discuss ways to
expand markets and investment, Obama wants to “create a
precedent that future presidents will want to replicate.”
The summit also will give the U.S. a platform to discuss
security and counterterrorism partnerships, Obama said, which
“ultimately can save us and our troops and our military a lot
of money if we’ve got strong partners who are able to deal with
conflicts in these regions.”
‘Really Psyched’
Obama has been particularly moved by his interactions with
young African leaders, aides said, including at a town hall
event in Washington last week ahead of the leaders summit.
“I rode back to the White House with him after he
participated in the town hall and he was just really psyched,”
said Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser.
“What he said to me is, ‘Just imagine in 10 years what
potential will be unleashed as a result of this initiative.’”
The centerpiece of the U.S. commercial relationship with
the continent is the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which
was signed into law in 2000 and is up for renewal next year.
It gives duty-free entry to the U.S. for almost all
products from sub-Saharan nations that practice good governance.
Thirty-nine of the region’s 49 countries qualify for benefits
under the law, according to the office of the U.S. Trade
Representative.
Imports covered under the law amounted to $26.8 billion
last year, quadruple the amount in 2001.
Africa Trade
Most of the imports, 86 percent, were petroleum products.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and its biggest oil producer
was the main beneficiary with $11.7 billion in exports. Angola,
another oil producer, was second with $8.7 billion in exports to
the U.S.
On the other side, the U.S. sent $24 billion in goods to
sub-Saharan Africa in 2013, an increase of 6.9 percent from the
year before and up 250 percent from a decade ago, USTR figures
show. Almost a third of those exports went to South Africa.
Sub-Saharan Africa still represents a small portion of U.S.
trade, accounting for 1.5 percent of all exports and 1.7 percent
of imports.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the Obama
administration wants to simplify the pact it and emphasize
production in Africa, giving an opening to U.S. companies. That
discussion will be part of the summit.
“We need to think through how our trade relationship with
Africa might evolve from one built around a unilateral
preference program to a more reciprocal set of arrangements over
the medium and long-term,” Froman said in a July 29 speech at
the National Press Club in Washington.
One of the U.S. goals, he said, is to ease “supply-side
constraints,” primarily by assuring reliable energy, improved
infrastructure such as roads and ports, and making sure products
such as farm exports consistently meet standards.
“Given that Africa is home to the world’s fastest-growing
middle class and six out of the top 10 fastest-growing economies
in 2014, it’s easy to see why global companies like GE (GE),
Caterpillar (CAT), and Procter & Gamble (PG) increasing view engaging with
Africa not as a choice, but as a necessity,” Froman said.
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