Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
Visiting United States of America deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Akunna Cook, says companies are eager to collaborate with the government and private sector to achieve its goal of making economic diplomacy a cornerstone of the US-Namibia-Africa relations.
“We are here to seek opportunities to further some of our goals for the continent including changing the narrative about the way that America and the world see Africa, not as a place of death, disease and disaster but as a place of opportunities,” Cook said yesterday.
“I have seen through my travel across the continent meeting with entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers that the continent is full of not just African solutions to African problems but African solutions to global problems,” she added.
Cook made these comments when she paid a courtesy call to Vice President Nangolo Mbumba at State House yesterday. Cook and her delegation of over a dozen US business representatives, the largest yet to come to Namibia, are in the country on a two-day visit of senior-level meetings.
The delegation introduced the US firms to decision-makers, potential partners, and future opportunities in the construction, energy, and health industries.
The visit ended yesterday.
Her convoy included US companies: BL Harbert; Black & Veach; Sun Africa; Fluor; and business groups from General Electric that focus on power, healthcare, and renewables and the United States’ lead diplomat for US economic policy in Africa.
She said Namibia has grand ambitions that they fully support the clean energy space, adding that her delegation was impressed by the investment opportunities the country presents.
“Even last night when I was talking to the deputy prime minister and some of her colleagues that there is grand potential here, creative industries, digital technologies and certainly as we had our meetings yesterday, we know that Namibia values gender equity, these are values that we all share around democracy, good governance and a commitment to equity,” she said.
“There is tremendous potential in Namibia’s people and in its economy, especially in renewable energies,” said Cook.
“We’ve heard the Namibian government’s interest in more engagement with US firms, which led to this delegation’s visit to Namibia. American companies offer the world’s best products and services, create jobs, transfer skills to employees, and value transparency and equity.”
In addition to the vice president, the delegation also met with the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and ministers of international relations, health, trade, finance and mines as well as the President’s special economic advisor and green hydrogen commissioner, the NIPDB, and NamPower. Namibia is the last stop on Cook’s tour to Africa, which also included Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.
The goal of Cook’s trip is to lead a United States’ whole-of-government effort to build trade and investment ties to Africa through an initiative called Prosper Africa. As part of this whole-of-government approach, Cook’s delegation to Namibia included representatives from the US department of commerce and Power Africa, as well as the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa.
While in Namibia, Cook also introduced Namibian entrepreneurs to investment opportunities and resources to scale up businesses and exports. On Monday, Cook and Prosper Africa hosted a virtual Twitter Space event connecting entrepreneurs in Namibia and across Africa to major American entrepreneurship investors, including Google.
Yesterday, Cook and US embassy chargé d’affaires Jessica Long hosted a networking event to link Namibian entrepreneurs to the United States government’s TradeHub.
The TradeHub works with businesses in Namibia to scale up and begin exporting to South Africa and the United States. Several Namibian companies and entrepreneurs have already begun exporting through the TradeHub’s support. ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na