Vice Presidential Pool Reports of December 13, 2022

VP supplemental pool report #1

A VP supplemental pool has gathered in the Oprah Winfrey Theater at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where we expect to hear shortly from the VP at the Africa and Diaspora Young Leaders Forum that's part of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

This event is open to precredentialed media and the whole day is streaming on a State Dept. video feed at https://www.state.gov/african-and-diaspora-young-leaders-forum/

I'll send highlights if there is anything out of the range of the cameras.

Background from a White House official:

Today, Vice President Harris will deliver remarks at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit's African and Diaspora Young Leaders Forum from the Oprah Winfrey Theater.

The Vice President will be introduced by Deputy Secretary Wally Adeymo and is speaking to about 300 young African and American leaders.

The Vice President will announce the following initiatives:

1. A $100 million expansion of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)
2. Re-launch of the African Women Entrepreneurship Program, to provide micro-financing to women.
3. Ex-Im Bank entering in new MOUs with entities in sub-Saharan Africa whereby we will provide more than $1 billion to finance American commercial investment in Africa.
4. The Executive Order establishing the President's Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States.

VP supplemental pool report #2 - VP excerpts

Deputy Treasury Secretary Adeyemo took the stage at 1:27 p.m. to introduce the vice president.

The White House passes along the following excerpts from the VP, which are embargoed until delivery:

"I strongly believe that the creativity and ingenuity of Africa's young leaders will help shape the future. And that their ideas, your ideas, innovations, and initiatives will benefit the entire world. The Biden-Harris Administration intends to be right there alongside you, these young leaders, knowing it is the spark and determination of young people that will drive us forward."

"Our Administration will invest our time and our energy to fortify partnerships across the continent. Partnerships grounded in candor, openness, inclusiveness, shared interests, and mutual benefits. And overall, our Administration will be guided not by what we can do for Africa but what we can do with Africa."

"With determination and access to finance, ingenuity knows no bounds. So to invest in the future, we must invest in young people. And to be most effective, we must strengthen a broad coalition between government and community leaders, philanthropic leaders, business leaders, and young leaders. And, of course, with the African Diaspora—so richly represented in this room."

"By working together we can unlock growth and opportunity that far exceeds what any of us can achieve on our own. So, let us work together to foster the spark of creativity and ingenuity in Africa's young leaders."

VP supplemental pool report #3 - VP departs

The VP concluded her remarks at 1:46 p.m. and she left the stage. The lines from the speech excerpts shared earlier were among the biggest applause lines.

The VP's remarks streamed both on the White House and State Department feeds. Feel free to reach out with questions, but that's all from the Oprah Winfrey Theater.