U.S. Coordinator for International Information and Communications Policy Ambassador Steve Lang, Special Representative for Global Partnerships Dorothy S. McAuliffe, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for West Africa Michael Heath will visit Santa Clara, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Sunnyvale, California, on Friday, September 27, 2024.
These senior State Department officials will accompany a delegation from the Government of Senegal led by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. President Faye will be joined by Minister of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy Alioune Sall, Minister of Finance and Budget Cheikh Diba, and other senior Senegalese government officials. While in California, the group will meet entrepreneurs and representatives from tech companies, academia, financial institutions, Senegalese start-up companies, and the Senegalese diaspora community.
This joint visit reaffirms the United States' commitment to supporting Africa's digital transformation and deepening partnerships between the United States and Senegal and between our African partners and the U.S. private sector and academic institutions. The visit closely follows Secretary of State Antony Blinken's September 23 launch of the Partnership for Global Inclusivity on AI and other initiatives to harness the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) to advance sustainable development globally.
