World
US, Africa to Strengthen Trade Through AGOA, Private Sector Collaboration
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With over 1300 delegates at the US-African Business Summit held in mid-July in Gaborone, Botswana, the main focus was on mapping out strategies to strengthen trade and economic relations between the United States and Africa. Most speakers emphasized reviewing and widening collaboration between governments, while others underlined the importance of the private sector as the key driver in achieving robust economic growth in African countries.
African leaders, corporate business executives, and most participants called for an extension of the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), which grants African countries the freedom to export products tax-free into the American market. It is the traditional market from where most of them earn revenues for their national budget.
Renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act AGOA immediately would remove uncertainty about the pact’s future and allow for suppliers and partners to plan better and maintain investments in African economies, ministers said during discussions in Botswana.
Chairman of the Board of Directors for the US Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Dr Jeffrey L. Sturchio, underlined the importance of collaboration between governments and private sectors, describing partnerships as a vital ingredient for achieving robust trade and economic targets during the previous years.
The Corporate Council on Africa organized the mid-July summit as a follow-up to the December 2022 US-African Leaders Summit in Washington under the patronage of President Joe Biden, where the White House and the United States offered $55 billion for tackling various development projects across Africa.
African leaders urged renewal of the long-standing Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), which gives some African countries preferential or even tax-free access to the US for their exports. The agreement is due to expire in 2025, and African delegates at the summit want the deal renewed without much delay. As already known, AGOA has been credited with creating employment in Africa and bolstering exports to the United States.
“It is also our earnest hope that in consonance with the letter and spirit of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the Biden administration will renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act initiative, which expires in 2025,” Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, addressing delegates gathered in Gaborone. “The AGOA renewal now, with expanded mandates, will give a strong signal and confidence to the markets and serve as a catalyst for Africa’s industrialization and inclusion into the global value chains.”
Florie Liser, chief executive and president of the Corporate Council on Africa, which organizes the U.S.-Africa Business Summit, said there is a need to examine AGOA in light of the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). And United States is exploring opportunities that the African single market offers.
A lot has changed in Africa and beyond since AGOA came into practical operation more than two decades. Florie Liser pointed out that “the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area is fostering much closer economic and commercial integration on the continent, which will spur the creation of regional and continental value chains and increase value-added across key sectors. In many ways, the question is how best we can support this development.”
The Atlantic Council Africa Center produced a report titled – The Future of U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment, which analyzes the future of the AGOA. The report was issued at the summit.
Frannie Leautier, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the report’s lead author,, explained that the idea of extending or renewing AGOA is to realize the potential of AGOA for long-term development through greater certainty, planning and skilled up support for capacity development and investment flow.
The first recommendation is straightforward: just extend it. The second one is to provide longer-term certainty about AGOA eligibility because investors are waiting for that.
He said the act “should be renewed by the US Congress for at least a ten-year period as soon as possible.” There was also a call by ministers for the AGOA rules to be streamlined and made less cumbersome in order for more countries to be able to benefit from the program.
“There is a compelling case to reauthorize the AGOA,” wrote Daniel F. Runde and Thomas Bryja for the Washington DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in a new paper on calling for AGOA to be renewed.
According to reports, not all African countries benefit from AGOA. Some, like Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea, were barred because of coups and human rights violations. These African countries were not invited to the Washington December gathering. South Africa’s eligibility is being reviewed over the alleged sale of arms to Russia.
South Africa has been the biggest beneficiary of the 23-year-old AGOA act in monetary terms, largely thanks to the car sector. The South African media has also reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa sent senior members of his cabinet to Washington to discuss the future of AGOA.
Scott Nathan, chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, who is leading the U.S. government delegation at the summit, pledged continued support for Africa. “The United States is focused on what we will do with African nations and people, and not for African nations and people. We work to deepen and understand our partnership, amplify African voices and support the empowerment of Africans,” according to Scott Nathan.
Zambia’s trade and commerce minister, Chipoka Mulenga, said his country had benefited from the trade agreement but remained “at the bottom of the benefits of the AGOA platform” due to a lack of the industrialization needed to produce more “value-added products” rather than merely exporting raw materials such as minerals or agricultural produce.
If the U.S. government want to see AGOA succeed in Africa, it must support African countries to industrialize to give value addition. Mokhethi Shilele, trade minister from Lesotho, cautioned against a complete revamp of AGOA for fear of delaying the act’s renewal. “There is a sentiment that AGOA should be reformed or changed, but I’m indifferent to that because if we push for that, how are we going to get it renewed this year?”
