Interests beyond help. US diplomats in Africa will be settled from concluded contracts

United States diplomats in Africa countries will now be assessed on the basis of commercial contracts that have helped to prepare and realize, and not on the basis of the amount of money they spent on help.

“Help includes a donor and recipient, and trade is an exchange between equals” – explained on Tuesday the new strategy of Donald Trump Troy Fitrell, a high -ranking official of the African office office in the US Department of State.

In Africa, the effects of this strategy are already visible. US ambassadors throughout Africa helped mediate in 33 commercial agreements worth $ 6 billion during the first 100 days of Trump administration – according to the data of the American Department of State.

The ivory coast has just signed a memorandum about the agreement with the American company Yaatra Ventures on the construction of oil refinery as part of the partnership with Ivorian Refinery Company (SIR). The value of the investment is estimated at over 3 trillion FCFA ($ 5.1 billion).

In Liberia, the American MK Industries, together with the government of President Joseph Boaka, will invest in the first large African country in this West African country. The construction of the plant in Buchanan is planned next year. The government in Monrowia is already happy that the investment will bring several thousand jobs.

In May, the United States also signaled interest in investing in the Nigeria-Maroko gas pipeline. This project, which aims to combine gas extracted in Nigeria with Morocco and potentially Europe, has been estimated at $ 25 billion.

One of the most important American investments on the continent is the Lobito railway corridor, for which Washington recently undertook to spend $ 550 million in the form of a loan. Stretching through three African countries: Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRK), the corridor is seen as a key element of the regional African integration strategy. And from an American perspective, this project is primarily to oppose China's influence on the continent.

One of the first decisions of the new protectionist policy of President Trump, America First, was the closing of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and cutting global assistance by $ 60 billion.

From Monrowia Tadeusz Brzozowski (PAP)

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