(C) U.S. State Dept
This story was originally published by U.S. State Dept and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Secretary Blinken’s Remarks Following Visit to Porto de Praia [1]

[]

Date: 2024-01 

SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s wonderful to be here in Cabo Verde and the port of Praia. We start this trip to Africa here in Cabo Verde because it is quite literally a gateway to Africa for countries around the world, including for the United States. And a big part of that gateway is this port. One of the things I’m very proud of is the fact that, thanks to the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the United States was able to invest significantly in modernizing and upgrading this port so that its capacity was dramatically expanded in terms of the number of ships that it could bring in, the efficiency of the port also dramatically increased so that ships could be processed much more quickly, the storage capacity around the port also built up, and all of that has created an incredibly vibrant place and a much stronger gateway to Africa for us and for so many other countries.

We also see that in the fact that this expansion project has produced jobs right here in Cabo Verde. And we’re also seeing Cabo Verde become increasingly a destination for tourism, for cruise ships, all of that thanks to work that was done in large part through the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Cabo Verde is the only country in the world to have completed two Millennium Challenge Corporation compacts, and now it’s embarking on a third, but a third that will really focus on regional connectivity and on integration and strengthening ties economically among countries in West Africa.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.state.gov/secretary-blinkens-remarks-following-visit-to-porto-de-praia/

Published and (C) by U.S. State Dept
Content appears here under this condition or license: Public Domain.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/usstate/