The Corporate Council on Africa, in collaboration with the Government of Mauritius, will host the 18th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Mauritius on July 26-29 2026. The announcement was made at a high level cocktail gathering hosted by Omnicane, together with the Jean Boulle Group, at La Maison de Britannia on 1 December in the presence of dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, as Chief Guest, the Deputy Prime Minister Paul Bérenger, U.S. Ambassador H.E. Henry Jardine and Ms Florie Liser, President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa, among others.
The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) is the premier U.S. organization exclusively dedicated to strengthening U.S.-Africa trade, investment, and business ties for over three decades. CCA’s annual Summit has become the essential gathering for leaders shaping the future of U.S.-Africa economic engagement.
The 18th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Mauritius will convene over 2500 high-level participants, including African Heads of State, senior U.S. government officials, and top CEOs and executives from both continents. The Summit is set to provide a robust platform to firm up, expand and fund Mauritius’ important strategic, historic role as the commercial key to the African Continent.
In June 2025, the 17th U.S.-Africa Business Summit was held in Luanda, Angola, which brought together 12 Heads of State, 31 official African delegations and over 2,800 senior leaders. Trade and investment deals and commitments arising from the event amounted to around US$ 4 billion, including a US$ 1.5 billion transition line between Angola and DRC and a US$ 760 million hydropower project powering Rwanda and the DRC.
Jacques d’Unienville, Omnicane: “The world will be watching us in 2026”
In his welcome speech, Jacques d’Unienville, CEO of Omnicane, emphasised the importance of the Summit for the country, stating that “Mauritius is fully mobilised to host a spectacular 18th U.S.-Africa Business Summit in 2026. This Summit will be a landmark event, set to welcome over 2,500 leaders – African Heads of State, senior U.S. officials, and CEOs from both continents – coming together to bridge American expertise and innovation with African opportunity”.
He highlighted Omnicane’s commitment to being at the forefront of innovation, having driven the pioneering development of their unique and fully integrated cane cluster. He considered that their distinctive model, transforming sugarcane into refined sugar, high-value ethanol, premium rum, as well as renewable electricity from bagasse, stands as a testament to sustainable industrial innovation and a model which could serve as a springboard for similar sustainable developments and industrialization across Africa.
He urged every Mauritian business leader in the room to get in touch with the CCA Technical Committee, to share their expertise and to help make the event the most successful U.S.-Africa Business Summit ever since “the world will be watching us in 2026”.
Florie Liser, Corporate Council on Africa: “The selection of Mauritius marks the next step in extending its reach and impact across the continent”
In her address, Ms Florie Liser, President and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), introduced the organization as being focused on one mission, which is to connect, catalyse, and amplify U.S.-Africa business partnerships. She explained that over more than 30 years, CCA had organised 17 high-level Summits, hosted African heads of state and U.S. presidents, facilitated engagement with ministers, CEOs, and major investors and had, most importantly, supported thousands of companies in navigating opportunities across Africa and the United States.
She highlighted that CCA’s membership included some of the world’s most influential U.S. and African brands, such as Google, Coca-Cola, Visa, Pfizer, Chevron, Flutterwave, ABSA, Standard Bank, and many others. She explained that they are also actively pushing to make sure that many other companies, including mid-cap companies and SMEs, have a footprint on the African continent.
In terms of building on the Summit’s legacy of convening in key African markets, Ms Liser asserted that “the selection of Mauritius marks the next step in extending its reach and impact across the continent”. She described Mauritius as “a prime destination for investment into Africa for U.S. companies, especially in financial services, digital innovation, sustainability, tourism, logistics, and the blue economy”. She also saw the Summit as an opportunity to “showcase Mauritius as a platform for cross-border expansion and trade facilitation for U.S. companies entering Africa and for African companies seeking to expand globally, as well as for companies even in Asia to expand into Africa using Mauritius as a base and a launching place”.
She urged Mauritian businesses and institutions to participate in, or to sponsor, the Summit since it would offer direct engagement with senior decision makers from the 40 African nations and from the United States, where several cabinet-level and sub-cabinet-level officials are strongly interested in participating. She commented that it would provide access to investors, financing institutions, and deal-making platforms, visibility and opportunities to influence policy, market access, and trade, and participation in sector-focused discussions on strategic corridors, AI, health, energy, logistics, tourism, and manufacturing.
Summing up, Ms Liser stated that they were “delighted that CCA is able to partner with the Government of Mauritius to have what we know will be a very successful U.S.-Africa Business Summit here”.
Jean-Raymond Boulle, Corporate Council on Africa: “Mauritius today is the Star of the Indian Ocean which has become the Commercial Key to Africa”
Speaking as a “proud son” of Mauritius and Vice Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa, Jean-Raymond Boulle recalled that “we Mauritians have done this before. Twenty-five years ago, we provided the rationale for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and then followed through by walking the corridors of Capitol Hill lobbying until it became US law. Prime Minister Ramgoolam was our Champion, and I bet he still remembers those days, with great pride. Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Country – and that hour has come again for Mauritius.”
He described the hosting of the 2026 U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Mauritius as “the most important trade and investment moment for our nation since AGOA itself”, highlighting Mauritius today is “the Star of the Indian Ocean which has become the Commercial Key to Africa’’.
