BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA
MBABANE – Among the chosen 10!
This is Eswatini Prime Minister’s wife Nomvula Dlamini who was hosted by the United States First Lady, Dr Jill Biden, yesterday. She was among the 10 first ladies from Africa who were hosted by First Lady Biden.
The PM’s wife accompanied his husband, His Excellency Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini, to the U.S African Leaders Summit 2022 at Washington, DC. The summit commenced on December 13 and ended yesterday, December 15, 2022.
It is during the summit that America’s First Lady hosted the 10 first ladies from different African states, including the PM’s wife.
Worth noting is that the summit was attended by 49 African leaders and they are being hosted by U.S President Joe Biden. The Eswatini PM is representing His Majesty King Mswati III, the Eswatini Head of State.
According to reports by Yahoo News, First Lady Dr Jill Biden welcomed 10 first ladies from the African continent at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The reports revealed that First Lady Dr Jill Biden on Thursday hosted nearly a dozen first ladies from Africa for the second day of the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit Spousal Program at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Yahoo News reported that Dr Biden, joined by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, welcomed the first ladies of Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Liberia, Ghana, Namibia, and Sierra Leone, for a luncheon focused on the African diaspora.
Author and culinary scholar Dr Jessica B. Harris, who appeared in the Peabody-award-winning Netflix documentary ‘High on the Hog’, was also invited to give remarks about the rich history of African-American food and its connection to the continent of Africa.
“Thursday’s event came a day after the first lady hosted a panel for the White House’s Cancer Moonshot initiative at the Kennedy Center. Dr Biden invited 21 African first ladies to discuss the challenges their nations face in regard to cancer and other diseases, and the work they are doing to combat them,” read the reports.
In a statement to the Grio, the first lady’s press secretary Vanessa Valdivia said Dr Biden was “intentional and thoughtful about the design of the spousal program, purposefully creating opportunities for connection and dialogue”.
According to the reports, The First Lady delivered brief remarks at the luncheon, highlighting the significance of its venue. The National Museum of African American History and Culture, located on the National Mall, is the world’s largest museum dedicated to African-American history and culture.
On Tuesday, we published that PM Cleopas met U.S African Development Foundation President and CEO Travis Atkins at the summit.
The Eswatini Premier jetted out of the country over a week ago, where he first landed in Luanda, Angola to represent His Majesty King Mswati III at the 10th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific States.
His Excellency then proceeded to the U.S, where he met the USADF CEO.
According to the official USADF Twitter page, Adkins kicked off the busy week at the U.S Africa Leaders Summit week by meeting with the Prime Minister of Eswatini to discuss future collaboration.
Adkins, according to his official LinkedIn account, is the current USADF President and CEO and he came into office in January this year. He is an international development leader with nearly 20 years’ experience working with vulnerable populations in over 50 nations across Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
He is also a lecturer for U.S Policy, Security Studies and African Studies at George Town University.
Before being USADF CEO, he was Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa at USAID.
