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Much of this century’s history will be written in Africa. The summit President Biden hosted this week with 50 leaders from across the continent is an overdue acknowledgment of that fact.

“When Africa succeeds, the United States succeeds,” Biden said Wednesday in a keynote address to the gathering. “Quite frankly, the whole world succeeds as well.”

But in this “new scramble for Africa,” success should be defined by Africans themselves. And investing in the continent can’t mean simply importing American values; it requires recognizing the achievements, and seismic shifts, that are already underway on the continent.

The case for Africa’s rising significance is undeniable. By 2050, according to United Nations projections, Africa will be home to one-fourth of the world’s population; by 2075, that fraction will have risen to one-third. By 2100, the list of the 10 most populous nations on Earth will include Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt.

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No wonder countries such as China have invested heavily in relationship-building on the continent, particularly through Beijing’s Belt and Road development initiatives that have helped improve many nations’ infrastructure, from ports to railroads and hydropower. Biden’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, at which he promised $55 billion in U.S. investments in Africa over the next three years as initial proof the United States is “all in on Africa’s future,” is an effort to catch up.

But this new race for influence needs to be about more than who gets to extract and exploit the continent’s resources. It has to be about lifting hundreds of millions of Africans into the global middle class and beyond — and treating African leaders as real partners.

That is where the United States has an advantage over Beijing and Moscow. Those countries are funding the nuts-and-bolts of a modern economy. But the United States is far better positioned to help with human and societal infrastructure — health, education and good government — that move a nation from subsistence to flourishing.

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The summit amply demonstrated the challenges involved in resetting the relationship between these former colonies and the new imperial powers eager to influence them.

Biden held a private meeting with six leaders whose nations will hold elections in 2023 — Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, George Manneh Weah of Liberia, Andry Nirina Rajoelina of Madagascar, Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone — to discuss dangers such as foreign interference and political violence. The Biden administration plans to spend $165 million to support elections and good governance in Africa next year.

In nations across the continent, however, citizens are already demanding more transparency and accountability from their leaders. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who did not attend the summit, is fighting for his political survival amid allegations he hid at least $580,000 in cash, of unknown provenance, in a sofa at his game ranch. Ramaphosa survived an impeachment vote on Tuesday but still faces a challenge to his leadership of his party, the African National Congress.

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African nations are also confronting a massive wave of urbanization, impelled by rising living standards, agricultural mechanization and climate change. Cities such as Lagos, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are becoming megalopolises sorely in need of adequate housing, rapid transit and other expensive infrastructure. The challenges are huge, but so are the opportunities to experiment with new approaches to housing design and public transportation that could be models for more-developed countries.

African leaders are well aware that they are objects of competition. Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that his country and others will not be “bullied into making choices between [the] U.S. and China.”

Nor should they be. It is in the interests of the United States, China and the European Union to invest in African nations and speed their development. Middle-class populations provide markets.

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Forty-five percent of the mobile phones sold in Africa are from Chinese brands, some of them customized with language-specific keyboards and cameras adjusted to accurately render brown skin. Engineering products for African consumers is a growth business, and one that might well drive innovations that could be valuable to customers elsewhere.

Economic advancement across Africa will also contribute to global stability. Nigerians or Tanzanians or Congolese who see no future in their countries will seek — and find — ways to migrate to Europe or the United States. Well-resourced governments with adequate infrastructure can deny havens to terrorist groups such as Boko Haram or the Islamic State.

Real medical infrastructure, of the kind colonists constantly promised to build but never delivered, can ensure that diseases such as Ebola don’t become pandemics. Building first-class educational institutions in Africa will pay off in discoveries and advancements we cannot yet imagine.

Colonialism has a way of reinventing itself. This new scramble must not be done to Africans but with them and for them.

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