US-Africa Business Forum

21 September 2016. Bloomberg Philanthropies and the U.S. Department of Commerce co-hosted the second 2016 U.S.-Africa Business Forum, a day focused on trade and investment opportunities on the continent for African heads of government and American business leaders. This Forum was hosted on the occasion of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly.

Interactive sessions focused on key issues that impact efforts to deepen U.S.-African economic engagement, including economic diversification and
regional integration, workforce development, entrepreneurship and innovation, and infrastructure and urbanization.

Beyond AGOA: Looking to the Future of U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment
Issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, this report considers paths to deepen the U.S.-Africa trade and investment relationship, and unlock its transformative potential, keeping pace with dramatic changes in Africa and in the rest of the world.

Extract of the report: (September 2016, 98 pages)

Importance of SPS Measures to Deepening U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment

Dubbed agriculture’s “final frontier,” Africa will be a critical source of supply and demand in the global agriculture system in the coming years. Much of Africa missed the “green revolution,” the postwar movement that boosted crop yields through the use of modern crop inputs, irrigation techniques, and farming technology in many parts of the world. This is a particularly painful missed opportunity, as sub-Saharan Africa ranks behind only South Asia in agricultural share of GDP and in the share of population living in rural areas. Increasing production in Africa by simply adopting existing technologiesand practices would contribute significantly to Africa’s capacity to feed itself as well as the rest of the world. In addition, strong national commitments in sub-Saharan Africa to agricultural science and technology research and commercialization would significantly improve production, and could greatly accelerate the continent’s participation in international trade.

McKinsey Global Institute: Lions on the move II: Realizing the potential of Africa’s economies
Has Africa’s growth run out of steam? This question is on the minds of many investors, business leaders, and policy makers as they observe the effects of lower resource prices and higher levels of sociopolitical instability on the continent’s GDP.