Atlantic Council views an interconnection between the AGOA and the new African Continental Free Trade. For the future of US-Africa trade and investment, policymakers in the US and Africa must decide the basis for stronger US-Africa trade going forward. With the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) set to expire in 2025, the U.S. has an opportunity to update its economic offer for Africa.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Accessing the US Dollar in the East Africa region has now been made easier with the expansion of the stablecoin settlement infrastructure of SCRYPT.
This development enables banks, payment providers and corporate treasury teams to move value into and out of the continent in real time.
Businesses paying international suppliers frequently have to convert local currency into USD before purchasing stablecoins for settlement, incurring FX conversions and spreads before any payment is made.
But SCRYPT is eliminating this intermediate conversion by enabling direct settlement corridors for local African currencies into stablecoins.
This development allows businesses to move from local currency to stablecoin settlement in a single licensed transaction, without first sourcing rationed bank dollars, as stablecoins are increasingly becoming settlement infrastructure rather than an investment product.
The expansion adds settlement support across four African currencies: the Kenyan shilling (KES), Tanzanian shilling (TZS), Rwandan franc (RWF) and Ugandan shilling (UGX). Each corridor is delivered through the same full-stack infrastructure our clients already use for trading, custody and treasury operations.
Speaking on this, the chief executive of SCRYPT, Norman Wooding, said, “Across Africa, stablecoin adoption is driven by economic need, not speculation.
“Businesses here are not chasing yield; they are trying to pay suppliers and manage treasury without losing margin to a banking system that rations dollars. Licensed, fair-rate dollar access is the clearest proof of what this infrastructure is for.”
Also commenting, the Managing Director of Markets & Trading at SCRYPT, Mr Gabriel Titopoulos, said, “Until now, reaching stablecoins from local African currencies meant buying scarce dollars and incurring several layers of conversion costs.
“SCRYPT removes this friction. Firms and payment providers can now settle straight from local currencies through live corridors, with local partners.”
World
African Graduates Association Promoting Multifaceted Initiatives With Russian Educational Institutions
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
In preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled for late October 2026, Dr Francois Ngan, deputy chairman of the Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities, during an official working visit, has held a consultative meeting with Professor Vladimir Filippov, the President of the Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship (RUDN), and former Minister of Higher Education of Russia, Chairman of the National Commission for Accreditation of Higher Education.
RUDN is an educational institution established in 1960, primarily to provide higher education to Third World students. It has now become a popular multidisciplinary spot for many students, especially from developing countries. The university offers various academic programmes and has research infrastructure that comprises laboratories and interdisciplinary centres. The university is named after the former Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba.
Dr Francois Ngan and Professor Filippov discussed the importance of the Graduates Association as a continental platform dedicated to strengthening unity, cooperation, and promoting shared progress among African graduates who studied in the former Soviet Union and in the Russian Federation. They also reviewed multifaceted initiatives that could bring together alumni associations from across Africa, whose members obtained education and professional training, and cultural experiences in Soviet and Russian institutions of higher learning.
Professor Filippov expressed optimism in addressing emerging challenges as a result of shifting geopolitical changes, emphasised strategic cooperation in the educational sphere with Africa, in general, and with the Republic of Cameroon, in particular, and further about the integration of African students during their studies in the Russian Federation.
The meeting also touched on academic and scientific work, the possibility of rewriting a scientific thesis, and the official organisation of transferring versions translated into six languages for the library of RUDN. Significant questions relating to Russia’s educational opportunities, collaborations and partnerships involving African countries were thoroughly discussed.
The Union of Associations of African Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities was created under one continental umbrella to promote friendship, for professional networking, to engage in cultural exchange, and with particular emphasis on forging strategic cooperation between Africa and Russia.
World
Russia to Support Industrial Growth, Technological Advancement and Supply Chain Resilience across Africa
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With the heightening of geopolitical rivalry and competition, a new Russia-Africa working group has emerged as a significant institutional mechanism and plans to focus on facilitating and monitoring strategic investments, industrialisation, and infrastructural development—the Strategic Action Plan 2023-2026—that was outlined during the second Russia-Africa summit, in St.Petersburg, the second largest city in the Russian Federation.
