MCC at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

President Biden is hosting leaders from across the African continent in Washington, D.C. on December 13-15, 2022, for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. The Summit demonstrates the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa and underscores the importance of U.S.-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities.

Since its founding in 2004, MCC has represented an innovative approach to U.S. foreign assistance and development—one that emphasizes results and accountability, incentivizes policy and institutional reforms that catalyze private sector investment, and is led by country partners with a focus on sustainability. With some of the world’s fastest growing economies in Africa, MCC is playing a leading role in helping the continent’s best-governed poor countries seize new economic opportunities and fight poverty.

MCC has invested nearly $9.5 billion with 24 Africa countries since 2004 and currently has active grant programs in 14 African countries worth roughly $3 billion. And with an additional $2.5 billion of anticipated investments on the continent, MCC grant programs are helping to strengthen two-way trade and investment partnerships between the United States and African nations—partnerships that create jobs, fuel economic growth, and advance equitable prosperity.

Engaging African RECs Forum

U.S. State Department Event

December 12
8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. EST

U.S. Department of State will host a forum with Regional Economic Communities (REC). The event will provide an opportunity for African REC leaders to share their organizational economic priorities and perspectives with officials from the National Security Council, Department of State, USAID, U.S. Trade Representative, Treasury, Department of Commerce, and Millennium Challenge Corporation.

December 12
10:00-11:30 a.m. EST

Leading up to the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, CSIS will host an event that will examine two key issues on digital transformation and inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa. MCC will participate in a conversation on closing Africa’s gender digital divide. The event will be webcast live.

December 12
2:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. EST

MCC CEO Alice Albright will join this forum focused on the drivers of Africa’s digital transformation and the public and private sector opportunities for collaboration toward achieving the continent’s digital agenda. By convening African Heads of State, U.S. government officials, and industry leaders from the U.S. and across Africa, the Forum will highlight the remarkable digital challenges and opportunities while advancing U.S. and African private and public sector partnerships to seek increased contributions to improving the socioeconomic landscape of the continent through technology.

Benin-Niger Regional Transport Compact Signing

MCC Side Event

December 14

MCC will host a signing event for its first concurrent regional integration compacts. MCC has successfully completed compact negotiations with the Governments of Benin and Niger for a combined $504 million Benin-Niger Proposed Regional Transport Compact, which aims to reduce transport costs and improve efficiency along the Cotonou-Niamey transport corridor. The event will be webcast live. Invite-only reception to follow.

A “bi-lat” is a meeting between two countries, usually between two leaders. During the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leader Summit, MCC has 11 bi-lat meetings scheduled. Follow #BiLatBingo on MCC’s main social platforms and check the box on your bingo card (PDF) when we post a picture of that country’s bi-lat meeting to win MCC Bi-Lat Bingo.

In this episode, MCC Deputy CEO Mahmoud Bah and Dana Banks, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Africa at the National Security Council, discuss the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit and how it will reinforce the U.S.-Africa commitment to democracy and foster new economic engagement on the continent.

During his remarks at the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit, United States President Jospeh R. Biden announced the MCC Board of Directors has selected The Gambia, Togo, Senegal, and Mauritania to develop new MCC grant programs.

MCC took center stage at today’s U.S.-Africa Business Forum as the United States, Benin, and Niger governments signed the first-ever MCC regional program.