Zambia Vice President Guy Scott has arrived in Washington, DC to participate in a three-day US-Africa Leaders Summit where he will join 47 African leaders in conversations with US President Barack Obama to discuss strengthening commercial ties to the continent and where he will seek to establish, encourage, and promote US investments in Zambia.
According to Vice President Scott, Zambia should learn and benefit from the three-day summit where he and other African leaders will also call for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“This is not for show or parade,” he said “We want to take away from here benefits for Zambia.”
According to the Zambia Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Robert Sichinga, because the AGOA is subject to renewal in 2015, it is critical to learn the position of the US and to find a common ground.
“We came up with a common African position of what we are going to seek and definitely what has come up is that there is need to renew the AGOA Act,” he said.
The AGOA offers incentives for African countries to open their economies and build free markets while, at the same time, providing select US imports with duty-free treatments in eligible sub-Saharan African countries including Zambia.
During the Summit, President Barack Obama will announce as much as USD 14 billion in investment commitments from US companies including General Electric Co. (GE) and International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation to be used in construction, energy, finance and technology projects.
