REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN Paix - Travail - Patrie REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Peace - Work - Fatherland PRÉSIDENCE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC CABINET CIVIL Cellule de Communication CIVIL CABINET Communication Unit
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# U.S. AFRICA # LEADERS SUMMIT WASHINGTON, D.C. | 2022
# Participation of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, H.E. Paul BIYA
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PRESS KIT
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PRESS KIT U.S. AFRICA LEADERS SUMMIT WASHINGTON, D.C. | 2022
# A NEW U.S. POLICY IN AFRICA
Without being neglected, but for tactical or economic reasons, sub-Saharan Africa seemed to be on the margins of US foreign policy during decolonisation. This is evidenced by the fact that the United States never signed a defence agreement with the African continent as a whole, as it did with Latin America or Western Europe. Therefore, for a long time, the US military presence in sub-Saharan Africa remained modest.
However, US interest in Africa has been growing since the beginning of the 21st Century, spurred on by the first US-Africa ministerial conference in 1999. The US-Africa dialogue is structured along three pillars:
- The fight against radical Islamism;
- The conquest of a booming African market, with the added need to secure oil supplies;
- Regional stability.
In the end, it is a question of integrating Africa into the circuits of the world economy and actively opposing Islamist terrorism.
This change is based on two relevant concepts:
- Radical Islamism, which is on the rise in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, can spread to many countries, some of which are major oil producers and border on maritime routes that are essential for the transport of global energy flows;
- Africa's emergence as a strategic region, both in terms of raw material production and energy reserves. As the United States is a country quite vulnerable to energy dependence, it becomes crucial that Africa is a key partner for the United States.
In this respect, the United States has a favourable bias towards Africa, free of a colonial past fraught with painful memories. This is compounded by its support for the independence struggles and the presence of a large African-American minority and its growing effectiveness in American diplomacy.
It is important to consider in the new US strategy in Africa the stated objective of limiting the influence of China and Russia. In this respect, the US-Africa Summit on 13 December 2022 marks a decisive turning point in the deepening of cooperation on major global issues, with a focus on economic, security and health issues. The subjects of debt, inflation, and multilateral economic development relations between private and public actors will have to be debated.
With regard to Cameroon specifically, this summit carries the hope of leading to a significant improvement in American interventions to promote economic development, social peace and security. It is worth recalling that Cameroon arbitrarily lost its preferential access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).