WASHINGTON, Aug 5 — African leaders, Including President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, have started arriving in Washington DC ahead of the first United States-Africa Leaders’ Summit to be convened by US President, Barack Obama, here on Tuesday and Wednesday.
President Zuma, accompanied by First Lady Nompumelelo Zuma, arrived in Washington in the early hours of Sunday. Also in President Zuma’s delegation are International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, State Security Ministers David Mahlobo, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters and Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.
The unprecedented summit is expected to be a major event, bringing together more than 50 Heads of State and Government from Africa for talks with Obama. The presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone — two of three countries which are experiencing an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus — have cancelled their plans to attend the summit.
The summit’s three-day formal programme includes one day devoted to business issues and events focusing on food security, health and women’s empowerment. There are close to 100 events that will take place on the sidelines of the summit.
According to a draft programme released by the US government this week, events on Tuesday will include a Business Forum which is expected to bring together about 50 CEOs from across the US and Africa. There are more than 600 US companies operating in South Africa and the US is South Africa’s third largest trading partner.
South Africa is eager to increase its exposure to the US and Pretoria is also pushing to extend the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) programme — the US legislation that provides duty-free market access to the US for qualifying sub-Saharan African countries by extending preferences on more than
4,600 products.
It also provides duty-free access to all clothing (as well as certain textile) exports from countries that qualify. Through the AGOA, South Africa has reportedly exported significant quantities of manufactured goods, most notably about 60,000 automobiles a year.
It is expected that all eyes will be on US Trade Representative Michael Froman who will host the AGOA Forum on Monday. African and US trade officials will discuss the future of the AGOA programme and US plans to pursue a renewal of AGOA legislation.
As signalled during a press conference in Pretoria on Friday, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies is expected to argue South Africa’s inclusion in any possible extension of AGOA for another 15 years.
Some observers have suggested that the conference was aimed at ensuring that Obama leaves a stronger relationship with Africa when his term in office comes to an end in 2016.
Speaking to SA News, the head of the Centre for African Renaissance at the University of South Africa (Unisa), Professor Shadrack Gutto, said the summit will have historical significance because Obama would be the first US president to bring African leaders together.
– BERNAMA
