By JAMES ANYANZWA

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The US government is exploring ways to expand trade and investment opportunities in Africa, in a bid to scramble for the control of the continent’s raw materials with other world’s powerful nations such as China and Russia.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Akunna Cook said the country has yet to deepen its presence in Africa, which has a population of about 1.3 billion people.

“We have been behind the curve for quite some time in terms of really taking advantage of the opportunities on the continent… the great challenge is to inform our companies and investors the opportunities that exist on the continent after I leave for Washington,” she said while on a visit in Namibia.

Ms Cook and the Prosper Africa acting Chief Operating Officer Leslie Marbury are on an African economic diplomacy visit covering Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Namibia, which began on February 14 and will end on March 1, 2022.

She said the Biden-Harris administration has made trade and investment with Africa a huge priority, with a focus to connecting with African entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers to talk about how the US government can improve its commercial and economic diplomacy initiatives.  

“We are thrilled to be promoting the President’s Build Back Better World initiative which was announced back at the G7, also focused on digital, gender, health, and climate, focusing also, of course, on Prosper Africa, and happy to talk a bit about where things are with the evolving US-Africa strategy, which will be announced later this year,” said Cook.  

“Prosper Africa is a US government initiative to increase trade and investment between the United States and Africa.  It’s all about the opportunities that we are seeing in Africa and that we’ve certainly seen in Nigeria and Kenya, now in South Africa,” Leslie Marbury, acting Chief Operating Officer Prosper Africa said.