US commits $33 bn for Africa

US president Barack Obama has made commitments worth $33 billion for Africa in the 2014 US-Africa Leaders Summit being held in New York which primarily focuses on trade, investment and security of the continent.

The three-day long summit, which began on Monday is being attended by leaders from about 50 African nations as well as policy experts, businessmen and government officials from the US and Africa.

Currently the US is seeking to boost its trade with Africa, which is around $85 billion annually or less is less than half of China's $200 billion.

While announcing the commitments at the summit, the president said, "We've got to do better, much better. I want Africans buying more American products and I want Americans buying more African products."

Deriding China's resource-oriented investments in the continent and projecting the US as a better partner, Obama said, "The United States is determined to be a partner in Africa's success. We don't look to Africa simply for its natural resources. We recognize Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people, their talents and their potential."

The major chunk of the commitments came from private-sector companies which announced $14 billion in investments across various industrial sectors.

Beverage giant Coca-Cola said it will invest additional $5 billion to develop manufacturing lines and production equipment in Africa, bringing the company's proposed outlay to $17 billion during 2010-20.

The company also signed an initiative 'Source Africa' with local partners for local sourcing of ingredients for its beverages production.

Power equipment giant General Electric (GE) announced $2 billion by 2018 in areas like building of production facilities, providing skills training and delivering localised solutions to customers.

The new investments include supply of aero-derivative gas turbines in Algeria and Nigeria to increase grid reliability and provide uninterrupted power supply at Nigerian Petroleum Corporations' oil refinery. Besides, $1 billion is earmarked for railway and power equipment for infrastructure development in Angola.

The GE Foundation will invest $20 million over the next five years in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi in the healthcare sector with focus on maternal and infant health. The programme will include initiatives in biomedical equipment technician training, anaesthesia training for nurses and safe water solutions in health facilities.

Hotel chain Marriot said it will invest $200 million across the continent while technology giant IBM made a commitment to provide $66 million for technology services to Ghana's Fidelity Bank.

The  US president made another $12 in new commitments for the Power Africa initiative from the private sector, World Bank and the Swedish government. The Power Africa initiative was announced by Obama last year, which targets to expand power supply to at least 20 million new consumers.

With the new commitments, the president aims to triple that to 60 million consumers.