Beyond its role as a financial hub, Mr Boulle (as verbally pointed out by the Deputy Prime Minister, is an active protector of the St. Brandon shoals through Mauritius’ second oldest company: The Raphaël Fishing Company) highlighted that Mauritius is also one of the custodians of the planet’s most admired conservation success stories and a global pioneer of the Blue Sea Economy. He recalled that Mauritius had brought six bird species back from the brink of extinction including the national bird, the Mauritius kestrel and the echo parakeet, which National Geographic called “amongst the greatest conservation victories in history”.
He saw that “these are not just environmental credentials; they are powerful investment credentials. Global capital – sovereign wealth funds, impact investors, development finance institutions – is actively seeking bankable projects that deliver both strong financial returns and measurable Sustainable Development Goals”. Noting that the US DFC alone has a large number of active projects across a range of sectors, he saw that “Mauritius offers the perfect platform to structure, to finance and to insure exactly these current and future types of projects”. He called on business leaders present to refine their bankable projects in Mauritius and in Africa and to bring them to the Summit, which he predicted would be “the moment the world rediscovers Mauritius as Africa’s premier platform for financing, developing and de-risking the projects that will power the African continent’s next quarter-century of growth”.
H.E. Henry Jardine, U.S. Ambassador: “This is an opportunity for Mauritius to show how effective it can be as a platform”
In his address, the U.S. Ambassador H.E. Henry Jardine said that he was excited with the prospect of having so many representatives coming to Mauritius from the business community, from leaders across Africa, and also from the U.S. Government.
He saw that the Summit would represent a “wonderful opportunity” to show how effective Mauritius can be as a platform, as a gateway into Africa and how it is already in many ways fulfilling that role. He anticipated that the Summit would take it to the next level and noted that they were seeing growing and strong interest in the United States and opportunities in Africa.
He noted a recognition that “Africa really represents the future, whether it’s a young population, it’s a growing population that’s energised, innovative, or whether it’s the resources, the businesses, it really has the potential to lead the world”. He commented that the United States wished to be a part of that, and was happy that Mauritius was a partner to help that happen. He also expressed his appreciation to the Government of Mauritius for its willingness to partner with CCA and to organise the event, to CCA for their early presence and to the audience for supporting the event.
Minister Dhananjay Ramful: “Mauritius hopes for a revival of the AGOA”
Sharing his perspective as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade for Mauritius, Dhananjay Ramful recalled that in September 2025, with the blessing of the Honourable Prime Minister and Cabinet and in the margins of the UNGA in New York, he had the privilege of signing the Memorandum of Agreement between Mauritius and the CCA for the hosting of the 18th Africa-U.S. Business Summit in Mauritius from the 26 to 29 July 2026.
He took the opportunity to underscore two issues concerning Mauritius-U.S. trade relations. “First, in line with the U.S. current diplomatic policy on promoting its economic interest in Africa and the CCA’s role as a premier U.S. organisation dedicated to strengthening trade and investment between U.S. and Africa, the extension of AGOA remains the hinge pin of our shared interest. Mauritius hopes for a revival of the AGOA for all African-eligible countries and I’m sure Florie, with experience at the level of the USTR, will definitely help us in that endeavour,” he asserted.
Secondly, the Minister called on the CCA to support Mauritius in its “ongoing efforts to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. to ensure more predictability in our trade relationship”. He highlighted that trade in U.S. goods and services with Mauritius amounted to an estimated $830.4 million USD in 2024. “Therefore, if we include both goods and services, the U.S. maintains a trade surplus with Mauritius amounting to $148 million USD. However, if we take goods alone, the U.S. goods trade deficit with Mauritius was $186.5 million USD in 2024,” he explained.
With a view to addressing the deficit, the Minister mentioned that Mauritius had already started importing consignments of cotton from the U.S., and that it was also proposed to import corn and soybean from the U.S. as from next year. “Taking into consideration both goods and services depicts the true picture of the trade deficits between Mauritius and the U.S. This increasing amount of trade in goods and services further reinforces our case for a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. which would address the trade exchanges between the two countries. In these challenging times in the realm of international relations, the CCA’s commitment to further U.S.-Africa relations stands as a beacon of hope guiding our course in these troubled waters,” he elaborated.
As the host of the 18th U.S.-Africa Business Summit, the Minister pledged that “Mauritius is committed to moving the idea of increased U.S. investment on the continent for greater mutual prosperity for African and American citizens. To make the summit a success, the local host committee, which I co-chair with my colleague the Minister of Industry, SME and Cooperatives, is overseeing all the preparatory work for the Summit. In addition, a joint public-private sector steering committee working in partnership with the Economic Development Board has been set up to translate policy into action. The visit of the technical team currently will accelerate the preparations already undertaken and will ensure that any bottlenecks will be effectively addressed as we enter the second phase of the organisational aspects of this Summit,” he remarked.
In conclusion, the Minister stated that “Mauritius shares the vision of the CCA to promote business, trade and investment within the U.S. and Africa, foster a conducive environment that encourages long-term investment and highlight the continent’s immense market potential. This is why this Summit has all its importance and the Government of Mauritius will give all its support in that endeavour. Mauritius also wishes to enhance economic integration within our continent through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and we also encourage American firms to use Mauritius as a gateway to Africa.” He anticipated that the Summit would serve as an opportunity for U.S. and African leaders, investors and executives to “forge partnerships and close deals across key sectors such as energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, technology, agribusiness and healthcare. It lays emphasis on Africa’s economic growth and its transition from aid dependency to investment-driven development.”
