Blinken begins diplomatic African tour to discuss trade and security

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has departed for West Africa as part of the Biden administration’s attempt to stay focused on the global scene.

The State Department, on Thursday, listed the countries as Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Angola.

It added that the focus of the trips is to hold discussions on trade, democracy promotion, conflict prevention, and regional security.

Nigeria is West Africa’s regional heavyweight and plays a major role in security issues, especially those involving Islamic extremist violence in the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert.

The trip is his third overseas mission in the new year, after he returned from a Gaza-focused, weeklong 10-nation trip to the Middle East last Thursday and a three-day trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday.

Blinken’s Africa trip comes as the United States is increasingly nervous about its relationships on the continent, particularly after coups last year in Niger and Gabon, and escalating unrest in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The department spokesman, Matthew Miller said in a statement, “Blinken will highlight the administration’s partnership with African nations on issues such as the climate, economic investment, food and health.”

While in Ivory Coast, Blinken may attend an Africa Cup of Nations soccer match between the host country and Equatorial Guinea.

108scoop also reports that a statement from the office of the spokesperson, Secretary Antony J. Blinken’s visit to Abidjan January 22-23, 2024, advanced commitments made during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit by expanding partnerships with the government, institutions, and people of Côte d’Ivoire. 

Secretary Blinken met with President Alassane Ouattara and senior members of his government to discuss shared priorities to strengthen democracy and good governance, expand economic growth and trade, improve security in Côte d’Ivoire and the region, as well as programs to advance climate, food security, and health. 

U.S.-Côte d’Ivoire Relationship

• The United States and Côte d’Ivoire are working together to invest in people, promote peace, and expand shared prosperity, especially for young Ivoirians. A healthy, safe, and economically strong Côte d’Ivoire is good for the United States.
• We have a strong relationship with Côte d’Ivoire based on shared values. The United States invests heavily in Ivorian people and institutions, based on a partnership of mutual respect.
• The United States congratulates Côte d’Ivoire on hosting the Africa Cup of Nations. Secretary Blinken and his delegation attended a key match and recognized the exceptional professionalism, competition, and diplomacy on the field.
• The President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement chose Côte d’Ivoire for its inaugural visit, bringing three trailblazing sports envoys, with the support of the Global Engagement Center, as a visible symbol of our bilateral partnership.
• Côte d’Ivoire is a vital partner in the implementation of the President’s Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability and the associated 10-year plan for Coastal West Africa (also includes Benin, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo). Our plan aligns closely with Côte d’Ivoire’s 2021-2025 National Development Plan to build social cohesion, strengthen community resilience, and expand economic opportunity, to create the conditions for peace and stability.
• The Secretary announced that the United States will provide $45 million in new funding, working with the U.S. Congress, to help Côte d’Ivoire and its neighbors prevent conflict and promote stability in the face of regional threats.  With that funding, the United States will have dedicated nearly $300 million in stability-focused assistance in Coastal West Africa since 2022, which underscores our commitment to partner with this region for the Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability.   
• We are making long-term, strategic investments to help Côte d’Ivoire address underlying drivers of conflict, in line with its commendable “people-centered security” approach.  Across northern Côte d’Ivoire, programs are fostering dialogue among local government and communities, expanding economic livelihoods for youth and women, and increasing the capacity for community policing.  These efforts are yielding results as local communities and security officials work together to enhance early warning systems, push back on fake news, and counter violent extremism.  

Democracy, Governance, and Rule of Law

The United States invests in Côte d’Ivoire’s institutions across sectors to strengthen governance, build capacity, and improve delivery of services to all communities.  

• To expand opportunity, Embassy Abidjan offers cultural and academic exchanges with exceptional participants from all regions of Côte d’Ivoire through programs that include Fulbright Fellowships, Sports Diplomacy, International Visitor Leadership Program, Mandela-Washington Fellowship, Study of the U.S. Institute, Community College Initiative, and the Pan-Africa Leadership Program.

• The American people support democratic institutions through our Political Transition and Inclusion program, a $14.2 million, five-year USAID activity that supports national and local government efforts to be more inclusive of citizens’ democratic ambitions, and responsive to their needs and concerns.

