US-Africa Leaders Summit

Ahead of the 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit held on December 13-15, experts from across the Center for Global Development will offer recommendations to deliver on a more resilient, deeper, and mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and the nations of Africa. This blog series aims to re-examine US-Africa policy in service of two major aims:

  • Make good on past promises by scaling up investment and tackling persistent financing gaps. While the US has remained a strong ally of many African countries, resources have regularly fallen short of soaring rhetoric. As African policymakers face growing fiscal pressures, the United States must explore creative solutions to deliver much-needed financing through multilateral institutions and consider expanding its own bilateral toolkit.

  • Invest in a resilient, innovative future. Connections between Africa and the rest of the world have never been more salient. As African cities grow alongside the population of young people on the continent, the US must support African governments’ long-term investment goals to deploy innovative technologies and buttress human capital—particularly in areas where the US leads the world, from space technology to higher education, while avoiding restrictive policies that could hamper Africa’s economic growth.

The second Africa Leaders’ Summit presents an opportunity to consolidate existing US commitments and serve as a launchpad for the vision of a more equal partnership beyond aid, let us not miss the moment.

Sign up for CGD's US development policy newsletter to get updates on this series.

More from the Series

Blog Post

School Meals: A US-Africa Partnership to be Proud Of

December 09, 2022
With food prices escalating globally, there is an urgent need for renewed partnerships between the US and African governments to sustain school meal programs around the continent.
Blog Post

US-Africa Policy: Here’s Hoping for a Summit with Substance

December 08, 2022
It's important that the upcoming US-Africa Leaders Summit focuses on much more than aid and security. The Biden administration should say a lot about US financial flows to the region and how they will be improved, but summit commitments must go far beyond that.
Blog Post

Elevating the Childcare Agenda: What Could an Africa-US Partnership Look Like?

December 07, 2022
As leaders gather for the upcoming US-Africa Leaders Summit, fostering economic cooperation and development is at the top of the agenda. To achieve transformational advances towards this goal, tackling childcare must be a core issue of discussion
Blog Post

The Biden Administration Should Offer Direct Support for African Governments at the Upcoming US-Africa Leaders Summit—Here’s How

December 06, 2022
If the Biden administration wants to forge stronger bonds with African governments in the lead up to mid-December’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, it will have to focus on meeting the needs of those governments during a particularly difficult economic period. One useful but greatly underutilized instrum...