Africa is future, says Biden, hinges world’s survival on continent

United States President, Joe Biden, has hinged survival of the world on prosperity of the African continent, even as he backed continuity of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). 
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AGOA provides duty-free access to the U.S. market for most agricultural and manufactured products exported by eligible African countries. Biden, in a White House statement, yesterday, said he “strongly supports re-authorisation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a landmark, bipartisan law that has formed bedrock for U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa for more than two decades”.
   
He committed his government to expeditiously working with Congress and African partners to renew the law beyond 2025 to deepen trade relations between the countries.
   
According to him, the move will also “advance regional integration and realise Africa’s immense economic potential for our mutual benefit. In so many ways, Africa is the future; and so when Africa succeeds, the whole world succeeds”.
   
The U.S. President urged “Congress to re-authorise AGOA in a timely fashion and modernise this important Act for economic opportunities of the coming decade”.
   
He said: “AGOA is facilitating private-sector led economic growth across sub-Saharan Africa by increasing the competitiveness of African products, diversifying African exports, and enabling the creation of tens of thousands of new, quality jobs in Africa.
   
“The benefits are felt on both sides of the Atlantic: AGOA fosters a more competitive environment for U.S. businesses operating in sub-Saharan Africa.”
   
Meanwhile, U.S. agencies: the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) have partnered to empower women entrepreneurs in Africa.
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MCC Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Alice Albright, in a statement in Washington DC, said the partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to drive the growth of successful women entrepreneurs and Women-led Small and Medium Enterprises (W-SMEs) in Africa.
   
According to her, the collaboration empowers W-SMEs to access information and data, utilise digital tools, and perform business data analysis, which is pivotal to the sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience of their businesses.
   
USADF President, Travis Adkins, said: “USADF’s commitment to empowering women entrepreneurs across the African continent is a vital component of our mission.
   
“As such, we are thrilled to launch this partnership and to provide the seed capital for Ivorian women entrepreneurs to scale and grow their enterprises in the digital space.
   
“We commend our partners at MCC for their outstanding achievements with this initiative and hope to amplify these results through our collaboration.”
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