'Deeply respect' the people of Africa: Trump

United States President Donald Trump said that he "deeply respects" the people of Africa.

He further pledged "strong and respectful relationships" with the African countries, The Hill reported.

In a letter written to the African leaders which was written on Thursday, Trump offered his "best wishes for the successful African Union (AU) summit," and noted that his administration is committed to ensuring "free, fair and reciprocal trade" with the African countries, while working to "safeguard legal immigration."

The letter came ahead of the 30th AU summit in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, which is currently taking place.

Trump added that the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, will make an "extended visit" to African later in March.

The US President also met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is also the chairman of the AU, at the just-concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Friday. He called the meeting "tremendous."

On January 13, Trump had "questioned" why the US only accepted immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa, during a meeting at the Oval Office in White House to discuss reforming the country's immigration policy. He has reportedly called them as "s---hole countries."

The African leaders have demanded Trump to apologise and retract his reported racist comments on African, Haitian and El Salvadorian immigrants.