President Joe Biden said his nation is “all in on Africa’s future” during the US-Africa Leaders summit that is currently taking place in Washington.
When speaking to a gathering of 49 African leaders on Wednesday, the US president said, “The United States benefits when Africa succeeds. Quite frankly, success extends to the entire world.”
In addition to his remarks, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser at the White House, said that the United States wants to assist African nations in achieving their own objectives.
Sullivan claims that over the next three years, the White House will provide $55 billion in aid to Africa in the areas of economic development, public health, and security.
With three days of bilateral and multilateral negotiations ahead as well as a dinner hosted by Vice President Biden at the White House for his African counterparts, Sullivan declined to share specifics, stating that the White House would make them public then.
According to the German news outlet DW, the announcement also includes an additional $800 million in public and private funding for digital development in addition to a $100 million aid package for clean energy.
In the meantime, Cisco and its partner Cybastion announced ten cybersecurity contracts worth a combined $858 million, and credit card company Visa announced it would invest $1 billion in Africa to develop digital payments.
According to DW, Microsoft also announced that it would start deploying satellites in Egypt, Senegal, and Angola to give millions of people access to the internet.
Sullivan insisted that the summit was not about other countries while making comments about the rivalry with China and Russia for influence and opportunity in Africa.
It won’t attempt to compare and contrast, he declared.
The emphasis of this will be on what we have to offer. It will be a good thing to say about the US and its relationship with Africa.
According to RFI, he added, “We are bringing the resources to the table in significant numbers.”
Sullivan also said that the United States would let the visiting leaders know that it supports including an African country on the list of permanent members of the UN Security Council and inviting the African Union to join the exclusive G-20 nations.
