Vice President Kamala Harris has officially arrived on the continent of Africa. America’s first woman, Black and south Asian president, is currently in Accra, Ghana, and later this week, will visit Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Lusaka, Zambia.
As a history-maker already, Harris marks further history as the first sitting female, Black and south Asian U.S. vice president to visit the continent.
Harris is fulfilling President Joe Biden’s pledge for him and members of his cabinet to travel to the continent this year after hosting African leaders in December of 2022 for a U.S.-Africa summit, where the administration committed billions of dollars of investments in the region.
During a recent White House press briefing, John Kirby, National Security Council spokesperson, the Biden-Harris administration’s several trips to Africa this year is about relationship building as “we work on this relationship one at a time because every country on the continent is different.”
The African countries planned for the vice president’s visit, and the United States, are working to strengthen issues of national security and economic security through the expansion of access to the digital economy, support of climate adaptation and resilience, and strengthening business ties and investment, including through innovation, entrepreneurship, and the economic empowerment of women.
“Africa matters, the continent matters, the relationships across the continent matter,” Kirby told members of the press.
This trip is receiving much attention as the vice president plans to travel with several prominent politicians and civilians. The delegation of leaders will only be part of the Ghana leg of Harris’ Africa tour.
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