Nearly 50 African leaders and delegates have arrived in Washington this week for a key summit hosted by President Biden. It is the centerpiece of a major effort to reset and improve U.S. ties with African countries, whose relations with China and increasingly Russia have drawn scrutiny. Biden administration is all geared up for the second-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit taking place on December 13 to December 15.
Over the last decade, the continent’s geopolitical profile has grown to be seen as a vital region, with the fastest growing population in the world. A quarter of the Earth’s projected 9.5 billion people will be in Africa, up from 10% of the global population in 1950.
On Monday ahead of the summit, the White House announced plans to commit $55 billion in economic, security and health investment in Africa over the next three years, as well as naming a new special envoy to focus on these issues.
Here are some keys to understanding the issues at play in the gathering.
While China, Russia, the European Union, Japan and Turkey have held many similar gatherings with African diplomats, businesspeople and civil groups, this is only the second such summit the U.S. is hosting in the last eight years. The meeting was inaugurated in 2014 under President Barack Obama. It is also not clear when the next one will be.
In the last six months or so, we’ve really ramped up our engagement,” Judd Devermont, an adviser to President Biden on African affairs, told NPR. “What we have tried to focus on in this administration is to treat African countries as major geopolitical players not just the subject of geopolitics or some sort of junior partner.”
But what that change in tone really amounts to in terms of policies and new agreements will be seen during the summit.
President Biden has already announced U.S. support for the African Union to join the Group of 20.
And in another sign of engagement efforts, the White House says it will appoint Johnnie Carson, a longtime foreign service officer, to a new role of special representative for Africa.
Improving trade will feature highly, with many African countries seeking a renewal and expansion of the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expires in 2025. The act allows access to the U.S. market under conditions, and has become an important part of economic growth in countries like Ethiopia. The U.S. blocked the East African country’s access to the AGOA this year following the Ethiopian government’s civil war with the northern Tigray region. Prime Minister
U.S. officials said the administration would seek new trade opportunities and closer cooperation on fighting terrorism and strengthening democracy, but offered few details on what signature aims they were hoping for. Whether any major policy emerges from the summit remains to be seen.
