'Why outcome of U.S. poll won't affect relations with Africa'

Amid uncertainties over foreign policy shift in America’s engagement with Africa as a fall-out of November’s presidential election in the United States, the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement (PAC-ADE) has allayed fears over the outcome, assuring that extant economic, social and cultural ties with Africa would not be affected.

Speaking yesterday at the opening of this year’s African Diaspora Investment Symposium (ADIS24) organized by the African Diaspora Network (ADN) in Silicon Valley, California, Executive Director of PAC-ADE, Deniece Laurent-Mantey, said the ongoing framework of diplomatic relations and engagement with Africa has been institutionalized and would have little effect whoever is the next president of the United States.

Recall that the November election is a rematch of the 2020 election between incumbent President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party and his predecessor, former president Donald Trump, who both have different foreign policy thrust in their engagement with Africa.

Explaining why stakeholders in the continent should nurse no fear of a discontinued engagement with Africa, Laurent-Mantey said the PAC-ADE which was an offshoot of the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, was established by the president’s Executive Order and the Council has already been institutionalized in the U S. Department of State.

“We have another council which is very similar to PAC-ADE called the Presidential Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBA) that was launched during the Obama administration in 2014. It still exists and is situated in the Department of Commerce. This Council on African Diaspora Engagement is organised in similar fashion and launched by President Biden. My hope is that it will stay no matter the outcome of the November election because it is already institutionalized in the State Department.”

Speaking on exploring the impact of PAC-ADE, a member of the council and president of PepsiCo Foundation, C.D. Glin, harped on all diaspora groups representing nationalities and countries in the U.S. coming together to engage and come up with practical initiatives that the Diasporans and African partners can benefit from either in education, trade and investment, technology and critical knowledge transfer to bridge the skills gap in Africa.

The CEO of ADN and a member of PAC-ADE, Almaz Negash, lamented the impact of negative stories coming out of Africa.

Almaz Negash, Founder and Executive Director of African Diaspora Network

She said: “The perception of the risk of doing business in Africa is grossly exaggerated. Many investors are scared about the stories coming out of Africa but it is up to those who are not scared of their roots to replicate their successes in the developed world back home by mentoring young ones in Africa to grow their businesses and develop the continent. No continent is more important than Africa because of the enormous resources and large market available to investors but there must be serious engagement among the Diasporans to scale up efforts in building the capacity and skills of young people in Africa because they are the future of the world.”