[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17146-17148]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT FORUM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 22, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues and this country an important announcement by the Bush 
Administration. This week, the Administration took to two important 
steps in developing a strong trade and investment partnership between 
the United States and sub-Saharan Africa.
  On Monday, President Bush announced the African Global 
Competitiveness Initiative, which continue and increase funding for 
trade capacity building efforts currently funded under the Trade for 
African Development and Enterprise Program. Under these new changes, 
the U.S. Agency for International Development's Regional Trade Hubs 
would be expanded from three to four in order to create greater 
opportunities and mechanisms for trading in Africa. The Hubs are 
currently located in Accra, Ghana; Gaborone, Botswana; Nairobi, Kenya.

[[Page 17147]]

These hubs are important in identifying, promoting, and developing 
trading alliances that benefit the people of Africa and the U.S.
  On Wednesday, during her visit to Dakar, Senegal, the Honorable 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the creation of the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Diversification Fund. The 
fund will provide resources to help African countries diversify their 
economies, including the development of transportation systems in 
African countries. It would provide important opportunities to assist 
in Africa's development of new and emerging markets and technologies 
and aid in their economic progress
  These initiatives are useful steps forward. I look forward to working 
with the Administration to ensure that these programs are fully funded 
and that we conduct a sustained effort to promote growth in Africa that 
reaches everyone--working people, farmers, and businesses--by extending 
duty-free allowances for apparel produed in Africa using the fabric 
from other regions, and in diversifying the range of products eligible 
for duty-free treatment under AGOA.
  These steps continue recent efforts of the United States and the 
international community to reach out to the people of Africa in order 
to aid in their economic development. It is important that the United 
States takes a role in assisting the African community in this regard. 
With the resources, knowledge, and manpower of this country; we should 
be able to reach more to our brothers and sisters in Africa. We should 
continue to provide aid and assistance to these developing countries in 
the interest of ensuring quality lives, healthy environments, and real 
opportunities for people who have too often been excluded from 
technological advances. We should finding ways to address the crippling 
poverty, the disturbing barriers to adequate health care, and the 
limitations and restrictions to education and progress that predominate 
in the countries of Africa.
  The Administration has taken two important steps in this regard in 
the last week. The 109th Congress should join with the President and 
other African leaders to ensure that everything is done to ensure that 
the progress of the 21st century does not pass Africa by.
  I submit for the Congressional Record three statements from the Bush 
White House and the State Department detailing their efforts and 
justifications for extending our assistance to the people of Africa. 
Let us push forward in our efforts and our resolve to assist the 
continent of Africa and its people.

               African Global Competitiveness Initiative

       ``I think one of the things that many African nations have 
     come to discover is that through trade, they can develop a 
     more hopeful society rather than through aid. . . . When you 
     open up your market to entrepreneurs and small businesses, it 
     helps spread wealth. And that's, after all, what we're trying 
     to achieve.''--President George W. Bush, June 7, 2005.


                               FACT SHEET

       President Bush has announced the African Global 
     Competitiveness Initiative with a five-year funding target of 
     $200 million of additional resources. This new initiative 
     greatly expands the trade capacity building efforts underway 
     with African nations through the U.S. Agency for 
     International Development's (USAID) Regional Trade Hubs 
     located in Accra, Ghana; Gaborone, Botswana; and Nairobi, 
     Kenya. The Initiative will further the work of the Trade Hubs 
     in enabling African economies to become better integrated 
     into regional and global markets and to take advantage of 
     trade opportunities afforded by the African Growth and 
     Opportunity Act (AGOA).
       As part of the new African Global Competitiveness 
     Initiative, USAID will open a fourth trade hub. The new hub 
     will complement the efforts of the USAID trade hubs in 
     Botswana, Ghana, and Kenya.
       The Global Competitiveness Initiative will emphasize trade 
     capacity building in the following areas:
       Improve the climate for private investment in Africa;
       Expand AGOA trade and intra-African trade;
       Strengthen the emphasis on information and communications 
     technology in facilitating investment and trade-related 
     efforts in Africa;
       Stimulate private sector development;
       Encourage and promote the diversification of exports;
       Reduce time to market and transport costs by facilitating 
     trade at borders and along transport corridors;
       Strengthen the financial sector;
       Facilitate investment in infrastructure and address general 
     barriers to competitiveness; and
       Improve the capacity of African countries to meet 
     international quality standards and U.S. animal and plant 
     health inspection requirements.
     Improving African Competitiveness
       Open trade and international investment are some of the 
     surest and fastest ways for Africa to make economic progress. 
     With the rebounding of the global economy and recovery from 
     several lengthy conflicts, much of Africa is poised to see 
     more robust economic growth and an improvement in living 
     standards in the years ahead.
       AGOA is the cornerstone of the Administration's trade and 
     investment policy toward Sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA's 
     objectives include promoting free markets, expanding U.S.-
     African trade and investment, stimulating economic growth, 
     and facilitating regional integration and Sub-Saharan 
     Africa's integration into the global economy.
       To continue to realize the potential benefits of AGOA, 
     eligible Sub-Saharan African countries need to diversify 
     greatly their export base, develop intra-regional trade 
     linkages, and enhance their external competitiveness. The 
     U.S. views trade capacity building and technical assistance 
     programs as essential components of its trade and investment 
     policy.

