[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bob Schaffer of Colorado). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. 
Jefferson] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1432, the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act, on which the Trade Subcommittee of 
Ways and Means Committee conducted hearings yesterday. I am a proud 
coauthor and original cosponsor of this important and historic 
legislation which will start the process of bringing African and United 
States economic interests together in the global marketplace.
  The African Growth and Opportunity Act has been coauthored and 
received in an enthusiastic bipartisan spirit, led by our distinguished 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade, Phil Crane, as well as 
Congressmen Rangel, McDermott, Houghton, Matsui and many others.
  Yesterday we heard declarations of support from the Clinton 
administration, Speaker Gingrich, former House Secretary Jack Kemp, 
former Mayor Dinkins and a host of other trade, investment, 
development, and diplomatic officials for this landmark legislation. It 
was, Mr. Speaker, an exciting day and exhibited the great inspiring 
unity the Congress is capable of when it puts aside party and strife 
and employs the talents of all of us to deal with national and 
international issues.
  Mr. Speaker, the African Growth and Opportunity Act would establish 
as U.S. policy the path from developmental assistance to economic self-
reliance through trade and investment for African countries committed 
to economic reform, market incentives, and private sector growth.
  In addition, H.R. 1432 will establish several new initiatives to 
promote trade and investment in Africa, a few of which I will briefly 
outline. First, H.R. 1432 would direct the President to develop a plan 
for trade agreements to establish a United States/sub-Saharan Africa 
free trade area by the year 2020.
  Second, H.R. 1432 would establish a United States/Africa economic 
forum to facilitate annual high-level discussions of bilateral and 
multilateral trade and investment policies modeled on the highly 
successful APEC forum that has worked so well to spur U.S. trade and 
investment in Asia.
  Third, it directs OPIC to create a $150 equity fund and $500 million 
infrastructure fund for Africa, which will help lay the groundwork for 
private sector development. And fourth, H.R. 1432 proposes a market 
access initiative which would redirect an enhanced generalized system 
of preferences program to qualifying African countries, assisting the 
least competitive countries in Africa to access United States markets.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe this legislation is important for four 
principal reasons. First, the development of a trade policy with sub-
Saharan Africa is important because the United States does not 
currently have a trade policy with this part of the world. So while 
many Asian and Latin American economies have flourished as a result of 
the influx of private investment and international trade, Africa has 
been almost exclusively relegated to developmental assistance.
  Thirty years ago, the standards of living of Korea and Ghana were 
nearly equal. Today, Korea is a vibrant, industrial powerhouse, while 
Ghana is still a nation very much in economic transition. While there 
are numerous reasons to explain this difference, the critical 
distinction between Asia's and Africa's development has been Western 
investment and trade.
  H.R. 1432 places our Government's imprimatur on trade and investment 
in Africa, a crucial catalyst for attracting further private sector 
investment in the region and on the continent.
  Second, this bill lays the groundwork for enhanced private sector and 
infrastructure development in Africa, which will improve standards of 
living for the people of sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Speaker, this is in 
the interest of our country, the United States.
  Africa represents 10 percent of the world's population and possesses 
enormous untapped natural and human resources. Amid a dizzying array of 
mining, petroleum, and agricultural resources are an industrious and 
entrepreneurial people who yearn to compete in the global marketplace 
and represent an important future market for U.S. exports and thus for 
the creation of U.S. jobs.
  But right now, many people in sub-Saharan Africa lack the basics: 
telephone and electricity service; clean running water; and essential 
medical technologies. Fortunately, we can help, and H.R. 1432 takes a 
giant step, through infrastructure development, free trade agreements, 
and market access initiatives, toward improving the standard of living 
for millions in sub-Saharan Africa.
  It would promote foreign, direct investment in Africa through the two 
funds that I mentioned earlier. These funds are vital to Africa's 
development because of the 1,160 privately financed infrastructure 
projects around the world, only 6 percent occurred in Africa. And 
between 1984 and 1994, only 2 percent of the world's foreign investment 
was made in Africa.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, to 
support the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a bill that is good for 
America, good for Africa, and good for the cause of international 
economic development.

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