• A new $4 million Community Resilience through Dialogue and Art program encourages People-To-People reconciliation. This USAID activity is designed to prevent and mitigate the risk of renewed conflict by reinforcing new and existing local conflict resolution mechanisms to reduce, mitigate, and resolve intergroup conflicts and grievances in preparation for upcoming electoral cycles.

• USAID’s Democracy, Rights and Governance programs increase the inclusion of youth and women in the political process, promote accountability for state and non-state actors around basic services, protect the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations, counter violent extremism in border areas, and promote women’s empowerment.

• The United States provides training to increase access to justice and accelerate Ivoirian efforts to modernize and reform the criminal justice system. The Justice Sector Improvement Project, a $2 million initiative, improves the ability of judicial actors to deliver modern, efficient, equitable and gender-sensitive justice, and improves judicial sector accountability to all citizens.

• The United States recognizes Côte d’Ivoire’s successful conduct of peaceful regional and municipal elections in September. We stand by Côte d’Ivoire to support free and fair general elections in 2025 conducted through inclusive and transparent electoral processes and reflecting the will of the people.

Trade and Investment

The United States continues to expand our commercial partnership with Côte d’Ivoire and is dedicated to expanding economic growth and trade in support of our shared prosperity. 

• The United States celebrates and supports the American private sector and new U.S. companies entering the Ivoirian market – innovative enterprises that further increase Côte d’Ivoire’s technological capacity.
• Fair labor practices are essential for the United States and Côte d’Ivoire to achieve shared objectives toward inclusive economic growth, the transition to greener economies, humane migration, youth employment, and realizing the potential of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
• We prioritize collaboration with our Ivoirian partners to increase investment and the Export-Import Bank of the United States is extending project finance under its $500 million Memorandum of Understanding with the Ivoirian government to advance commercial partnerships, facilitate U.S. exports, and spark local economic activity.
• To catalyze economic growth, our Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact with Côted’Ivoire, valued at $536.7 million, includes major transportation and education projects and improved systems to maintain this key infrastructure.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has two regional Food for Progress activities that will create thousands of jobs in Côte d’Ivoire. They focus on increasing the volume of cashews that are processed in Côte d’Ivoire instead of being exported. USAID implements regional programs that increase trade volume and value, decrease trade barriers, support new power generation, mobilize partnerships, and seek investments through on-grid and off-grid activities
• We applaud Côte d’Ivoire’s leadership and contributions to the formation of the 36-member Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, a platform for Atlantic coastal states to address common challenges to advance a peaceful, stable, prosperous, open, safe, and cooperative Atlantic region, and promote a healthy, sustainable, and resilient Atlantic resources for generations to come.
• Through the Digital Transformation with Africa (DTA) initiative, the United States is expanding digital access and increasing commercial engagement between U.S. and African companies in the digital sector to support increased digital literacy and strengthen digital enabling environments, in alignment with the priorities outlined in the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy.  
• Developing capacity for Côte d’Ivoire’s digital sovereignty, American company Cybastion is building the Digital Administrative City and national data center.
• MCC, USAID, American companies, and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire partnered through Digifemmes to support over 3,500 women-led or women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises.
• To advance DTA Digital Enabling Environment pillar, the State Department Global Engagement Center supported the U.S. Embassy-hosted Tech Challenge to encourage young people to identify and develop trusted digital ecosystems.
• The Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) this year will provide 50 Abidjan-based women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch or scale their businesses. To date, AWE has helped roughly 5,500 women entrepreneurs in Africa to grow their businesses and reach their full economic potential.
• The Small Business Administration (SBA), delivering commitments from Administrator Isabel Guzman’s visit to Abidjan, SBA and Prosper Africa will host a seminar on February 1, Utilizing U.S. Government Tools and Services to Engage in Two-way Trade Between the United States and West African Countries.
• We are committed to increasing private sector investment and will soon open a bilateral Department of Commerce Foreign Commercial Service office in Abidjan. This step recognizes the growing commercial links between the United States and Côte d’Ivoire, an economic engine in the region.
• Demonstrating the U.S. government’s confidence in the economic growth and investment potential in Côte d’Ivoire, the U.S. Embassy recently welcomed a new Department of the Treasury Attaché. The Development Finance Corporation will also base representatives in Abidjan this year.

