Quantusbabe: My say on President Obama's Africa visit

Some key issues in the U.S. policy towards Africa includes supporting open and democratic governance and increasing access to quality healthcare and education. President Obama’s visit to Africa was an important milestone in rebuilding relationships between the West and Africa.

During his visit to Ghana in 2010, he articulated his policy on promoting democracy and building strong institutions in Africa. Now it remains to be seen how the U.S. will strike a balance between promoting democracy and fighting terrorism, as well as fostering economic development and trade.

Today, Africa’s leading trading partners are China and India. Turkey, Brazil and South Korea have also significantly increased their trade volumes with Africa in recent times.

China overtook the United States as Africa’s major trading partner in 2009. As a result, Beijing is seen as a major buyer of Africa’s natural resources and a supplier of capital goods for infrastructure development. India is investing considerably across Africa as well, especially in the agriculture, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbon resources, information technology and telecommunications sectors.

The strong presence of China and India calls for rethinking of the U.S. relationship with Africa in terms of investment and trade opportunities.

One of the key issues that needs attention is the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is set to expire in September 2015.

Through the AGOA initiative, 40 African countries have been able to increase their exports to the U.S. However, the full potential of the initiative has not been exploited. Of particular importance is the need to increase the range of products exported to the U.S. under AGOA in order to benefit African producers and manufacturers.

Since regional integration is already taking root in Africa, it is important that the U.S. engages regional economic blocs in trade negotiations to promote trade and commerce. The U.S. should also see emerging players in Africa as partners so that the interaction between Africa and the rest of the world leads to a win-win relationship.

I believe the United States can support youth employment opportunities by having bilateral discussions on identifying successful poverty reduction programs, making the youths benefit directly and conducting evaluations to assess progress.

Through these programs, youths become empowered, creative, innovative, and gain a political voice - all conditions necessary for building the strong institutions that promote good governance and economic development.

When Obama visited Africa, he saw a lot of young faces. I am sure he may have noticed that the vast majority of those young people are looking for decent work.

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