“When Africa succeeds, the US succeeds; quite frankly, the whole world succeeds,” President Joe Biden
“The US is all in on Africa and all in with Africa,” President Joe Biden declared at December 2022’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC, a landmark three-day event that brought together high-ranking governmental delegations from 49 African countries, senior African and American business and civil society figures, plus a US political contingent that included Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, cabinet secretaries, federal agency chiefs and members of Congress.
The summit culminated in a joint blueprint for much closer collaboration between the US and Africa, which will be home to two-fifths of the world’s population by 2030 and has a crucial role to play in the coming decades, according to Biden: “African voices, African leadership, African innovation all are critical to addressing the most pressing global challenges and to realizing the vision we all share: a world that is free, a world that is open, prosperous and secure.” In response, President Macky Sall of Senegal, chair of the continent’s intergovernmental body the African Union, affirmed: “We want to advance our common agenda with you and take our partnership to the next level.”
“Africa is a major geopolitical force. It’s one that has shaped our past, it’s shaping our present and it will shape our future,” asserted Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who noted that “Africa’s integration into global markets, demographic boom and continent-wide spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation present an extraordinary opportunity for the US to invest in Africa’s future.”
During the summit, Biden announced US investments of at least $55 billion into Africa over the next three years, with $15 billion coming from two-way trade and investment pledges, deals and partnerships across a wide variety of sectors. “That number represents a comprehensive commitment from the US to invest in Africa’s people, Africa’s infrastructure, Africa’s agriculture, Africa’s health systems, Africa’s security and more,” he explained.
Among other agreements reached at the event, the US signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, which is overseeing the opening up of a $3.4 trillion continent-wide market of 1.3 billion people. “This MOU will unlock new opportunities for trade and investment between our countries, and also bring African countries and the US even closer,” said Biden.
Blinken distilled his administration’s renewed strategy toward Africa down to one word: partnership. “The US and African nations cannot deliver on any of the fundamental aspirations of our people, we can’t solve any of the big challenges that we face, if we don’t work together. So our approach is about what America can do with African nations and people, not for them. And that’s what this summit has really been all about,” he stated.