President Joe Biden met with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Sunday on the sidelines of the G20 in New Delhi, India.
According to the White House, the meeting was held to reinforce “our enduring commitment to the U.S.-Nigeria relationship and to the longstanding friendship between our two countries and peoples”.
The statement said President Biden welcomed the Tinubu Administration’s steps to reform Nigeria’s economy and thanked President Tinubu for his strong leadership as the chair of the Economic Community of West African States to defend and preserve democracy and the rule of law in Niger and the broader region.
Nigeria’s invitation to the G20 Summit is a recognition of Nigeria’s important global role as Africa’s largest democracy and economy, it added.
Biden and Tinubu are scheduled to meet again at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York later this month.
In August, SaharaReporters reported that the US Special Presidential Envoy and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Molly Phee, told Tinubu that he was the only African leader President Biden had requested to meet at the UN General Assembly.
The US Envoy, who said this during a visit to President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, noted that the US administration had high regard for the leadership of the Tinubu-led ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
President Tinubu during the meeting with the US Presidential Envoy said that though war is not ideal, the ECOWAS which he leads as the Chairman would not allow the Niger Republic military leaders to “insincerely” buy time in the current crisis.
Ambassador Phee, while pledging US support for the position of ECOWAS, extended an exclusive invitation from President Biden to meet Tinubu on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to advance discussions further in late September.
The US Special Envoy said, “We know there is more we can do to incentivize large-scale American investment in Nigeria and we are committed to working closely with you to achieve that, as part of efforts to strengthen the Nigerian economy and the regional economy.
“We appreciate your willingness to create an enabling environment for that. President Joe Biden is asking to meet with you on the sidelines of UNGA and you are the only African leader he has requested to meet. It is a mark of his high regard for your leadership.”
President Tinubu accepted the invitation to meet the U.S. President on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
