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| U.S. President Barack Obama and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, right, are greeted by a cheering crowd as they arrive at the State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Monday, July 1. |
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) -- With hundreds
wearing white shirts and hats bearing President Barack Obama's face,
Tanzanians said "karibu," or "welcome," to him on Monday as they lined a
street temporarily renamed Obama Avenue.
Obama is in Africa to
promote an increased partnership amid criticism the United States has,
outside of military interests, focused its attention on other areas of
the world.
Tanzania is an important
partner on security and development, and Obama sought to highlight its
economic potential with China and other foreign governments paying more
attention to it lately.
Lying strategically on
the coast of the Indian Ocean, Tanzania is an outlet for many landlocked
neighbors and a jumping-off point for companies looking to expand
commercial opportunities.
It has largely untapped
agricultural and mineral resources, and Obama is trying to put forward
the case for African consumers and their governments to look West rather
then East.
"We have got enormous
opportunity to unleash the next era of African growth. I see Africa as
the world's next major economic success story and the United States
wants to be a partner in that success," Obama told a roundtable of some
20 U.S., African and other international corporate chief executives
before addressing a larger group of business leaders.
He was joined at the
roundtable by the heads of General Electric, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and
Symbion Power Corp, which partnered with GE to build a major dam in
Tanzania.
But is he already too late?
China became Africa's largest individual trading partner three years ago, surpassed only by the European Union.
Earlier this year, just
10 days after taking office, Chinese President Xi Jinping made Tanzania
the first stop on a three-nation Africa tour. He signed 16 trade,
cultural and diplomatic accords in Tanzania alone.
According to the local
arm of the China-Africa business council, there are approximately 8,000
Chinese owned businesses operating in Tanzania, ranging from large-scale
construction projects to small shops and market kiosks.
And more Chinese citizens are flocking to seek their fortunes across Africa.
"Everyone knows that
China is the factory of the world. All the big countries, including the
U.S., have their factories there," said Hao Jianguo of the China-Africa
Business Council, noting that the import-export pipeline is direct and
prices favorable.
"Where there's an opportunity for business, the businessmen find it. Our motto is, 'Follow the profit,'" Jianguo said.
Still, Obama promoted
sound business practices and his own initiatives, the previously
announced Power Africa, aimed at improving the continent's power grid
and the recently announced Trade Africa.
The latter is a
partnership between the United States and African nations intended to
expand trade with countries including Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
Trade Africa aims to
double intra-regional trade in East African Community (EAC) countries
and boost exports to the United States by 40%.
On Monday, the president
also said his commerce secretary and other U.S. officials would visit
Africa on trade missions to make good on his promises.
"I'm making this trip
early in my second term, because I intend for this to be the beginning
of a new level of economic engagement with Africa," Obama said. "If
people across this continent are just given a chance, if they're just
empowered with the skills and the resources and the capital ... they can
achieve extraordinary progress."
Obama will visit Symbion on Tuesday, continuing a theme of the trip during which he has pledged an additional $7 billion to increase power infrastructure across the continent.
Obama's visit to
Africa's biggest economy was part of a three-nation trip that began last
week and included stops in Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.
Celebratory greeting
Prior to his meeting
with business leaders, Obama and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete
spoke and answered questions before the vast building adorned with
American and Tanzanian flags on grounds complete with peacocks.
The respect between the two leaders, as well as the appreciation Kikwete has for the United States was clear.
"The people of Tanzania
love you," Kikwete said, looking at Obama. "There has never been a visit
by a head of state to Tanzania that has attracted such big crowds."
Kikwete was the first
African leader Obama welcomed to the White House, a sign of the shared
interests between the countries, Obama said. He noted their cooperation
over health care, infrastructure, energy and job creation.
"Africa needs the United States, the United States needs Africa," Kikwete said.
At the State House in
Tanzania there was a celebratory greeting for the president and first
lady Michelle Obama with a band, dancers and a mass of applauding,
whooping crowds lining the red carpet as the Obamas shook hands making
their way to the whitewashed building.
Obama, Bush on Tuesday
On Tuesday Obama will
join former President George W. Bush for a wreath-laying commemorating
the August 1998 al Qaeda attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam,
which killed 11 people and wounded hundreds.
Bush has been in Zambia
to help renovate a clinic that serves as a cervical cancer screening and
treatment center. Michelle Obama and Laura Bush are scheduled to attend
the African First Ladies Summit, organized by the George W. Bush
Institute, in Tanzania on Tuesday.
Obama wrapped up his trip to South Africa on Sunday with a visit to the prison cell where anti-apartheid leader and later South African President Nelson Mandela was held and called on students to help build a new Africa.
source by www.cnn.com
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