President Biden recently announced that the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit will be December 13th-15th, 2022. According to the White House, the Leaders Summit will “demonstrate the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa, and will underscore the importance of U.S.-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities.” Even more recently, the White House released the U.S. Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa. This 21st Century U.S.-African partnership will have four main objectives:
- Foster Openness & Open Societies.
- Deliver Democratic & Security Dividends.
- Advance Pandemic Recovery & Economic Opportunity.
- Support Conservation, Climate Adaptation, & A Just Energy Transition.
In addition to advancing shared prosperity, the U.S. Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa will also seek to address two of the region’s most pressing problems: the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant economic and social consequences. But if the promise of a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit seems disarmingly straightforward, constituting panels that address the region’s most pressing problems will not be. For instance, many of the skills necessary for developing Africa’s economies—innovation and entrepreneurship, trade and investment, port and logistics management—are endowed with U.S. subnational leadership, rather than the U.S. government who will be hosting Africa’s leadership. Thus, panel selection will need to contemplate this skills dichotomy, if the Leaders Summit is to successfully address Africa’s most pressing problems.
Subnational Governments Connect Foreign Policy to Domestic Prosperity
For the American people, international trade and investment facilitation at the subnational level directly connects foreign policy to domestic prosperity. Foreign direct investment funds industries and jobs, while international trade expands markets for U.S. goods and services. What’s more, to sufficiently address the most pressing challenges in the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the White House needs to consider including the aforementioned panel of subnational government leadership who have become the repository of technical knowledge and ‘best’ practices necessary to advance America’s four main objectives towards Sub-Saharan Africa.
AfCFTA Stands To Benefit from Subnationals’ Ports & Logistics Management
Subnational governments—or the sum of state, county, and municipal governments—are not just where businesses are registered, but also the managers of airports and seaports that facilitate global trade. In particular, skills transfer necessary for efficient intra-Africa trade, as envisioned by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), will be better advanced by a panel of U.S. subnational leadership. And the value of intra-Africa trade will improve if African governments can more effectively copy U.S. subnational governments’ initiatives that leverage comparative advantages to advance prosperity. In my home state of Maryland as an example, I conceived and currently lead the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives’ (GOCI) Maryland Business Forum, a transformative initiative that leverages Maryland’s factor endowment to promote private-sector competitiveness in international commerce.
Commerce through Maryland’s ports continues to grow in both volume and value. The Port of Baltimore is one of only four Eastern U.S. ports with a 50-foot shipping channel and two 50-foot container berths, necessary for accommodating the largest container ships in the world. Similarly, the “Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) set a new annual record for cargo operations in 2021, with more than 618.8 million pounds of cargo transported—an increase of 4% compared to 2020.” BWI is also the busiest airport in the Washington-Baltimore region. The upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit will be an excellent opportunity to share America’s subnational expertise in port logistics and supply chain management. This knowledge transfer and commerce in enabling technologies will prove invaluable to the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The proposed subnational panel will also present an opportunity to develop new business connections for U.S. innovators and commercialization of medical therapies especially from research centers in public universities. According to the Brookings Institution, up to “90 percent of the drugs consumed in sub-Saharan Africa’s estimated $14 billion pharmaceutical market (which includes nearly 25 percent of global demand for vaccines), were imported.” Yet, Brookings finds that “although the United States is the world’s third-largest exporter of pharmaceuticals by value, the U.S. represents only 4.4 percent of drug imports to Africa.” Simultaneously strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical security while expanding markets for U.S. innovations will advance U.S.-Africa shared prosperity.
Unlocking Maryland’s $18.6 billion BioHealth & Life Sciences For Africa
The Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD), at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, is poised to grow America’s paltry 4.4 percent market-share in Africa’s drug imports. The CVD’s research, surveillance, and vaccine development focuses on four key areas: (1) Enteric Diseases, (2) Malaria, (3) Influenza and Respiratory Diseases, and (4), Emerging Pathogens. These types of therapy are in high demand in Africa, and a major reason for the GOCI Maryland Business Forum’s engagement to align the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa & Global Health’s foreign policy priorities with therapies from Maryland’s $18.6 billion BioHealth & Life Sciences sector.
The recently released U.S. Strategy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa acknowledges that “COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant economic and social consequences… are two of the region’s most pressing problems.” During a Q&A with my alma mater, the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, I argued that “COVID-19 induced intersecting crises of global pandemic and economic recession requires deliberate and targeted institutional intervention. Markets and societies have not organically returned to optimal conditions. As such, global economic growth will require enabling public policy.” The upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit is the enabling policy for American innovators, and subnational trade and investment leadership, to engage with African counterparts on strategies for shared prosperity. I know the GOCI Maryland Business Forum will be ready to lead participation by Maryland’s innovators.
U.S. Government Stands To Benefit from Subnational Problem-Solving Approach to IR
Closer association with subnational governments and institutions will also present a beneficial ripple effect for the U.S. government. According to another paper by the Brookings Institution, the U.S. Department of State will “sharpen their expertise and experience and benefit from the pragmatic, problem-solving approach to international relations practiced at the subnational level.” Brookings further finds that “the U.S. government would also have the opportunity to leverage this soft power on the global stage, helping it accelerate the return of U.S. global credibility and reestablish U.S. global cooperation on key policy priorities.” Closer association with subnational governments during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit presents an opportunity for the U.S. government to reestablish soft power on the global stage.
White House-African Diaspora Partnership
As Chair for Policy and Communications for Biden-Harris 2020 Campaign’s African Diaspora engagement, I worked with U.S. foreign policy leaders including, Ambassadors Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, Michael Battle, and Susan D. Page, among many others, to amplify the Campaign’s agenda for Africa. One of my proudest moments during the campaign was realizing the publication of the Biden-Harris Agenda for the African Diaspora, which commits to renewing the United States’ mutually respectful engagement toward Africa. With the upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, President Joe Biden has kept faith with our community. I am hopeful the administration will now engage the African diaspora architects of this commitment. The resulting exchange of ideas is how we translate foreign policy into sustainable domestic prosperity that meets the jobs and 21st Century needs of the American and African people.
About the Author
Commissioner O. Felix Obi, MPM, is a member of the Executive Office of the U.S. President’s (EOP) Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA), at the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Felix is also Chair of the Economic & Trade Development Taskforce (Africa Commission) at the Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiative (GOCI). Felix was Biden-Harris 2020 Campaign’s Policy & Communications Chair for African Diaspora engagement, among other roles. He is a World Trade Center Institute 2021 Bowe Fellow, and an alumnus of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, where he served two terms on the McCourt School Alumni Board. Twitter: @OFelixObi
Commissioner O. Felix Obi, MPM, is experienced in commercial diplomacy, a member of the Executive Office of the U.S. President’s (EOP) Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA), at the Office of USTR. Felix is also Chair of the Economic & Trade Development Taskforce (Africa Commission) at the Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives (GOCI). Felix was Biden-Harris 2020 Campaign’s Policy & Communications Chair for African Diaspora engagement, among other roles. He is a World Trade Center Institute 2021 Bowe Fellow, and an alumnus of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, where he served two terms on the McCourt School Alumni Board. Twitter: @OFelixObi
AS A MATTER OF FACT, I AM HIGHLY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR INTEREST IN SUCH A GLOBAL GROWTH, VERY MUCH APPRECIATED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR CONTINENTS. WE REMAIN IN THE UNITY OF ONE AN OTHER FOR A MORE LASTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OURSELVES.
Capt. Arinze many thanks for your kind comment. Indeed, the future of international relations must continue to be undergirded by multilateralism.