Blinken emphasizes the importance of working with African countries

What is happening here in Nigeria is felt around the world, and that is, in a nutshell, the reason why I came to Abuja. The United States knows that on most of the pressing challenges and opportunities we face, Africa will make a difference. As we work to end the Covid-19 pandemic and strengthen global health security, we must work closely with African countries to build public health systems here that can prevent, detect and respond to future emergencies. Because as the past two years have taught us, none of us are completely protected unless we are all protected. As the urgency of the climate crisis increases, we will increasingly focus on Africa to resolve an emergency that threatens our collective security, our economies and our health. Here, where the potential of renewable energies is greater than anywhere else on the planet, we see not only the challenges of this crisis, but also its solutions.