ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump welcomed the leaders of five African nations Wednesday to discuss strengthening economic partnerships and unlocking investment opportunities across the continent.

The leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal attended a working lunch focusing on trade and development cooperation.

"My administration is committed to strengthening our friendships in Africa through economic development efforts that benefit both the United States and our partners," Trump said during the meeting.

He emphasized Africa's economic potential as having opportunities "like few other places" that could prove "far more effective and sustainable and beneficial than anything else that we could be doing together."

The African leaders showcased their nations' abundant natural resources.

Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani highlighted his country's position as Africa's second-largest iron ore producer for 60 years, along with reserves of manganese, uranium and potential lithium deposits.

"We have a lot of opportunities to offer in terms of investment," he said.

Liberian President Joseph Boakai said his country has lots of minerals and called for a survey of them.

"We want to encourage American involvement in the investment in Liberia," he said.

Gabon's President Brice Oligui Nguema stressed the need for local processing of raw materials to create jobs and prevent youth migration.

He said his country seeks partners to process manganese and like the other countries at the meeting invites US companies to take advantage of such opportunities.

"We are not poor countries. We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials, but we need partners to support us," he added.

Touching on security in the Gulf of Guinea. Nguema urged the US to fight piracy in the region.

"We need a reliable and strong partner that is committed and that takes real steps, real action," he said.

Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye highlighted two major opportunities.

He invited the US Geological Survey to assess his country's mineral potential.

Faye also encouraged American investors to take part in a digital city project in Dakar spanning 40 hectares (98 acres).

Trump also announced progress on peace negotiations between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, crediting the US State Department's senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos, for mediating the breakthrough.

"I think over the next couple of weeks, the leaders of both countries will come to sign the final agreement," he said.

Asked about nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, the leaders of Gabon and Mauritania expressed support, citing his peace efforts in the region.

Trump pointed out that some countries in Africa have imposed very high tariffs on the US.

“Parts of Africa charge us tremendous tariffs, as you know, and they're going to be dropping those tariffs. They've already informed me they're going to be dropping this. But we treat Africa far better than China or anybody else, anyplace else,” he said.

Asked whether the African countries at the meeting would face tariffs, Trump said he hasn’t thought about it yet.

On whether there was a formula for how the tariff rates were calculated in the tariff letters sent, Trump said: "The formula was a formula based on common sense, based on deficits, based on how we've been treated over the years and based on raw numbers."