WASHINGTON, July 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump welcomes five African leaders to a White House lunch on Wednesday, with commerce and trade expected to feature prominently amongst a mixed bag of potential agenda items.
The presidents of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon — five nations located along Africa’s Atlantic Coast — will convene at Trump’s behest.
Officials from the countries said that they expected talks to centre on trade, investment and security, amongst other topics as they met in the executive mansion’s State Dining Room.
But few concrete details have emerged as to the White House’s intentions.
The meeting comes as the Trump administration is focused on tariffs and trade deals, and as it seeks to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals.
But the five nations lack the extreme mineral wealth of other African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The gathering additionally takes place just days after the Trump administration celebrated the formal shuttering of the US foreign aid agency USAID, trumpeting the move as an end to the “charity-based model”.
Officials from the five countries seemed keenly aware of the White House ethos.
Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai accepted the invitation with an eye on no longer being “solely (an) aid recipient”, his press secretary Kula Fofana said on Tuesday.
“Our interest is to look more to trade and engagement partners who will invest,” she said.
Gabonese presidential spokesman Theophane Biyoghe said the meeting marked a chance for synergies “centred around the industrialisation of our economy”. — NNN-AGENCIES
