UNGA 75th: Virtual
The COVID19 crisis has pushed this year’s conferences/meetings to be done mainly virtually including the UNGA 75th meetings and all the side events. What this global health crisis has brought to the forefront is what we have been focusing on for the last 10 years- digitalization and content. For emerging markets especially in Africa and even in some areas in rural America, the importance of interconnectivity has been redefined. The future of meetings and gatherings are going to exponentially change, as there are various innovations such as VR, AR, gaming and others content delivery platforms that will enhance our interactions.
Every country has to reimagine Capitalism, citizens’ engagement and sustainable economic development.
Highlights
"At the 75th GA session, the SDGs will be put under the spotlight in what is being described as a “first of its kind 30-minute global broadcast”, created by writer and director, and SDG advocate, Richard Curtis, which will take audiences across the world “on a dynamic exploration of the times we live in, the multiple tipping points our planet faces, and the interventions that could transform our world” up to 2030, when, it’s hoped, the SDG targets will be met." Read more
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision titled, ‘High-level meetings of the General Assembly in September 2020’ (A/74/L.75), calls for UN Member States, observer States and the European Union to submit pre-recorded statements by Heads of State, Vice-Presidents, Crown Princes or Princesses, Heads of Government, Ministers or Vice-Ministers. These statements will be played in the General Assembly Hall during the general debate, following an introduction by their representative who will be physically present in the Assembly Hall." Read more
"But "diplomacy, to be effective, requires personal contact," said UN Secretary-General Guterres, who should know -- he typically meets in person with hundreds of visiting officials at UNGA.
Meeting face to face has been powerful in years past, with dozens of world leaders conducting what's known as 'diplomatic speed dating' hustling from handshake to cocktail party; looking for funding from Wall Street bankers; and sometimes making a deal that can actually promote a small slice of peace somewhere." Read more
African Presidents at UNGA
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa “assert the continent’s position on global and continental peace, security and development’s challenge and outline the African Union’s programme of action in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and achieving the goal of Silencing the Guns”.
President Hage Geingob has reiterated Africa's stance on reforming the United Nations Security Council, reflecting the Common African Position.(...) “let us embrace one another and pull together in the spirit of multilateralism, in the interest of defeating Covid-19, in the interest of achieving the SDGs and in the interest of safeguarding global peace and the human dignity of every man, woman and child in the world,”
Central African Republic President Faustin Archange Touadera shared as other Member States and the African Union in supporting Security Council reform, reasoning “it is necessary to transcend narrow interests and it is also important for Africa to be better represented in the various organs of the Organization.”
US-Africa Engagement
For further information about US-Africa engagement, visit prosperafrica.dfc.gov.
The US Versus Chinese Investment In Africa
To put things in perspective, and notwithstanding the toll that Covid-19 has had on global trade, in 2019, according to the US Census Bureau of Foreign Trade from Jan-Jul, total US trade with Africa was worth $31.3 billion. During the same period in 2020, this figure is a mere $12.7 billion. A successful trade agreement would be the latest reinvigorating step per the US Trade Representative's statement, the "two countries recognize that an agreement between them has the potential to serve as a model for additional agreements across Africa." Read more
Trump to Establish US-Africa Pandemic Research Institute to Fight Future Outbreaks
In a statement, the White House Press Secretary said that, following President Donald Trump’s remarks at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Board of Advisors Meeting, his administration will establish the United States—Africa Institute for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, an initiative in which HBCUs will serve as a key liaison. “The U.S.-Africa Institute will build the leadership and capacity of African health professionals, support African technological innovation, and create a data hub to support the rapid detection and mitigation of pandemics,” the press secretary said. The chief aim of the endeavor is to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks. HBCUs, which the White House called “a uniquely American asset,” will play a leading role in the Institute, which will also “complement longstanding United States investments and relationships, and usher in a new era of two-way partnership with the African continent.” Read more
The United States and Mali Celebrate 60 Years of Friendship and Partnership
Since 2016, USAID has trained over 7,500 Malian teachers and distributed more than one million teaching and reading materials, helping to build the educational foundation of Mali’s future leaders. In the past year, the United States Government provided $14 million in agricultural loans to rural farmers in Mali and provided nutrition interventions to over 2.5 million Malian children under the age of five. Read more
USAID/Power Africa Announces $2.6 Million in Healthcare Electrification Grants
“Solar energy holds great potential to expand and improve health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa, and off-grid solar technology offers a clean, affordable, and smart solution to electrify healthcare facilities located beyond the reach of national electricity grids,” said Mark Carrato, Power Africa Acting Coordinator. “Power Africa’s experience shows that off-grid solar energy systems can be rapidly deployed to even the most rural facilities.”
“These awards demonstrate what we can accomplish when the public and private sectors join together to break down the barriers to reliable electricity for rural healthcare facilities,” said Chris Milligan, Counselor to USAID, on September 22, 2020 during a virtual event announcing the grant awardees. Read more
Connectivity in Africa
For further information about Africa's connectivity, visit
The Fiber Optics Option
For further information about Africa's fiber optics, visit
Interesting Articles
Pandemic Spurs Africa's Mobile Telcos to Ramp up Banking Bid
The global health crisis has been an unexpected catalyst, with some African governments releasing COVID-19 stimulus grants via mobile money platforms and central banks easing regulations, including limits on mobile transactions.
