副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯于周日抵达加纳首都阿克拉，开始为期一周的欧洲大陆之旅她还将去坦桑尼亚和赞比亚。
哈里斯是美国第一位黑人女性副总统，这是她在任期间首次出访非洲。
周日，她和第二位先生道格·艾姆霍夫(Doug Emhoff)乘坐空军二号抵达，受到加纳副总统马哈穆杜·巴乌米亚(Mahamudu Bawumia)的迎接。
欢迎仪式包括鲜花、舞者和鼓手，她走上红地毯，一大群孩子聚集在舞台一侧，她发表了简短的讲话。
她在科托卡国际机场的停机坪上说:“来到加纳和非洲大陆是一种荣誉。”。
“我对非洲对世界其他地区的影响感到非常兴奋，”她说，指的是未来几十年，非洲人口(目前的中值年龄为19岁)将有助于让非洲国家处于国际关系的中心。
在访问期间，哈里斯表示，鉴于气候变化带来的日益严峻的挑战，她希望推动“增加投资”、妇女、女孩和年轻商人的“经济赋权”、“数字包容”和粮食安全。
2023年3月26日，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在加纳的科托卡国际机场发表演讲。
欧内斯特·安科马/盖蒂图片社
她说，在她会见各国领导人时，她还将讨论民主和政府，并将观察一些“鼓舞世界”的创新和创造力。
“我们有很多工作要做，我再次非常兴奋能来到这里，”她说。
副总统将于周一会见加纳总统纳纳·阿库福-阿多，并在会见后举行新闻发布会。
她将于周三下午前往坦桑尼亚的达累斯萨拉姆，然后于周五离开坦桑尼亚前往赞比亚首都卢萨卡，在那里她将会见总统Hakainde Hichilema。
她将于4月2日返回华盛顿。
哈里斯延续了拜登政府在来自中国的竞争和非洲国家在非洲大陆日益增长的影响力下与非洲国家的联系，非洲国家已经与北京建立了贸易和其他联系。
在周四晚上与记者的电话会议上预览副总统的议程时，高级政府官员表示，哈里斯将要求领导人不要在美国和中国之间“选择”，而是“扩大”他们的选择。
“我们不能忽视当前的地缘政治时刻。众所周知，我们正在与中国竞争。我们已经非常明确地表示，从长远来看，我们打算在竞争中胜过中国，”这些官员说。
坦桑尼亚总统萨米亚·苏鲁胡·哈桑去年11月在非洲之外进行的首次国事访问就是在北京会见习近平主席，双方重点讨论了农业贸易和基础设施等合作领域，这显示了坦桑尼亚对与中国关系的重视。
哈里斯之行中值得关注的两个时刻是加纳和赞比亚。政府官员表示，周一，哈里斯将参观海岸角城堡，这是一个前奴隶贸易前哨，也是所谓的“不归之门”的所在地，并就“奴隶制的残酷性和非洲侨民”发表讲话
哈里斯在赞比亚的时间将是引人注目的，因为这标志着她自年轻时以来第一次回到这个国家。20世纪60年代，她去那里看望她的外祖父，她外祖父是印度的一名公务员，在赞比亚政府工作了几年，负责难民安置问题。
Vice President Harris arrives for historic Africa trip, focused on investment and empowerment
Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday,kicking off a weeklong trip on the continentthat will also take her to Tanzania and Zambia.
Harris, the first Black woman U.S. vice president, is making her first trip to Africa while in office.
She arrived Sunday in Air Force Two with the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, and was greeted by Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
The welcome ceremony included a gift of flowers, dancers and drummers as she walked down a red carpet and a large group of children gathered to the side of the stage where she made brief remarks.
“What an honor it is to be here in Ghana and on the continent of Africa," she said on the tarmac of Kotoka International Airport.
"I’m very excited about the impact of Africa on the rest of the world," she said, pointing to a future in the coming decades in which the population -- with a current median age of 19 -- would help put African nations at the center of international relations.
While on her trip, Harris said she wants to promote "increasing investments," the "economic empowerment" of women, girls and young businesspeople, "digital inclusion" and food security in light of mounting challenges from climate change.
She said she will also be discussing democracy and government as she meets with various leaders and will be observing just some of the innovation and creativity that is "inspiring the world."
"We have a lot of work ahead of us, and again I'm so very excited to be here," she said.
The vice president will meet with Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday and hold a news conference following their meeting.
She travels to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Wednesday afternoon, and then departs Tanzania for Lusaka, the Zambian capital, on Friday, where she will meet with President Hakainde Hichilema.
She returns to Washington on April 2.
Harris continues the Biden administration's outreach to African countries amid competition from China and their growing influence on the continent, where countries have forged trade and other ties with Beijing.
Previewing the vice president's agenda on a call with reporters on Thursday evening, senior administration officials said Harris will be asking the leaders not to "choose" between the U.S. and China but to "expand" their options.
"We can't ignore the current geopolitical moment. It's no secret that we are engaged in competition with China. And we've said very clearly we intend to out-compete China in the long term," the officials said.
In a show of how much Tanzania values their relationship with China, President Samia Suluhu Hassan's first state visit outside of Africa last November was to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing where their meeting focused on areas of cooperation such as agriculture trade and infrastructure.
Two notable moments to watch for during Harris' trip will be in Ghana and Zambia. The administration officials said that on Monday, Harris will tour Cape Coast Castle, a former slave-trade outpost and location of the so-called "Door of No Return," and deliver remarks on the "brutality of slavery and the African diaspora."
And Harris' time in Zambia will be notable as it marks her return to the country for the first time since she was a young girl. In the 1960s, she traveled there to visit her maternal grandfather, who was a civil servant in India and worked for several years in the Zambian government on refugee resettlement issues.
