FACT SHEET: The Doing Business in Africa Campaign

Through the Doing Business in Africa (DBIA) Campaign, the U.S. government is strengthening its commercial relationship with the continent of Africa, a diverse region that offers substantial trade and investment opportunities across national and regional markets.

With a 5.4 percent growth rate predicted for 2014, Africa is outpacing global growth. U.S. goods and services exports to Africa reached a record high of $50.2 billion in 2013, up 40 percent since 2009. These exports supported 250,000 U.S. jobs.

At today’s U.S.-Africa Business Forum, President Obama announced $7 billion in new financing to promote U.S. exports to and investments in Africa under the DBIA Campaign. U.S. companies announced new deals in clean energy, aviation, banking, and construction worth more than $14 billion, in addition to $12 billion in new commitments under the President’s Power Africa initiative from private sector partners, the World Bank, and the government of Sweden. Taken together, these new commitments amount to more than $33 billion, supporting economic growth across Africa and tens of thousands of U.S. jobs.

The DBIA Campaign encourages U.S. commercial engagement in Africa by harnessing the resources of the U.S. government to assist businesses in identifying and seizing opportunities and to engage with members of the African Diaspora in the United States. The DBIA Campaign, which was launched in November 2012, has four main objectives

·Connect American Businesses with African Partners

·Support Existing and New American Investment in Africa

·Expand Access for American Businesses to Finance Their Exports to Africa

·Reduce Barriers to Trade and Investment in Africa

The U.S. government’s newly announced two-year commitments to support the DBIA Campaign are provided below.

An Executive Order to Create a President’s Advisory Council on Doingn Business in Africa.

Today the President signed an Executive Order (E.O.) to promote broad-based economic growth in the United States and in Africa by encouraging U.S. companies to trade with and invest in Africa.

The E.O. directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa that will be comprised of not more than 15 members from the private sector, including small business. The Advisory Council will provide information, analysis, and recommendations to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, including on developing strategies for creating jobs in the United States and Africa through trade and investment; developing strategies by which the U.S. private sector can identify and take advantage of trade and investment opportunities in Africa; and building lasting commercial partnerships between the U.S. and African private sectors.

New U.S. Government Resources to Support U.S. Exports and Investment in Africa.

Interagency Initiatives

The Principals of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will *mobilize private capital for Africa’s infrastructure through a series of at least three outcome-oriented roundtables in Africa that will advance project- and sector-specific investment opportunities and needed regulatory reforms. These

agencies will implement the initiative in coordination with DBIA Campaign agencies, African governments, and the U.S. and African private sectors.

·The U.S. Department of Commerce and USTDA launched the 20×20 Initiative to support a total of 20 trade and reverse trade missions by 2020, to promote U.S. industry engagement in Africa.

Working with federal, state, and local government partners, these missions will foster U.S. business partnerships with key African

·The Small Business Administration (SBA) and Ex-Im Bank will collectively support 50 DBIA Campaign-themed activities and outreach sessions over the next two years to facilitate U.S. trade finance, provide counseling and training on their programs, and conduct business development to support U.S. exporters, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises.

U.S. Export-Import Bank

·Ex-Im Bank will commit up to $3 billion in financing to support U.S. exports to Africa over the next two years. This is in addition to Ex-Im Bank’s existing commitments of $5 billion for Power Africa and a planned commitment of $1 billion to support U.S. exports in connection with new and ongoing Angolan infrastructure projects (through the Angolan Ministry of Finance).

·Ex-Im Bank will commit $563 million in financing to support the sale of General Electric locomotives to Transnet, South

Africa’s largest integrated freight transport company. Major components of the locomotives will be manufactured at GE’s facilities in Erie, PA and Grove City, PA *supporting an estimated 2,500 American

Millennium Challenge Corporation

·MCC will commit up to $2 billion in funding for new compacts in Africa that facilitate *private sector-led economic growth and poverty reduction, creating potential opportunities for U.S. companies. This commitment includes $498 million over the next five years to support the turnaround of Ghana’s electricity sector and stimulate private investment. This Compact represents an example of the catalytic impact of Power Africa interventions which will help create the enabling environment to catalyze billions of dollars ofprivate investment in Ghana.

·MCC will also lead it is first ever investment mission to Africa to introduce U.S. businesses to the opportunities for investing in and around its Compacts. In addition, MCC will hold at least eight Procurement Promotion sessions with U.S. companies to promote Compact contracting opportunities and developing five Trade and Investment Prospectuses, one for each new Compact in Africa, that outline the specific business opportunities that are expected to arise from MCC’s investments.

Overseas Private Investment Corporation

OPIC will commit up to $1 billion in financing and insurance support to catalyze private sector investments in Africa. This is in addition to OPIC’s existing $1.5 billion Power Africa commitment. OPIC reaffirmed its plan to place personnel on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa to help facilitate increased U.S. trade and investment and will support an investment mission to the region, with a focus on the power sector.

·OPIC will coordinate approximately a dozen U.S. government meetings on August 6, 2014, for U.S. and African private sector investors and project developers to discuss discrete transactions for financing support consideration to OPIC, as well as other DBIA investment agencies.

U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

·USTDA, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Transportation, hosted two African Leaders Visits in association with the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit .These reverse trade missions highlighted the United States’ experience fostering economic growth through strategic infrastructure investments in the energy and transportation sectors.

·USTDA announced it will partner with the Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company of South Africa to evaluate satellite-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast across the African continent, the implementation of which will improve air traffic safety and create over $100 million in U.S. export opportunities.