Orange added over five million new customers for its mobile money services in April and May alone. MTN hit one million South African users in June, when it had expected half of this, and recorded a 28% jump in mobile money transactions per minute across all its African markets in the first half of the year. Read more
A close look at the possible impact of Google’s various initiatives in Africa
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) posits that SMEs account for 90% of all businesses in Africa. However, a large percentage of these businesses are unregistered and have little access to credit facilities among other benefits.
In Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest markets, PwC states that SMEs account for 96% of all businesses, and about 84% of the workforce.
Several of these businesses were badly hit following the onset of the pandemic, and just a few have been able to adapt.
According to Ehimuan, many of these businesses have had to quickly figure out how to pivot their operations to a digital-first approach. Yet, a gap remains between those who can access these online opportunities and those who can’t.
“If the economy of Africa is to recover quickly from the challenges of the period, they (SMEs) must be supported. It’s a responsibility for all because an Africa that works is great for everyone, including Google,” she asserts. Read more
Facebook to build a subsea cable to improve connectivity in Africa
The 37,000 kilometres long cable, called 2Africa, is expected to provide nearly three times the total network capacity of all the subsea cables currently serving Africa, according to Facebook, and will be the first subsea cable system to connect East and West Africa across a single open system.
The system, which is expected to go live in 2023-4, will have a design capacity of up to 180Tbps, feature spatial division multiplexing technology to allow for the deployment of up to 16 fibre pairs, as well as wavelength selective switching reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer to allow for more flexible capacity management, and the cable burial depth will be increased by up 50% compared to older systems. Read more
An African at the WTO’s helm would fit its free trade instincts
“Of the two, Ms Mohamed has more trade experience. A lawyer by training, she chaired the WTO’s general council and as Kenya’s foreign minister she won praise for her chairing of the 2015 ministerial meeting in Nairobi that agreed curbs to agricultural export subsidies and a new deal on information technology. (…) Ms Okonjo-Iweala has less trade experience, but more international clout, particularly in the US where she is well known — and recently became a citizen. She also has a well-financed campaign behind her, not to mention strong support from the Nigerian government, which muscled other prospective candidates aside to clear her path.” Read more
S-Africa trade relations: Why is AGOA better than a bilateral free trade agreement?
The benefit of preferential trade agreements is that they can create sustainable structural changes. After 18 years of benefiting from AGOA, a computable general equilibrium analysis by the World Bank in 2018 showed that if AGOA was terminated, it would lead to a 1 percent loss in income by 2020 and a 16 percent decline in textile and apparel. But simulations also showed that trade facilitation measures that decrease average trade costs by 2 percent per year would eliminate the adverse income effects that result from the elimination of AGOA. The infant industry protection provided by AGOA allowed the industry to develop and flourish, such that decreasing trade costs by just 2 percent would allow Lesotho to maintain its competitiveness. Read more
Angola’s AIPEX partners US agencies to promote bilateral trade and investment
Globally, Angola is the 72nd largest goods trading partner with $3.2 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2018.
During this period, Angola enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.2 billion largely attributed to oil exports to the US whose value amounted to US$2.5 billion.
In terms of Investments, Data from the US Department of Commerce, U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Angola (stock) was $394 million in 2018, a 49.5% decrease from 2017. Angola’s Foreign Direct Investment in the United States (stock) was $267 million in 2018, up 18.1% from 2017.
Attracting foreign direct investment to diversify the economy is one of the Angolan government’s top priorities and this move would contribute towards realising this goal.
The U.S. Embassy in Angola has been working closely with the Angolan government to stimulate and diversify bilateral trade and investment. Read more
Experts reveal nine agribusiness and food opportunities in Africa
Africa is home to 86% of the world’s camels. The urbanised public is slowly but surely realising the value of camel milk, which is beneficial for lactose-intolerant consumers and has less cholesterol. Kenyan entrepreneur Hassan Bashir is tapping into this opportunity through his company Nourishing Nomads and aims to produce 30,000 litres of camel milk a day within the next five years. Here’s how Bashir aims to establish an entire value chain around camel milk in Kenya’s Wajir County. Read more
UN: Africa Lost $800B in Illegal Transfers in Recent Years
The largest component of illicit capital flights from Africa, totaling $40 billion in 2015, was related to “extractive commodities” — more than three-fourths of it in gold alone, followed by diamonds and platinum, UNCTAD said. It cautioned the data was incomplete and such figures were likely an underestimate of the true tally.
Illegal capital outflows from three countries — Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa — accounted for more than four-fifths of the total annually during that three-year span, with Nigeria alone making up nearly half of that, according to UNCTAD calculations. Read more
Fun Facts
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The original telephone used in Cape Town to conduct the first speech test in SA in 1878 used by Boettger. The first telephone service in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was established in 1891 to connect the railway office and municipality buildings. Aside from South Africa, the first telephone in Ethiopia was installed in Emperor Menelik's palace in 1889.
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The first submarine cables got to North Africa as early as 1956 but it was not until 1969 that sub-Saharan Africa was connected by submarine cable.
The achievement of the longest and most spectacular submarine cable at the time was the one connecting South Africa to Portugal in 1960.
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