President Biden has invited 49 African heads of state to Washington for the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit

WASHINGTON – Of the 55 African heads of government, 49 have been invited to attend the second summit that brings together the United States and African leaders, to be hosted by President Joe Biden in Washington next week.

The summit, which will be held from December 13 to 15, is the second gathering of African heads of state and an American president, after the 2014 summit during the era of former President Barack Obama.

The summit is an important symbol of the value Washington has recently placed on its African relations, and African leaders have responded so well that every invited leader is expected to attend.

The American elite accuses China and Russia of targeting investment in Africa to gain a competitive advantage over the United States, and of engaging in brutal and unfair trade practices in the region, referring to opaque deal-making, exploitative lending, self-interested extractive industry activity, and shady military and security cooperation.

Africa is of increasing importance at the global level, as the area of ​​the African continent is larger than the area of ​​the United States, China, India, Japan and most of Europe combined. More than half of the world’s arable land is located on the continent, along with many of the planet’s untapped mineral resources, including strategic ones. By the year 2100, Africa’s population may double again, and the continent has a young population, with 41% of them under the age of 15.

Beijing and Moscow have long recognized the political, military, and economic importance of Africa, and both continue to seize opportunities to expand their influence across the continent. The incursion of Chinese economic influence, and Russian security influence, into the African continent has become a growing concern for US policymakers.

China has held the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing every 3 years regularly since 2000, which is widely seen as an important way to advance China’s diplomatic and trade interests. Meanwhile, China has overtaken the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner since 2009, with bilateral trade totaling more than $254 billion in 2021, up 35% from 2020.

Early in the Biden administration, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told allies that the United States would not expect them to choose between Washington and Beijing.

Washington pledged to promote more trade relations with African partners while confronting Chinese and Russian influence on the continent, which it described as a “major threat” to US national security interests.