US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is currently on a tour of South Africa, announced the new strategy on Monday during a speech at the University of Pretoria’s Africa Future Institute.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks during a speech at the Africa Future Institute, University of Pretoria on August 8, 2022. Photo: @SecBlinken/Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – A new focus on African economies outlined by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been described as promising
Blinken, who is currently touring South Africa, announced the new strategy on Monday during a speech at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa Institute.
He identified four priority areas that he said lie at the heart of the matter: openness, delivering on the promise of democracy, recovering from the impact of COVID-19 and transitioning to clean energy.
And importantly, he says it focuses on what the US will do with African countries and their peoples.
Professor Christopher Isike of the University of Pretoria’s Department of Political Science says this is important.
“It’s not that different from what we’ve had before, so there’s nothing new other than emphasizing that they want to see us or treat us as partners. I think a lot of time has been spent working through this moment and recognizing our agency as Africans to be able to solve world problems, to decide for ourselves our development path and even the right to decide who should be our development partner. I think this is very important. Whether they would go ahead to implement it would be another matter,” Isike said.
