CABO VERDE - At A Glance

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Published on Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:29

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History

Cabo Verde is located 350 miles off the coast of West Africa and consists of ten volcanic islands (Santo Antao, S. Vicente, Santa Luzia, S. Nicolau, Sal, Boavista, Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava).

It was one of the main transit areas for the transatlantic slave trade to the Americas and Europe. In 2009, Cidade Velha, in the Island of Santiago, was named World Heritage Site by UNESCO, in recognition of Cabo Verde’s role in shaping new anthropologic and cultural realities in those two Continents.

Cabo Verde became independent from Portugal on July 5th, 1975, following the liberation struggle led by the African Party for the Liberation of Guinea Bissau and Cabo Verde – PAIGC. The archipelago’s history has always been one of the major challenges posed by economic and environmental vulnerabilities. Severe droughts in the first half of the 20th century prompted heavy immigration, resulting in an expatriate population that is larger than the resident one.

Cabo Verde is a stable democracy with sound economic management. For the last four years, it has been rated by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, as one of the best governed Sub-Saharan African countries.

Economy

Cabo Verde became a member of the WTO and graduated from the LDC status in 2008. Major policy reforms and programs brought important changes and progress in areas such as governance, public administration, information technologies, economic growth, and human capital, thus placing the country on the path to achieve most MDGs by 2015. The economy is service-oriented with commerce, transport, tourism, and public services accounting for most of the GDP.

Main Exports: Fish products and crustaceans, clothing, shoes, and shoe parts, fuel re-exports

Main Imports: consumer goods, intermediary goods, petroleum

Basic Data

International Relations – International Organization’s membership includes, e.g., UN, AU, ECOWAS, CPLP (Portuguese Speaking Countries), La Francophonie, Community of Democracies, WTO, and ICC. Cabo Verde enjoys a special partnership with the European Union as well.

Tourism and Investment Opportunities

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Published on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 18:23

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"A Country at the heart of the World"

Cabo Verde’s geographic location, mild climate, landscape diversity, wealth of cultural resources, political and social stability and economic opportunities make the archipelago a privileged destination for tourism and investment. Other relevant factors are the various special and preferential agreements which Cabo Verde is part of.

The transformational agenda in place has allowed significant improvements in the doing business environment. For the second year in a row, in 2012, Cabo Verde has been placed by IFC’s Doing Business Report among the top ten reformers, with significant advances in the areas of Registering Property, Getting Credit and Resolving Insolvency.

The archipelago is served by 4 international airports (Sal, Praia, Sao Vicente and Boavista) and regular international flights to and from Europe, USA, Brazil and Africa. There is also a road network with high penetration. FDi Magazine rated Cabo Verde among the top African countries in infrastructures in 2011.

It enjoys high technology (optic fiber) telecommunication system with access to the main global telecommunications services (internet, fax, cellular phone, datanet).

Priority areas for investment are as follow:

For more information on investment opportunities and fiscal policy, please also consult www.cvinvest.cv .

Some Pictures

Background History

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Published on Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:03

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Cape Verdean immigration flows to the US date back to the 17th century, with the prosperous whaling industry. With the decline of this activity, Cape Verdeans continue to immigrate to the US in sailing vessels and packets ships, escaping the country’s economic and environmental hardships.

The mills of New Bedford, the loading docks of Providence, and the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod offered them new opportunities for their subsistence, income generation and support to family members that stayed in the islands.

In the meantime, the migratory movement was significantly impacted by new stricter immigration laws adopted in the early 1920’s that excluded Asians and Africans and preferred Northern and Western Europeans over Southern and Eastern ones. The shift would only come with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which was heavily supported by late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Today, the vast and very active Capeverdean-American Community, the largest CV Diaspora in the world, is proud to belong to two nations, Cape Verde and the US, that share common values and work collaboratively for democracy, human rights and global progress and peace.

The community has been also very instrumental in preserving, promoting and strengthening the Cape Verdean Culture, in particular the Creole language and music.

For their part, Cape Verde and the US are very appreciative of the community’s contribution to their development and progress and for the great values it has produced in many fields of human activity. They are committed to promoting new opportunities to leverage its further involvement in their cooperation.

Members of the Cape Verdean-American Community are organized in different organizations and a US based federation of Cape Verdean associations is in the making.

Partnership with the US

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Published on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 18:12

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The relations between Cape Verde and the United States date back to the 17th century, when many Cape Verdeans, fleeing the islands hardships, in search of economic opportunities, embraced the whaling industry and eventually made New Bedford their first settlement.

The first American Consulate in Cape Verde was established in 1818.

With the decline of the whaling industry, many Cape Verdeans continue to immigrate to the US in sailing vessels and packets ships, resulting in a vast and very active Capeverdean-American Community, the largest CV Diaspora in the world.

Cape Verde and the US appreciate the role the community has played in contributing to the development and progress of both nations. They are committed to promoting new opportunities to leverage its further involvement in their cooperation, which gained new impetus with the independence of Cape Verde on July 5, 1975.

Today, the solid and rich bilateral partnership encompasses aspects such as economic growth, security, counter-narcotics operations, and promotion of democracy, human rights, and good governance.

Cape Verde was the first of three countries to qualify for a Millennium Challenge Account Grant and is the only one to have signed a second one, after meeting all the eligibility requirements, including the successful completion of the first program in the scheduled timeframe. The second grant in an amount of USD $66.2 million, was signed on February 10, 2012 and will focus on two main priority areas, e.g. Water and Sanitation and Land Management and Property Rights.

While increasing agricultural productivity, developing and expanding the country’s infrastructure (roads, port, and bridges), the 1st grant of USD $110 million, improved access to credit, markets and social services and supported implementation of key policy reforms for sustained economic growth and development.

The second grant, in the amount of USD $66.2 million, was signed on February 10, 2012 and will focus on two main priority areas, e.g., Water and Sanitation and Land Management and Property Rights. For more information on the MCA-CV Compacts visit www.mca.cv.

Various gains propelled by the Compact are related with capacity building, strengthening management capacity, transparency, accountability, and development partners’ articulation and coordination as well. Compact components such as Monitoring and Evaluation and Procurement now serve ad a model to implement broader national systems.

Among other relevant initiatives that support the Capeverdean-American partnership is the African Growth Opportunity Act “AGOA”. AGOA aims at boosting economic development of Africa through trade, where beneficiary countries can export a wide range of 6000 products to the US, duty free and quota. For more details consult www.agoa.gov.

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