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The Wednesday, December 14, 2022during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Dinner president, organized in the East Room of the White House in Washington DC, the President of the United States of America, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr -commonly known as Joe Biden-, told dozens of African leaders gathered in Washington that the United States was “Participants in the Future of Africa”, by bringing to the table the promise of billions of dollars of government funding and private investment to help the growing African continent in the areas of health, infrastructure, business and technology.
“The United States is committed to supporting all aspects of Africa’s growth,” said Joe Biden, at the opening of the United States-Africa Leaders Summit. “The United States can be an essential catalyst”, he specified.
President Biden, presenting the United States as a reliable partner in promoting democratic elections and driving critical growth in health and energy, said the $55 billion in investments committed over the next three years – already announced on Monday, December 12, 2022- were “only the beginning”. He then announced more than $15 billion in private trade and investment commitments and partnerships. “There is so much more we can do together and will do together,” said the US President.
It must be said that the United States is far behind China in terms of investment in sub-Saharan Africa, which has become a key battleground in increasingly tense competition between the great powers. The White House insists that this week’s meeting (December 13-15, 2022) be “more of a listening session with African leaders than an effort to counter Beijing’s influence”. But the central principle of President Biden’s foreign policy dominates everything: America is in a pivotal battle to prove that democracies can outperform autocracies.
This message was clear at the USA-Africa Summit. In his speech, Joe Biden discussed how the United States would help modernize technology across the continent, deliver clean energy, advance women’s equality through business opportunity, bring drinking water to communities and to better finance health care. For its part, the Office of First Lady Jill Biden has also earmarked $300 million for cancer prevention, screening, treatment and research in Africa.
This Wednesday, December 14, 2022, President Biden also held an informal meeting at the White House with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Madagascar (especially in the Oval Office)Nigeria and Sierra Leone, African countries where 2023 will be the year of presidential elections, according to their Constitution.
The president and first lady hosted a dinner at the White House for all the leaders and their wives on Wednesday evening, with food prepared by Mashama Bailey, the executive chef of « The Grey », a southern restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. Gladys Knight provided following-dinner entertainment.
Thursday, December 15, 2022 was devoted to high-level discussions between leaders. President Biden opened the day with a session on Partnership with the African Union’s strategic vision for the continent.
Jeannot RAMAMBAZAFY, 15.12.2022
Sources : White House and the US State Department