Five West African leaders are travelling to Washington this week for a somewhat surprise meeting: US president Donald Trump announced in late June that he would host the heads of state of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau for a three-day meeting.

Washington has cited “commercial opportunities” as the reason for the mini-summit, lasting from 9 to 11 July.

It’s seen as the first major diplomatic outreach to Africa from Washington since Donald Trump returned to office, following a tense one-on-one meeting between South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump in the White House in May.

The five countries invited to Washington have valuable natural ressources, including oil, gas, gold and rare earth minerals. But all of them also face considerable challenges such as corruption, authoritarianism and political instability.

What agreements and results will come from their meeting with the American president remain to be seen.