[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 23713-23715]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          HOPE FOR AFRICA BILL

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, on September 24 I introduced a new 
Africa trade bill--S. 1636, the HOPE for Africa Act--a bill that will 
invigorate commercial relationships between the United States and 
African trading partners, with healthy results for both.
  It expands trade between Africa and the United States, offers United 
States companies new opportunities to invest in African economies, and 
promises new HOPE for the people of Sub-Saharan Africa themselves, who 
are struggling against daunting odds to gain a foothold in the global 
marketplace and embrace the growth and stability it will bring.
  It's important to say here that everyone proposing Africa trade 
legislation has the same goal--we all want to help expand trade and 
development with Africa in a way that is also good for American 
companies and workers--but it's equally important to point out how we 
differ in approach, and what those differences will mean for African 
economies.
  For years Africa has gotten short shrift in the attention of the 
American public and of American policymakers, and I am very encouraged 
that there has been renewed interest in expanding opportunities for 
United States business in Africa.
  But Congress shouldn't make up for those years of neglect by passing 
weak legislation that will have little impact on United States-Africa 
trade.
  As a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Africa for more than 6

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years, and its ranking Democrat for more than four, I know that now is 
the time for foresight and bold action, because Africa today is 
brimming with both tribulations and potential.
  I offer this bill today because unfortunately, other proposals fall 
short of their goals by providing only minimal benefits for Africa and 
for Africans.
  First and foremost, they fail to address two crises that are hobbling 
Africa's ability to compete--the overwhelming debt burden, and the 
deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic, both of which are so corrosive to African 
aspirations.
  My legislation, which is similar in many respects to the HOPE for 
Africa bill introduced recently by Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., 
in the House of Representatives, takes a more comprehensive approach to 
our current trade relationship with Africa--the only kind of approach 
that can generate the kind of dramatic progress Africa needs to become 
a more viable partner in the global economy.
  My HOPE for Africa legislation offers broader trading benefits than 
the other pending proposals, and just as importantly, it takes steps to 
address the debt burden and AIDS crisis that handicap African 
economies.
  My bill extends trade benefits to selected African countries on a 
broader variety of products--and does not rely narrowly on textiles, as 
other proposals do. Broader benefits give African businesses and 
workers a better chance to establish sustainable trade-generated 
economic development.
  My bill includes strong protections against the backdoor tactic of 
illegal transshipment of goods from China and other third countries 
through Africa to the United States, that would cheat workers and 
companies here and in Africa of hard-earned opportunities.
  Provisions of my bill will help deter the influx to the African 
continent of lower-wage workers from outside Africa, ensuring that 
Africans themselves will be the ones to benefit from the provisions of 
this bill.
  Another centerpiece of this bill is that it requires strict 
compliance with internationally-recognized standards of worker and 
human rights and environmental protections. The rights of Africa's 
peoples and the state of its environment may seem removed from life 
here in the United States. But if we are wise we will all remember that 
we are all affected when logging and mining deplete African rainforests 
and increase global warming, and we all reap the benefits of an Africa 
where freedom and human dignity reign on the continent, creating a 
stable environment in which business can thrive. American ideals and 
simple good sense require that we be vigilant in this regard.
  The bill takes crucial steps to support the fight against the 
crushing HIV/AIDS epidemic, which has had a devastating impact in Sub-
Saharan Africa. Of the 33.4 million adults and children living with 
HIV/AIDS worldwide in 1998, a staggering 22.5 million live in the 48 
countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Since the onset of the worldwide HIV/
AIDS crisis, more than 34 million sub-Saharan Africans have been 
infected, and more than 11.5 million of those infected have died. Since 
the onset of the HIV/AIDS crisis, approximately 83 percent of AIDS 
deaths have occurred in Africa. The vast tragedy of HIV/AIDS in Africa 
is daunting, overwhelming, but it must be overwhelmed with a massive 
effort that will have to be integrated with any Africa trade regime 
that hopes to succeed.
  Finally, the bill provides for substantial debt relief for Sub-
Saharan African nations. Debt, debt, debt is the finger on the scales 
that keeps that rich continent from achieving its economic potential 
and embracing a freer, more prosperous future. In 1997, sub-Saharan 
African debt totaled more than $215 billion, about $6.5 billion of 
which is owed to the United States government. The debt of at least 30 
of the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries exceeds 50 percent of their 
gross national products. The international community must find a 
reasonable way substantially to reduce this debt burden so that the 
countries of sub-Saharan Africa can invest scarce dollars in the 
futures of the most precious of their natural resources--their people.
  My HOPE for Africa bill can establish a framework to achieve these 
goals by relieving Sub-Saharan African nations of a significant piece 
of their current debt, supporting environmental protections and human 
rights in these developing economies, and giving African businesses--
including small and women-owned businesses--a chance to share in the 
burgeoning global economy.
  I was pleased to announce my intention to offer this legislation at a 
press conference recently in Milwaukee along with several 
representatives of the state legislature and the local business 
community.
  Mr. President, the current level of trade and investment between the 
United States and African countries is depressingly small.
  It is called the magic 1 percent. Africa represents only 1 percent of 
our exports, one percent of our imports, and 1 percent of our foreign 
direct investment.
  That is a tragic 1 percent, the fruit of missed opportunities, wasted 
potential and simple neglect.
  The history of U.S. trade on the African continent is a litany of 
lost opportunity with a smattering of bright spots concentrated among a 
few countries.
  United States trade in Africa is not diversified. In 1998, 78 percent 
of U.S. exports to the region went to only five countries--South 
Africa, Nigeria, Anglola, Ghana, and Kenya, and the vast majority of 
imports that year came only from Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Gabon, 
and Cote d'Ivoire.
  In 1998, major U.S. exports to the region included machinery and 
transport equipment, such as aircraft and parts, civil engineering, 
equipment, data processing machines, as well as wheat.
  Major United States imports from Africa include largely basic 
commodities such as crude oil which is the leading import by far, and 
some refined oils, minerals and materials, including platinum and 
diamonds, and some agricultural commodities such as cocoa beans.
  U.S. exports were much more diversified than U.S. imports.
  The top 5 import items represent 75 percent of all U.S. imports from 
the region.
  That dire lack of diversity is discouraging, but the holes in the 
United States-Africa trade picture tell also of a wealth of 
opportunity.
  The investment picture is no better.
  United States foreign direct investment in Africa, including northern 
Africa, at the end of 1997 was $10.3 billion, or 1 percent of all 
United States foreign direct investment.
  Over half of the United States direct investment in Africa was in the 
petroleum sector. South Africa received the largest share of United 
States foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa, and 
manufacturing accounted for the largest share of that investment.
  Nigeria received the second largest share of United States foreign 
direct investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, and petroleum accounted for 
almost all of that investment.
  What is missing here is the coherent development that can make the 
countries of Africa into a growing dynamic economic power with a 
healthy appetite for American products.
  I hope my bill will help spark that development and drive up all of 
these meager trade statistics.
  First, if offers trade benefits on a wider variety of products than 
is covered under competing proposals.
  These provisions are designed to help African economies diversify 
their export base.
  that's good for Africa, and good for us.
  Second, as I have noted, my bill addresses the two biggest barriers 
to economic development in Africa--HIV/AIDS and debt.
  In addition, it helps infuse into African economies a powerful engine 
of economic growth--small business.
  The bill gives special attention to small- and women-owned businesses 
in Africa and it ensures that existing United States trade promotion 
mechanisms are made available to American small businesses seeking to 
do business in Africa.
  That kind of attention to the economic fundamentals also is good for 
Africa and good for us.

