ONE reacts to Biden administration’s US-Africa Strategy

WASHINGTON– The ONE Campaign released the following statement on the Biden administration’s US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, announced today by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Pretoria, South Africa.

Tom Hart, President of ONE, said: 

“We applaud the Biden administration for renewing the US commitment with Sub-Saharan African countries. The converging global crises of debt, pandemic, climate, and food insecurity have hit Africa particularly hard and set developmental gains back decades. As Secretary Blinken says, Africa will shape the future of the world. We will not solve any of these challenges without increased coordination and partnership with institutions and people across the continent.

“This strategy lays out a vision towards mutual security and prosperity built off the foundation of long-standing bipartisan support for our partnerships with Africa. We’d like to see more details on how the administration will invest in programs and partnerships that will improve infrastructure and create decent jobs, building from the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure. These commitments must be delivered with urgency.

“It will require bold action and resources from Congress and the administration to put the objectives of this new strategy into motion and truly make it a success.”

The strategy is designed to lay out a new approach towards US engagement on the continent, key highlights include:

• Providing support to close the gaps in access to COVID-19 testing, treatments, and vaccines and increase preparedness for existing and future health threats.
• Working to create stability by leveraging the bipartisan Global Fragility Act.
• Increasing competitiveness and boosting economic growth by renewing African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) free trade agreement and supporting the implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
• Strengthen investment in African development in energy and climate resiliency.
• Leveraging institutions and global partners to support economic recovery and debt sustainability.

This announcement comes just a few weeks after the White House announced it will host a US-Africa Leaders Summit in December, the first meeting of its kind since 2014.