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Savannah Council on World Affairs Lecture Series Set for March 19th

Staff Report From Georgia CEO

Monday, March 2nd, 2026

The Savannah Council on World Affairs presents...

"The Potential for Greater U.S. Economic and Business Relationships with the States of Africa."

Thursday, March 19, 2026. 7:00pm-9:00pm. Coastal Georgia Center, 305 Fahm Street, Savannah. 

 

Abstract: For decades, American economic policy and the private sector have focused on Europe and  Asia/China, tending to pay scant attention to opportunities and developments in the 54  countries of Africa. That focus is quickly becoming outdated as awareness grows of the  various ways Africa will play a more important economic role in the world over the next  decades. Beyond contributing critical minerals that the U.S. and the developed world need to  power artificial intelligence and renewable energy, Africa is also becoming a bigger and more  prosperous market as its population doubles and the populations of the northern hemisphere  decline. Join us as Laird Treiber, former Senior Foreign Service Officer and past Director of  Trade and Investment Programs for the Corporate Council on Africa, provides expert analysis  on how we can better take advantage of economic and business opportunities and compete with  other powers to realize benefits for both the U.S. and Africa. Laird Treiber is currently  Professorial Lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. 

Bio: Laird Treiber is a professorial lecturer at the Institute for African Studies at the George  Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, where he teaches a course on  Africa in the global economy. Prior to this position, Laird was a career member of the Senior  Foreign Service. He worked most recently as the State Department’s Senior Liaison for  Prosper Africa, a program to promote trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa. He  previously served as the Economic Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassies in South Africa,  Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as earlier tours in Poland, Mexico and Washington. From  2018-19, he was the Senior Adviser to the President of the Corporate Council on Africa, where  he helped organize major international trade and investment conferences. He has worked  extensively on issues related to energy, environment and climate change, finance, trade,  intellectual property rights and aviation.  

Over the course of his career, Laird has developed broad experience counseling U.S. and  foreign companies on how to evaluate economic and political risk. Laird received an  undergraduate degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, the Master of  International Affairs from Columbia and a Master of Security Studies from National Defense  University. He is also a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and  International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.