Africa-Press – Angola. The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, stated, this Tuesday, in Dallas (Texas), that Africa relies heavily on the new US partnership to finance the construction of infrastructures that needs for its development.
Speaking at the opening of the 16th US-Africa Business Summit, he said that this event is an opportunity to reflect on business opportunities and perspectives between the US and the African continent.
From this perspective, the statesman highlighted the opportunity of the summit, which takes place at a time when the parties are fully aware of their potential and have been intensifying dialogue to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
According to the President, the meeting takes place in a context in which the USA, with its industrial development and capacity for technological innovation, and Africa with its natural resources, young population and expanding market, position themselves as essential partners to face the great challenges of food and energy security, environmental protection, international trade and the global economy.
He recalled that this initiative follows the Summit of African Leaders and the USA, held in December 2022, in Washington, whose conclusions opened up encouraging prospects for the intensification of economic cooperation between the USA and Africa, especially in the area of infrastructure construction. essential structures for the economic and social development of the continent.
During his speech, João Lourenço assured that African leaders have been making efforts to achieve the silencing of weapons on the continent, combat terrorism, unconstitutional changes of power and promote democracy.
He stated that they are equally committed to creating a good business environment, to increasingly attract private investment, to create wealth and employment for their populations.
Private investment
The Head of State highlighted the importance of private investment for the economy of African countries, which need to increase and diversify the production of consumer goods and services, transform raw materials and diversify export products.
However, he recognized the importance of public investment and public-private partnerships in infrastructure, for the leap that the continent intends to take and which “is already late compared to other regions of the planet”.
In the opinion of President João Lourenço, the integration of regional and African economic communities as a whole implies greater mobility, connectivity, ease of circulation and sharing of some fundamental infrastructures between African countries, in order to easily connect countries in the north of the continent, from the Maghreb, to the south of Southern Africa, or the countries on the western African coast bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, to the countries on the eastern African coast bathed by the Indian Ocean.
To achieve this purpose, he stressed that strong investment is needed in the construction of transnational roads, roads and highways, more railways, more hydroelectric dams and respective transmission lines, more kilometers of submarine cables and optical fiber, which will also enable the effective implementation of the Continental Free Trade Agreement.
“The African continent is counting on you to increase its hydroelectric energy production capacity from its abundant water resources, the construction of photovoltaic parks to produce solar energy, on a continent with an abundance of sun that is wasted”, he expressed.
Communication and information
During his intervention, João Lourenço also spoke about the importance of communication and information infrastructures through satellites, submarine cables, fiber optic networks and repeater towers for mobile telephony and expansion of the internet signal, as vital tools for the most rapid development of Africa.
“At a time when there is much talk about the need for a gradual energy transition to save planet Earth from the greenhouse effect and its already very visible consequences, we would like to see direct American private investment in the exploration and transformation, preferably locally, of minerals abundant critics in Africa, for the production of batteries for electric cars, solar panels, semiconductors and ships in this era of exponential growth of artificial intelligence”, invited João Lourenço.
The Angolan President is among the African government entities invited to the summit, which will discuss, for four days, solutions to boost commercial cooperation between North Americans and Africans.
In addition to this, João Lourenço also has two interventions planned for this Tuesday in High-Level Dialogues on Investment in Strategic Infrastructures and Sustainable Growth and the Energy Future of Africa.
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