- Weighs In On How Victory Will Impact AGOA Treaty, WHO, US-Iran Relations, US-Israel Relations, Others
By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General Desk)
A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi has given a cautious outlook on the impact that the administration-to-be of Joe Biden, the President-elect of the United States would have on Africa and the rest of the world.
Following Biden’s victory at the poll, Saturday, the world is set to welcome a new man at the helms of affairs in the US, with enormous expectations on several issues of global interest and how the America’s foreign Affairs and new alliances will directly and indirectly affect various countries.
U.S President is often seen as the supposed leader of the free world, but that role had somewhat diminished under President Donald Trump due to his favoured unilateral approach to global issues as multilateralism suffered setback.
Akinyemi, a renowned Professor of International relations and political Science said he was not expecting a massive foreign aid package to Africa as the American economy was in a tough situation right now due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which is still raging in America and in some European countries.
Akinyemi spoke on an Arise TV programme, Sunday, on how the Biden Administration to be would be of benefit to Africa.
The eminent scholar and former deputy chairman of the 2014 National Constitutional Confab said he believed that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) treaty targeted at developing international trade in sub-saharan Africa and enacted in 2000 under the administration of President George Bush Jnr would potentially be renewed by the Biden’s presidency as against President Trump’s stance on the trade agreement treaty.
Akinyemi, also a former Director General of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) opined that the new presidency would be more involved in political development of the African region and other global bodies.
He said, “In terms of African aid, you know the AGOA put in place by President George Bush Jnr, to encourage Value-added Products from Africa and to allow them entry to the United States. The AGOA treaty was going to run out and President Trump said he was not going to renew it, Biden is not going to allow it to run out.”
“Don’t let us to forget that the American economy is in dire straits now. So I don’t expect to see a massive foreign aid package targeted at Africa specifically.
“With problems now in Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea, Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire, all dealing with electoral malpractice, I foresee a Biden administration intervening either directly or through a surrogate- the AU, ECOWAS and others being used in resolving issues than Trump was”.
According to the former minister, the Biden presidency would pay more attention to human rights issues, condemn autocracy outrightly and particularly bring Iran back to the agreement on the Nuclear Weapons treaty which was abandoned by President Trump.
He noted that the new American administration offers the United States the new vista in calming frayed nerves in her relationship with other countries like the Palestinians.
“I believe that a Biden Presidency will be more sensitive to the struggle for human rights, the struggle for democracy and for decency in governance. The presidency is not going to encourage either by emulation, or by foreign aid or military aid, the comfort of dictators and autocrats that we have in the world.
“That to me is what I can identify specifically in dealing with Africans. African interests have always been part of interests promoted by multilateralism.
“And the fact that the Biden Presidency will go back to the World Health Organization (WHO), will go back to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the need to protect climate change developments. I believe that the Biden presidency will seek to bring Iran (because he was part of it) into that grand agreement that they were able to sign in order to moderate the production of Nuclear Weapons in the world. It will be a very good Development and contribution in the sense that it will lessen that tension in that part of the world.
“I expect the Biden administration will show some respect for Palestinian rights. I don’t expect that Biden will pull the Embassy at Jerusalem back to Tel-Aviv. That kind of a Yo-yo, I don’t expect it to happen. I may be wrong. What I think is that short of bring back the embassy from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv, there will be another Middle-East Plan that will draw the Palestinians back to the negotiating table with the Isrealis.
“Biden is going to have a very difficult relationship with the Isrealis. Every liberal American president always has a difficult relationship with the Israelis. So I don’t expect him to have an easy ride with them,” he pointed out.