While substantial progress has, largely, lagged on the multidimensional economic front with Africa primarily due to its internal difficulties and the complexity of relations with its former Soviet neighbours, Russian officials believe there still remains huge untapped potential in strengthening bilateral cooperation. As planned, President Vladimir Putin has already signed an executive order that directs Moscow to host the forthcoming third Russia-Africa summit in October 2026.
On June 30, a regular meeting of the Business Council on Africa was held under the chairmanship of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. It was dedicated to issues of trade, economic and investment cooperation with Africa. The group discussed the current state and prospects for the implementation of policy initiatives with an emphasis on assisting the countries of the continent, strengthening their economic, energy, technological and food sovereignty, as well as training specialists for Africa.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated that Russia-Africa relations primarily depend on an understanding of the importance of collective action based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and resolving common tasks. In the past few years, Russia-Africa cooperation has been noticeably strengthening. “We are deepening political dialogues, developing bilateral contacts with African countries, promoting cordial cooperation between ministries and departments, and expanding humanitarian exchanges. We are also continuing the structural diversification of trade partnerships and economic dimensions.”
“Next on the agenda is the launch of diplomatic missions in The Gambia, Liberia, Togo, and the Union of the Comoros,” Lavrov said at a meeting of the Business Council under the Russian foreign minister. Lavrov noted that Russian embassies began operating in three other African countries in 2025: Niger, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. A new Department for Partnership with Africa was also established. According to the top diplomat, “expanding Russia’s diplomatic presence on the continent contributes to developing relations.”
There are already 45 Russian embassies operating in Africa. The Russian foreign minister noted that Moscow is quickly rebuilding its presence in African countries, which sharply declined during the collapse of the Soviet Union. “There will be literally four or five countries left where we still need to establish full-fledged embassies, and then, we will have 100 per cent coverage of the entire African continent with our diplomatic presence,” Lavrov emphasised.
After the first summit in October 2019, the Foreign Ministry also created the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. Its main tasks include controlling the roadmap to Africa’s multidimensional cooperation and guiding potential Russian investors to the continent. This also underscored the priority and post-Soviet solidarity Russia currently attaches to its policy towards Africa, within the growing framework of the emerging new architecture of multipolarity in the Global South.
In an interview in June 2026, the director of the Department of Partnership with Africa at the Foreign Ministry, Tatyana Dovgalenko, shared a few insights in the lead-up to the third summit. Furthermore, Dovgalenko explained that Russia would move away from security to concentrate more on economic issues, especially to team up with African colleagues to streamline mechanisms for implementing projects that will ensure food security and agriculture, and help Africa in installing processing facilities to support its self-sufficiency. She also emphasised energy and vital infrastructures, and the third direction was to simultaneously work more coherently with sub-regional organisations.
Over the past few years, bilateral relations have been increasing. There are positive dynamics in trade turnover, estimated at $30 billion. Steps are being taken to build payment systems, preferably in national currencies, while Russia looks to open four more diplomatic offices, bringing the total to 48 across Africa. Russia is currently training 37,000 African students, but only approximately 1/3 on state scholarships in Russia’s educational institutions. “We are ready to share valuable experiences of building a sovereign development model with African partners to achieve self-reliant economic growth based on their own resources and capabilities. Russia aims at creating processing capabilities and localising production, and provides access to advanced technological solutions,” underlined Dovgalenko in her interview with New Eastern Outlook.
For African countries that have endured difficult decades on the path to political independence, it is now important to take full control over the untapped resources, direct income and revenue toward stimulating the national economic sector, rather than paying for the well-being of the Western “golden billion” during this changing geopolitical era, according to Dovgalenko.
According to reports, the forthcoming Russia-Africa summit will have an economic agenda, including the digital economy, technology, artificial intelligence, healthcare, investment, and settlements in global trade. Of course, the agenda will also cover Africa’s political aspects. But if African friends bring along any specific ideas, Russia will give them serious attention. In addition, with continuity and consistency, pay increased attention to expanding ties with Africa’s regional integration associations.
Going forward, the focus will be on translating strong trade relations into deeper investment partnerships, fostering technology collaboration, strengthening industrial linkages and contributing towards the shared objectives set by the leadership of both African countries and Russia. At the third summit, the above-mentioned specific initiatives will be further designed. In this regard, the key document, the new action plan for the next three-year period (2027-2029), is intended to reflect dynamic realities in the future relations of Russia and Africa
