The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a key American government investment agency with a $35.7 billion (P482bn) loan portfolio, will lead that country’s delegation to next month’s US-Africa Business Summit scheduled for Gaborone.
Answering questions from BusinessWeek in a briefing on Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State in the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, Molly Phee, said DFC CEO Scott Nathan would lead the American government’s delegation to the summit.
She described the DFC as an “important arm of US economic diplomacy,” and added that the US government was “delighted” that Botswana was hosting the summit. Phee said such types of commercial diplomacy activities are “another way in which we support youth by creating economic job opportunities”.
The upcoming summit is expected to attract more than 1,000 business leaders to Gaborone, providing a unique platform for the country to position itself for trade and investment. Heads of state of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia, and Eswatini have been confirmed to join President Mokgweetsi Masisi at the summit.
The US-Africa Business summits are the premier platforms to bring together African heads of state and other senior US and African government officials with top African and American senior business executives.
Themes to be discussed this year include infrastructure, ICT, health, energy, mining, manufacturing, and the creative industries.
The summit will run from July 11 to 14.
