Thu 15 December 2022:
On Wednesday, US Vice President Joe Biden called for a broad partnership with Africa calling closer ties crucial for the world.
“When Africa succeeds, the United States succeeds. Quite frankly, the whole world succeeds as well,” Biden told the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC, the second such summit that has been held in the American capital since 2014.
The US will invest $350 million for the digital transformation in Africa, Biden said, to “make sure people across Africa can participate in a digital economy.”
The US signed a “historic” memorandum of understanding with the new African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, he said, which will “unlock new opportunities to trade and investments between our countries.”
“Second, we’re investing to facilitate greater regional trade within Africa, including by investing in infrastructure,” he said.
The president noted the signing of a $500 million compact with Benin and Niger under the Millennium Challenge Corporation and said it would help “build and maintain roads, put in place policies that reduce transportation costs.”
Biden unveiled a series of initiatives, including an agreement meant to encourage the formation of a continentwide free-trade zone that has stalled over the last few years. He vowed to help African countries do more to transition to clean energy and plug into the digital economy, a contrast to China, which has focused much of its investment in Africa on building roads, bridges, airports and other physical infrastructure.
As he discussed a range of world problems, including pandemics, food shortages, and climate change, Biden said: “We can’t solve any of these challenges without African leadership at the table and I’m not trying to be nice.”
49 African leaders are present for the three-day US-Africa Leaders Summit being held in the US capital. Both public sessions and bilateral meetings are used to discuss issues pertaining to the African continent.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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