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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The United States Government, yesterday, opened a new vista in its relationship with African countries, assuring the African continent of a pride of place in its foreign policy.
Speaking at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission in Abuja, United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the United States knew that on most of the urgent challenges and opportunities it faced, Africa would make the difference.
“We can’t achieve our goals around the world – whether that’s ending the COVID-19 pandemic, building a strong and inclusive global economy, combating the climate crisis, or revitalizing democracy and defending human rights – without the leadership of African governments, institutions, and citizens,” Blinken said.
Blinken added that countries like Nigeria, were not just global leaders, but were increasingly prominent around the world beyond the African region, and they were deserving of a prominent seat wherever the most consequential issues were discussed.
He said institutions like the African Union (AU), ECOWAS, Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) should play a larger role and should have a greater voice in global debates.
The United States, Blinken also said, firmly believed that it was time to stop treating Africa as a subject of geopolitics and began treating it as the major geopolitical player it has become.
“The facts speak for themselves. This is a continent of young people – energized, innovative, hungry for jobs and opportunity. By 2025, more than half the population of Africa will be under age 25. By the year 2050, one in four people on Earth will be African. And Nigeria will surpass the United States as the third most populous country in the world.
“Africa is poised to become one of the world’s most important economic regions. When the 54-country African Continental Free Trade Area is fully implemented, it will comprise the fifth-largest economic bloc in the world, representing a huge source of jobs, consumers, innovation, and power to shape the global economy.
“As we work to end the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen global health security, we must work closely with the countries of Africa to build public health systems here that can prevent, detect, and respond to future emergencies – because as these past two years have taught us, none of us are completely protected unless all of us are protected.
“As the urgency of the climate crisis grows, our focus will increasingly be on Africa – to solve an emergency that threatens our collective security, our economies, and our health. Here, where the potential for renewable energy is greater than anywhere else on the planet, we see not only the stakes of this crisis but also – also its solutions.
“At this moment of testing for democracy around the world, we see across Africa a microcosm of what democracies can achieve – as well as the challenges that they must overcome.
“And as we debate how to govern the use of technologies to ensure they strengthen democracies – not undermine them – the choices that governments, industries, and innovators make here will affect people’s rights and freedoms everywhere for a long time to come.
“For all these reasons and more, I believe Africa will shape the future – and not just the future of the African people but of the world.
“That’s why I’m here this week, visiting three countries that are democracies, engines of economic growth, climate leaders, drivers of innovation,” Blinken also said.
Speaking further, Blinken said he knew he was hardly the first American secretary of state to come to Africa and promise different and better engagement.
He stated that too many times, the countries of Africa have been treated as junior partners or worse, rather than equal ones.
“Too often, we ask our partners to help uphold and defend an international system that they don’t feel fully reflects their needs and aspirations. And we’re sensitive to centuries of colonialism, slavery, exploitation that have left painful legacies that endure today.
“I also know that many countries across the region are wary of the strings that come with more engagement, and fear that in a world of sharper rivalries among major powers, countries will be forced to choose. So I want to be clear – the United States doesn’t want to limit your partnerships with other countries. We want to make your partnerships with us even stronger. We don’t want to make you choose. We want to give you choices.
“Together, we can deliver real benefits to our people, on the issues that matter most to them.
“To start, here today I want to address five areas of common interest: global health, the climate crisis, inclusive economic growth, democracy, and peace and security,” Blinken stated.
