The Former Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister of Egypt, Dr Mohamed Higazy, has called on African governments to present a united front and negotiate a collective position in response to the recent tariffs imposed by the United States on African countries.
“It is not about one country solving its problem with the US over tariffs; it’s about a continent that believes in itself and in its strategic relationship with the United States. We must negotiate this position together, so that we can secure concessions that benefit Africa as a whole—not just individual countries,” he said.
“We should emphasise the fact that we have a strategic partnership with the United States. If the US is truly committed to maintaining relations with Africa, then it must work hard to address the African position. Otherwise, the US risks paving the way for a new era of China-Africa cooperation. They must recognise the growing importance of Africa,” Dr. Higazy added.
He made these remarks while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 60th training course for African journalists, organised by the Union of African Journalists (UAJ) in Cairo, Egypt.
Dr. Higazy also encouraged journalists to take ownership of the African narrative and promote the continent’s successes in order to contribute to building a stronger, more united Africa.
“There are many success stories around Africa. Yes of course there is many challenges but our role as media is to introduce the success stories that exists in Africa instead of projecting high-tech technologies from over the world that might not be useful or suitable to our environment and context.
For example in Egypt there is the new capital city, Haya Karima and we are planning to introduce the Egyptian urban strategy to the African scene so that countries who are interested can learn and work together so we should learn more about us and African journalists can play an important role in introducing success stories all over the continent so we can pick from each other,” he urged.
The former Assistant Secretary-General of the Africa Union, Ambassador Ahmed Haggag, agreed with the need for a unified African front to tackle the US tariff imposition.
He called for African governments to tap into the diaspora resource to accelerate development on the continent to promote self-sufficiency.
The US has recently imposed tariffs on several African countries, Ghana inclusive, marking a significant shift in trade relations previously governed by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which provided eligible African countries with duty-free access to US markets.
The decision which imposes a 10 per cent tariff on Ghana among other countries holds implications for economic growth, trade diversification amidst a bleak future for AGOA.
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH, CAIRO, EGYPT
