Building Trade and Investment Ties at U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

"The United States is all in on Africa's future," President Joe Biden said in a policy address to the U.S.-Africa Business Forum on Day Two of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Listing a series of initiatives, Biden said "this is just the beginning - there's so much more we can do together and that we will do together."

Following his address, the American president joined several African leaders to watch Morocco go down to defeat to France in the Fifa World Cup semi-finals. At the White House, he met with leaders whose countires have scheduled elections in 2023 - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, In the evening, the President and First Lady hosted heads-of-delegations at a Gala dinner. Foreign ministers and other dignitaries dined with Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

Some 300 executives from American and African companies joined African presidents and ministers to discuss opportunities for collaboration in critical sectors, including health, infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, and digital. According to a White House list provided to AllAfrica, the 50 delegations are headed by 36 presidents, nine prime ministers and four foreign ministers, as well as the chairman of the African Union Commission.

In his speech, Biden pointed to agreements valued at $15 billion that were announced throughout the day in a 'Deal Room' at the the Summit venue, Washington Convention Center. Organized by Prosper Africa, the U.S. Government initiative to increase trade and investment between Africa and the United States, the deals announcements included Green Energy Mining, Power Africa, Yeleen Beauty, mPharma, Cisco and Cybastion, Pfizer, Exim-Afrexim, ABD Acrow, DFC/Mirova Gigaton Fund, Visa, Sun Africa and the NBA.

This article originally appeared on All Africa

Image via EPA