Building Defense and Security Partnerships

The United States is expanding its security partnership with Côte d’Ivoire to achieve our shared goal of defeating terrorism and creating an environment conducive to economic and social development.

• DOD supports a border security initiative ($6.5 million) to reduce terrorist transit across Côte d’Ivoire’s borders and a port security program ($4.9 million) to counter piracy, illicit trafficking, and IUU fishing.
• A resident Civil Affairs Team is helping Côte d’Ivoire improve civilian-military engagement.
• The U.S. military works closely with Ivoirian counterparts to professionalize their security forces by promoting regional cohesion through information sharing and participation in military exercises. The U.S. Government selected Côte d’Ivoire to host Special Operations Forces largest multinational exercise Flintlock in 2025 and 2026.
• Through the Resilience for Peace program, the United States is dedicating more than $20 million (via USAID) over five years to strengthen community resilience, learning, and civic and economic empowerment opportunities to prevent violent extremism in Côte d’Ivoire’s northern border areas.
• The United States supports the flagship community policing program, training almost the entire police force, developing a national curriculum, and recently expanding to focus on youth-police relations, key to our shared goal of preventing violent extremism. The State Department International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau supports the Ivoirian government and civic partners foster dialogue among residents to improve relations between the community and the police in fragile, post-conflict areas. 
• The State Department Bureau of Counterterrorism is providing civilian security assistance ($6.5 million) to support training and equipping National Police and National Gendarmerie intervention units in crisis response and rural border patrol capabilities.
• We commend Côte d’Ivoire’s leadership and generosity in welcoming thousands of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers as violence in the Sahel continues to force displacement across West Africa. The United States remains the single contributor to address the needs of displaced persons throughout West Africa.  In 2023, we provided nearly $12 million in humanitarian assistance to partners serving the needs of refugees.
• The United States’ commitment to regional stability and combatting violent extremism includes support for the International Counterterrorism Academy (AILCT). As a member of the AILCT governing board we are investing over $8.2 million to build this multilateral institution and train forces to build a common approach to counter-terrorism.

Health Cooperation

Together, we are saving lives.  The United States is the largest investor in Côte d’Ivoire’s health sector.  We support the government’s efforts to provide reliable and sustainable public health to its people nationwide.

• Through the S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the American people have provided Côte d’Ivoire with nearly $2 billion in foreign assistance since 2004. This includes $105 million in FY 2023 to support HIV prevention, care and treatment in the fight to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. PEPFAR assistance is provided alongside approximately $10 million in domestic HIV financing and $16 million in Global Fund HIV support annually.
• Through the President’s Malaria Initiative, we have invested $150 million to prevent, detect, and treat malaria. Our support includes the provision of 5.2 million bed nets, 8.2 million malaria diagnostic tests, Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), and training for 8,300 healthcare workers. 
• As part of our commitment to the Global Health Security Agenda, the United States has invested more than $81 million to strengthen systems and interventions for the prevention, detection, and response to infectious disease threats such as COVID-19, Ebola, and Avian Influenza.
• USAID’s Maternal and Child Health programs support enhanced focus on community and primary health care by investing $9.57 million to improve access to quality services to better protect and promote health care for pregnant women and children under five years old.
• Family Planning and Reproductive Health programs of $11 million strengthen the quality and accessibility of voluntary family planning and reproductive health services by investing $11 million to address unmet needs through the public, non-government, and private sectors, delivered through an increased focus on primary health care.
• During President Biden’s launch of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the G7 in 2022, ABD Group, a project development firm focused on Africa, announced Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a hospital project.  Currently, ABD Group has completed 35 hospitals and 74% of the work in Phase 1.  This project is delivering new healthcare infrastructure to communities around Côte d’Ivoire and is a prominent example of the results U.S. companies can deliver on the ground.