Cape Town — In December 13-15, 2022, the U.S. -African Leaders’ Summit, hosted by President Joe Biden in Washington, DC, was well attended by African leaders, and a way for the U.S. to re-establish itself as a strong trading partner in Africa, given China and Russia’s strong, growing presence on the continent.
On June 13, 2023, the follow-up briefing on the progress made by the U.S. in Africa, laid out joint developments in areas of infrastructure development, health and education, and solar system implementation and establishment, among others. The briefing was attended by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee, National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs Judd Devermont, and Special Presidential Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Implementation Ambassador Johnnie Carson.
In his address, Mr Carson said that over the past six months, several U.S. representatives, including First Lady Jill Biden had met with African leaders across the continent and that they are pleased at how the Summit had helped with development in their countries.
Thus far, through the U.S. -Africa Summit, U.S. businesses have signed U.S.$15.7 billion agreements with African companies for solar, infrastructure and agriculture development. Mr Carson said that this has increased to U.S.$16.2 Billion.
He also spoke of a U.S./Diaspora engagement council who will be meeting with and reporting to President Biden through Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The council will be represented by 12 Americans comprised of individuals of first and second generation diaspora as well as heritage diaspora. They will report on recommendations to strengthen the level of cooperation and understanding between African Americans who are in the U.S. and those who live on the continent. The diaspora represents an enormous foreign policy asset for the United States. No one knows Africa better and is more connected than those who have recently come from there, who have their heritage there. We look at this as a very positive development, Carson said.
The summit has seen an U.S.$800 million investment in digital to encourage more Africans to get online. Data centres have also been built in Ghana with a U.S.$300 million investment, while a rail corridor between Angola and the DR Congo is also being built with financing from Afri-Exim bank, Carson said.
In his address, Senior Director Devermont said that President Biden talked about eight senior trips to the continent, however in the first six months of 2023, there have been nine cabinet or senior-level official trips – including Secretary Yellen, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, First Lady Jill Biden, Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, the Vice President, Secretary of Education Cardona, USAid Administrator Power, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Fudge. Many of these leaders will take a second trip. The First Lady has already returned to Africa on a trip to North Africa, and of course it will be culminated with a trip by President Biden, he said.
One of the biggest announcements was on digital transformation in Africa. This is an U.S.$800 million initiative to invest in the continent’s digital future, whether it is enabling young people to have the digital literacy and access to get online to encouraging more investment in the African economies and digital sector. We’ve established an African Digital Policy Council to navigate and to coordinate our efforts, and when Vice President Harris visited the continent she went to Lusaka and did a call to action with many entrepreneurs and philanthropists, essentially creating a private sector arm to the Digital Transformation with Africa. And there’ll be more to say about that in the coming months, Devermont said.
In her address Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee praised the role of the media in Africa in advancing transparency and accountability. “We were delighted that many members of the African press corps were able to participate in the summit in December. Let me tell you that this is a spectacular time to be the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs given the attention and focus of the U.S. Government on seeing what we can do to amplify and expand and rejuvenate our relationship with Africa. You’ve heard from Ambassador Carson and from Judd (Devermont) some of the different assistance programmes, and one very positive outcome of the summit was the president’s direction to all of his different cabinet agencies – that is, American ministries – to make sure that they look to see how they could use their resources and expertise to support our partnership in Africa.
Among questions asked at the summit, was the letter sent to Secretary Blnken by U.S. legislators, asking that the AGOA meeting in South Africa later in November 2023 be shifted because of South Africa’s association with Russia and the alleged weapons that were given to Russia for its war against Ukraine. Dervermont in his response said: “As I said, we’re not going to get into our private conversations with the South African government, but we do welcome their commitment to investigate what happened with the Lady R. That is what a responsible government does. And we expect, depending on their findings, that they will hold those accountable – if people have been found to violate the laws of South Africa. With respect to AGOA, we have a process every year where we revalidate AGOA membership. And the law is very clear on what we’ll follow and that is – that won’t change for South Africa. We’ll go through the appropriate steps as we do every year as we look AGOA eligibility.”
In her response, Phee said: “I think just to add that we acknowledge and respect South Africa’s longstanding policy of nonalignment, and it’s our expectation that the South African Government will adhere to that policy when dealing with this terrible conflict in Europe.”
Ambassador Carson in his closing, said: “Africa’s importance is real. The United States recognises its global rise and the need to have it at the table for important decisions when they’re being debated and made. So partnership is important in implementing better global cooperation. Africa is one of those important partners that we need to continually listen to and work with.”
Senior Director Devermont in his closing, said: “I would just say thank you so much for this opportunity to share some of the exciting news, six months after the summit in terms of how we are delivering both on the president’s pledge and commitments, but showing our African partners our continued investments and engagement and desire for dialogue so that we can advance shared interests. And we look forward to continuing this conversation over the next couple of months.”
In closing, Phee said she was delighted to have had the opportunity to be part of the briefing. “I would just say there is no doubt that Africa is a strategic partner to the United States, and the goal of the implementation of the Africa Leaders Summit is to institutionalise the relationship in a way that is commensurate with Africa’s strategic importance. We’re fortunate to have Africa as a partner, and we look forward to continuing to engage with the continent.”