What does Africa Stand to Gain from Joe Biden’s Administration?

A recent post by ForbesAfrica projects what Africa could gain from the Joe Biden Administration. A lot of insights were drawn from Prof. Jannie Rossouw, interim head of Wits Business School in Johannesburg and Judd Devermont, Director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.

Donald Trump’s administration has not really given much attention to Africa. This does not entirely come as a shock considering that America is yet to develop a coherent Africa-focused policy, but Donald Trump’s administration is arguably the harshest one for Africa yet. Trump has really clamped down on the black continent with restrictions on flights from African countries and literally calling African countries  “shitholes”.

Biden’s administration could bring a wave of change in the relations between America and Africa, although analysts have warned not to expect too much. We can only be positive that Biden’s democratic background would bring a lot of positives to Africa. Jannie said, “He will be more engaging with countries, including Africa. Trump really isolated the US from many regions, from very many continents, it was bad relationship all over the place.”

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Judd gave his view on the issue, “I think Biden is going to focus on rebuilding partnerships and that includes at the multilateral level to the state level, to the subnational level.

So I think you will first see a refocus on climate change and strengthening international adoptions, which will be of benefit to Africans. It’s clear that Biden is very supportive of the Continental Free Trade Agreement. That is incredibly important. But he has also talked about the importance of subnational governance and particularly urbanization. And so I think we have the potential to see the next administration work with African countries at these multiple levels to unlock their economies.”

Judd also added that he expects the biggest African economies, especially Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya to receive increased attention, while the prospects for Ethiopia also look bright.

We can only keep our fingers crossed to see if Joe Biden upturns his predecessor’s decision to overlook Africa, a continent with some the world’s fastest-growing economies.