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  My bill authorizes the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, 
to initiate one or more equity funds in support of infrastructure 
projects in sub-Saharan Africa, including basic health services, 
including HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, hospitals, potable water, 
sanitation, schools, electrification of rural areas, and publicly-
accessible transportation.
  It specifically requires that not less than 70 percent of equity 
funds be allocated to projects involving small- and women-owned 
businesses with substantial African ownership, thus ensuring that 
Africa truly gains from the provision.
  It also specifies that a majority of funds be allocated to American 
small business.
  Good for Africa and good for America.
  This measure also ensures that the benefits of economic growth and 
development in Africa will be broad enough to allow African workers and 
African firms to buy American goods and services.
  My bill explicitly requires compliance with internationally 
recognized standards of worker and human rights and environmental 
protections in order for countries to receive the additional trade 
benefits of the legislation.
  The requirements are enforceable and allow for legal action to be 
taken by United States citizens when an African country fails to 
comply.
  The bill also includes strong protections against the illegal 
transshipments of goods from their countries through Africa, and 
authorizes the provision of technical assistance to customs services in 
Africa.
  Transshipment is frankly a sneaky practice employed by producers in 
China and other third party countries, especially in Asia.
  Here's how it works: they establish sham production in countries 
which may export to the United States under more favorable conditions 
than those producers enjoy in their own countries.
  Then they ship goods made in their factories at home and meant for 
the United States market to the third country, in this case an African 
country, pack it or assemble it in some minor way, and send it on to 
the United States marked ``Make in Africa,'' with all the benefits that 
label would bring.
  If that happens in Africa, it will undermine our objectives--it will 
be bad for Africa, bad for the United States, and simply unjust.
  These provisions are intended to ensure that the trade benefits in 
Africa accrue to African workers rather than non-African producers.
  There is more talk of Africa in the Halls of Congress than we have 
heard in a long time.
  I welcome that because we have hope for this kind of attention on the 
Senate Subcommittee on Africa for the seven years I have served on that 
committee.
  The prospect of expanding trade with Africa has inspired many members 
to educate themselves about the changes taking place on the continent.
  Now they have to accept the opportunity and the challenge those 
changes present.
  Now they have to fix our trading relationship with Africa.
  In our zeal to expand our trading relationship with selected 
countries, we must be mindful to do it in a manner that is sustainable.
  I fear that some of the other alternatives that are out there are 
insufficient to meet and sustain the goals that we all share.
  A better trade relationship for Africa has to be for the long term 
because its richest rewards will come in the long term.
  Lasting, equitable, and effective expansion of commercial ties to the 
economies and peoples of Africa will require bold steps.
  This legislation represents the first of those steps. I urge my 
colleagues to take up the tools we have to help the Nations of Africa 
build a more prosperous and just place on their continent. It is the 
right thing to do and the smart thing to do for America. Please join me 
in supporting the HOPE for Africa bill.

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