  Secretary of State Rice Announces New AGOA Fund To Promote African 
                            Economic Growth

       On her first trip to Africa as Secretary of State, 
     Condoleezza Rice announced the African Growth and 
     Opportunities Act (AGOA) Diversification Fund at the U.S.-
     Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum in 
     Dakar, Senegal, on July 20.
       This fund will provide resources through several U.S. 
     Government agencies to help African countries diversify their 
     economies and thus take advantage of a wider range of 
     opportunities under AGOA. Among the projects to be funded are 
     a feasibility study for West Africa regional rail integration 
     and technical assistance for the development of a new West 
     African aviation safety and security agency.
       On July 18, 2005, President Bush announced another AGOA-
     related program, the African Global Competitiveness 
     Initiative (AGCI). It will provide an additional $200 million 
     over the next 5 years to build the capacity of African 
     nations to take advantage of trade opportunities and increase 
     their competitiveness.
       AGOA seeks to spur economic development and expedite the 
     integration of African economies into the world trading 
     system. It expands duty-free access for more than 6,400 
     products to U.S. markets. It also provides a framework for 
     U.S. technical assistance to build trade capacity and to 
     expand business links. In 2004, AGOA imports to the United 
     States totaled $26.6 billion, up 88 percent over 2003. The 
     AGOA theme for this Forum is ``Expanding and Diversifying 
     Trade To Promote Growth and Competitiveness.''
       The Secretary of State's participation in the AGOA Forum 
     reflects the importance President Bush gives to the African 
     Growth and Opportunities Act, and highlights his vision of 
     Africa as a continent of promise and progress.
       Also attending the Dakar Ministerial are Agriculture 
     Secretary Mike Johanns, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, 
     Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Paul Applegarth, U.S. 
     Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias, and officials from 
     the U.S. Trade Representative's Office and the Departments of 
     Commerce and Energy.
       At the Forum, members of the U.S. delegation met with 
     senior government officials, private sector leaders, and 
     civil society activist from 37 African nations and the United 
     States.
                                  ____


        Remarks of Secretary Condoleezza Rice at the AGOA Forum

       Thank you very much. I want, first of all, to thank Foreign 
     Minister Gadio for that extraordinary introduction--
     (laughter)--very, very kind introduction. Before I begin I 
     want to acknowledge something that the Foreign Minister has 
     said. I was here just about two years ago in Senegal with 
     President Bush and we went to Goree Island to the site of the 
     transatlantic slavery. And as we stood at the gate that I 
     think one could call a gate of no return, we all thought 
     about the extraordinary bonds of kinship, of blood, of 
     tragedy between the United States and Africa.
       In my own personal case, of course, many of my ancestors 
     may have come through that gate. And it is only in the course 
     of the last several years that the United States has fully 
     begun to come to terms with that great tragedy. It has 
     become--we managed to come to terms through institutions of 
     democracy and inclusion. But I personally want to acknowledge 
     my gratefulness to the sons and daughters of Africa, without 
     whom there quite literally would have been no United States 
     of America.
       (Applause.)
       And as President Bush said when he was at Goree Island, it 
     was one of the great ironies that Africans, who came in 
     chains to America to build America alongside Europeans, would 
     ultimately help America to find itself as slavery was 
     abolished and as less than 50-years ago, segregation was 
     finally abolished in my home state of Alabama and throughout 
     the South. We have a long heritage and history together, but 
     we also have a very promising future.
       (Applause.)
       I want to thank the people of Senegal, President Wade and 
     his (inaudible) for

