Photo: Pete Souza/White House

President Obama answers questions at a Young African Leaders Initiative town hall meeting in Soweto.

An excerpt from President Obama's speech at the University of Cape Town:

[W]e want a partnership that empowers Africans to access greater opportunity in their own lives, in their communities, and for their countries.

As the largest economy on the continent, South Africa is part of a trend that extends from south to north, east to west -- more and more African economies are poised to take off. And increased trade and investment from the United States has the potential to accelerate these trends --- creating new jobs and opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.

So I'm calling for America to up our game when it comes to Africa.

We're bringing together business leaders from America and Africa to deepen our engagement. We're going to launch new trade missions, and promote investment from companies back home. We'll launch an effort in Addis to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act to break down barriers to trade, and tomorrow I'll discuss a new Trade Africa initiative to expand our ties across the continent, because we want to unleash the power of entrepreneurship and markets to create opportunity here in Africa....