President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet his US counterpart Joe Biden in Washington on Friday for a meeting that aims to further cooperation on trade, investment, climate change and health challenges.
It comes off the back of renewed American focus on the continent.
The US has unveiled its new Africa strategy, pledging to widen its “circle of engagement” to other nations and work to benefit both Africans and Americans.
Washington, under President Biden, US interest in Africa could be extended further than in previous years.
In February last year, just days into Joe Biden’s presidency, the new administration made it clear it would be doing things differently.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price says, “Africa is a priority for the Biden administration. // We are committed to engaging our African partners early and often in pursuing our shared interests and our shared values.”
The former President’s wife and daughter made visits to several African countries. Donald Trump himself did not.
Indeed White House insiders claimed he disparagingly described the continent as containing “s-hole countries”.
It was a marked change from President Obama who visited multiple African nations over four trips during his presidency.
President Biden is yet to visit the continent, but the US now appears on an Africa offensive.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made three trips to the continent since November.
His most recent included a visit to South Africa where he released Washington’s long-promised ‘strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa’.
Tony Carroll has spent much of his career focusing on Southern Africa.
Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Tony Carroll says, “I think it’s an important moment for us to reestablish a good collaborative relationship with South Africa at the highest level. I think it’s been absent for a number of years – not to dwell on the past – but I think there’s been a gap between our presidents, and I think now is an opportunity to reboot that.”
The African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA, now in its 22nd year gives dozens of countries duty-free access to the US market.
And the Biden administration is delivering more COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, even though vast vaccine inequality still exists between the US and the continent.
Nick Harper reports that as much as the Biden administration may be looking for a reset, or at the least a re-upping of relations with South Africa, there remains one rather large bone of contention: the war in Ukraine.
Washington had hoped President Ramaphosa would join western condemnation and sanctions against Russia, rather than maintaining a position of neutrality.
And Washington has worried that another superpower, China, is only extending its influence in Africa with billions of dollars of investment and aid.
But some experts say the US needs to be interested in Africa, for Africa’s sake – not as a way to simply counter Beijing.
Senior Director of Africa Centre, Atlantic Council & Former Ambassador of France to UNESCO, Rama Yade says, “Sometimes we have the feeling that Africa is interesting. From a Washington point of view, it is interesting only when we talk about Russia or China. The challenge and also the opportunity is how can the US change its own policy on Africa. That’s the best answer to provide to Chinese investors – just improve your own policy and you will see you will have no competition on the African continent.”
Washington may be hoping to reenergise relations with Pretoria at this week’s meeting. But it may not be until Biden’s African Leaders Summit in December that the US gets a chance to revitalize its relationship with the whole African continent.
