George Mawadri, British Airways’ commercial manager in Kenya told the Business Daily that “There are great opportunities in Africa and we are eyeing the region keenly.” Likewise, Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank’s chief economist for Africa, had said in April, “Although Africa was the hardest hit by the crisis, its recovery has been so remarkable that we could be at the beginning of what history will describe as Africa’s decade.”

Major carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Brussels, Lufthansa, Turkish Airline, Swiss International, and Delta have been introducing new African routes on their networks and increasing frequency to tap into the raising economic profile of Africa. In addition to the oversees airlines, domestic airlines like Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, Egypt Air and the Royal Air Morocco have been increasing their presence in the region and connecting their hubs to other international routes.

This July Belgian airline, Brussels, launched four new African destinations to its network — Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo — and increased frequency to Ivory Coast. Emirates with 19 cities in its network and Qatar Airways with similar strong presence in the continent clearly indicate the Middle Eastern airlines will make at least many African cities as a stopover location to extend their airprint to other far-off international destinations.

Africa overcame the meltdown contrary to many forecasts including that of the World Bank, and it is estimated, at this pace of recovery, an economic growth of about 5 percent by the end of this year. Furthermore, in 2011, half of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies are expected to be in Africa.

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Botswana also signed a MoU to engage Cuban medical personnel every two years with a clause not to re-employ them after the completion of their service. Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing who accompanied the President said that his country was looking forward to Cuba’s new offering in the treatment of diabetes through co-operation in providing medical care to its growing diabetic population.

Botswana will also be seeking the Cuban know-how in controlling vector menace through the use of biolarvicides chiefly to mitigate debilitating diseases such as malaria, filariasis and Onchocerciasis. Some studies have indicated the vector-spread diseases had seriously impacted the progress of the African countries by lowering productivity through prolonged sicknesses to their working citizens or their relatives.

On the diplomatic front, the Foreign Minister of Botswana, Phadu Skelernani termed the US embargo against Cuba as “unnecessary”, and appealed for revocation of the sanctions. He was maintaining the rhetoric of his president, who said on the first day of his visit, “Sometimes, in Africa, we receive millions of dollars from rich countries. However, proportionally speaking, Cuba gives us a lot more than anybody else”.

Skelernani and the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina signed agreement on co-operation and Seakgosing and his Cuban counterpart, Jose Ramon Balaguer signed pact on development of a comprehensive health care system. The trip to Cuba is the Botswanan President’s second one, the last time he visited the island was in 2007 as the Vice-President of his country.

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The US Trade Representative Ron Kirk revealed about the stalemate on the FTA at the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the Jacob Zuma presidency. However, he claimed there was still room for growth as South Africa was by far the largest beneficiary of trade under Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). He later added that it was possible to think of a new start with the new government at the helm since the US had very good foundation in South Africa with over 600 US business investments in various sectors.

Even though the central reason for the disinterest is not spelled out by the US authorities, the possibilities to this action seemed to be the same old ones. The old demand of the US particularly the intellectual property rights, and protectionist strategy could have checkmated the deal as of now.

South Africa is one of the SACU members that has largely benefitted by the Generalised System of Preferences that allows certain products to enter the US duty-free. South African clothing and selected textile products have duty-free access to the US market through the AGOA, an initiative of the Clinton administration.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa, the US is the largest market for its merchandise. On the other hand, South Africa’s third largest imports are from the US.

South Africa’s trade analyst Peter Draper admitted that the US government’s move did not come as a surprise “for a number of reasons”. In his opinion, the failure to clinch FTA with the US is a huge blow to SACU.

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