US President Biden announces new investments in Africa

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the US is "all in on Africa's future,” and announced new technology and trade investments on the continent.

“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.”

Touching on global issues from pandemics to food and climate crises, Biden said: “We can't solve any of these challenges without African leadership at the table and I'm not trying to be nice.”

The US capital is hosting a three-day US-Africa Leaders Summit, which 49 African leaders are attending. Issues concerning the African continent are discussed in public sessions as well as in bilateral meetings.