The
deals between four U.S. companies and Senegal are being billed
as part of his country's pitch to help Africa build
infrastructure with transparent and sustainable deals.
Careful not to directly criticise Chinese infrastructure
projects, which have proliferated in the past decade, Blinken
said during a visit to Nigeria on Friday that international
deals were too often opaque and coercive.
The United States is investing "without saddling the country
with a debt that it cannot handle," he said during the signing
ceremony with Senegal's Economy Minister Amadou Hott.
The deals will help improve infrastructure, create jobs and
reinforce public safety and climate resilience, he added.
Senegal is the final stop on Blinken's three-country tour of
Africa, following visits to Kenya and Nigeria, where he has
attempted strike a new tone from the era of former President
Donald Trump, who disparaged some African nations and barred
travel from six of them.
(Reporting by Bate Felix; writing by Hereward Holland; editing
by Christina Fincher)
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