The president affirms that the visit “exceeded all expectations” and contacts were established with several companies and entities in the health, telecommunications, energy and technology sectors.
Cape Verde hopes to establish close cooperation with the United States, especially in the field of health, and the president indicated that the African country could be a reference in hospital and pharmaceutical services in the region.
In an interview with Lusa, the president of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves, stated that his recent trip to North American soil “exceeded all expectations”, having “opened some avenues” that could bear “important fruits in the future, in a Next future”. cooperation between the United States, companies and the Government of Cape Verde.”
One of the stops of the head of state was the United States-Africa Business Summit, which will continue until Thursday in Dallas, Texaswhere José Maria Neves participated in a high-level dialogue on Health and discussed the alliances that can be formed to “accelerate the pace of the transformation of health systems in Africa and the delivery of higher quality services on the continent.”
The President admitted that they were contacts established with several companies and entities in the fields of health, telecommunications, energy, information and communications technologies.
“There are many possibilities for business development in these sectors, with strong participation from the private sector, but there are also possibilities for business development in the health sector,” he told Lusa.
“Cape Verde can receive referral hospitals to provide highly qualified services to the region. It can house health training centers to train high-level specialists. Cape Verde may also be home to companies that manufacture, market, manage and maintain hospital equipment. And Cape Verde can develop the entire pharmaceutical industry sector, considering the entire West African market,” he stated.
José María Neves assured that Cape Verde is interested in developing and that the Cape Verdean Government itself has already presented several proposals, and is currently discussing with the US agency “Millennium Challenge Corporation” (MCC) about the next pact.
Last month, on the sidelines of the 2024 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in Washington, Cape Verde and the MCC had already signed a Compact Financing Concession Agreement, to begin their operations in the country.
The Compact Funding Grant Agreement, or “CDF Agreement”, is part of the third MCC Regional Compact for Cape Verde and provides a grant that will support and facilitate development in the country, as well as the start of the implementation of the program.
Cape Verde selected for third US financing package
One of the reasons that brought José Maria Neves to the United States this week was precisely the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, thus responding to the invitation made to him by the general director of the MCC, Alice Albrignt, on the occasion of his visit to Cape Verde, in February of this year.
“We participated in a high-level panel on the impacts of the program on the African continent and future prospects. The impacts are enormous, because it is a program whose resources can be accessed competitively. There must be indicators of good governance, rigorous and transparent management of public affairs, responsibilityinvestment in people and There must be inclusive political and economic institutions, so that resources are applied to the fight against poverty“explained the president.
“Cape Verde, with the two pacts it has already received, has effectively managed to modernize its infrastructure, roads, ports, water and sanitation mobilization structures and also institutional modernization (…). The pacts contributed to accelerating the country’s growth, increasing the competitiveness of our economy and also helping to combat poverty,” he noted.
The head of state took advantage of his trip to Dallas to meet with the Cape Verdean community in Texas.
Source: Observadora