[[Page 17148]]

     hosting this event. I want to thank Prime Minister Sall for 
     his efforts. Whether measured by the distance on a map or by 
     the strength of a partnership between America and Africa are 
     closest together here in the city of Dakar.
       I would like to welcome my fellow ministers and many 
     members of both African civil society and the private sector, 
     who have crossed this great continent to be here this 
     morning. And I am pleased to join all of you for the annual 
     Forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
       We gather today not two weeks after President Bush and 
     other G-8 leaders met in Gleneagles, Scotland to launch an 
     historic partnership with the nations of Africa. Our 
     partnership rests on the conviction that only the people of 
     Africa can solve the problems of Africa. But for these men 
     and women to fulfill their dreams of democracy and security 
     and prosperity, all developed nations have a responsibility 
     to help.
       As President Bush has said, ``We believe Africa is a 
     continent full of promise, and talent, and opportunity. And 
     the United States of America will do our part to help the 
     people of Africa realize the brighter future they deserve.''
       With President Bush's leadership, America has tripled our 
     development assistance to Africa. And we will double it again 
     by 2010. I would like to recognize Andrew Natsios the 
     Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development who 
     is helping Africa to expand and transform our partnership 
     here in the developing world.
       President Bush has launched the largest effort ever by one 
     nation to combat a single disease--the $15 billion Emergency 
     Plan for AIDS Relief. And joining us here today is Randall 
     Tobias the President's Coordinator for Global AIDS who is 
     helping America give hope to thousands of men, women and 
     children living with this disease.
       Just last month, President Bush strengthened America's 
     partnership with Africa even further. He pledged $1.2 billion 
     to fight malaria, with the ultimate goal of covering 175 
     million people in 15 nations. He also proposed new 
     initiatives to train half-a-million African teachers, to 
     offer scholarships to 300,000 African students, mostly girls, 
     and to help several African states better protect the rights 
     of their women citizens.
       Not only is America giving new money, we are 
     revolutionizing how much of that money is given, together 
     with Africans who believe in good governance, democracy, and 
     an open society.
       Under the leadership of Paul Applegarth, who is here today, 
     our Millennium Challenge Account Initiative is providing new 
     development grants to nations that govern justly, promote 
     economic freedom, and invest in their people. So far, eight 
     African countries have qualified to apply for grants, 
     including Senegal, and one, Madagascar, has already signed a 
     development compact worth $110 million.
       Development assistance can be catalytic. But it alone, will 
     never enable people to lift themselves out of poverty. Open 
     markets that allow individuals to realize the benefits of 
     their own hard work are essential. This is the purpose of the 
     African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which brings us 
     here to Dakar today.
       AGOA represents the strong bipartisan consensus behind 
     America's support for Africa's development. And it enshrines 
     the principles of good governance as a condition of 
     membership. Governments that advance democratic reform, 
     protect economic liberty, and strengthen the rule of law are 
     the best partners to entrepreneurial citizens. So far, 37 
     sub-Saharan African countries are meeting these critical 
     standards.
       AGOA benefits everyone. African businesses create more, 
     better-paying jobs. And American consumers receive more goods 
     at lower prices, products like sorbet from South Africa, and 
     woodcarvings from Tanzania, and tuna from right here in 
     Senegal. Last year alone, non-oil imports increased 22%, and 
     the United States imported over $26 billion in total from the 
     AGOA group of African nations.
       To expand the success of AGOA, African economies must 
     become more competitive and better able to seize the 
     opportunities of trade. With these goals in mind, the United 
     States is launching two new initiatives to build the capacity 
     of African countries to trade in freedom.
       The first, which President Bush announced today, is the 
     African Global Competitiveness Initiative. This will provide 
     $200 million over the next five years to help the people of 
     Africa participate more fully in trade. As part of this 
     initiative, we are opening a fourth ``trade hub'' here in 
     Dakar, where teams of experts will help African countries 
     trade more effectively with one another and with the United 
     States.
       The second initiative, which I am proud to announce today, 
     is the AGOA Diversification Fund. Through this initiative, 
     several U.S. agencies will support the efforts of African 
     governments to diversify their economies and capitalize 
     further on the promise of AGOA. One project, run by the U.S. 
     Trade and Development Agency, will provide grants totaling 
     nearly $1 million to help West African nations increase the 
     safety of their air travel and plan a new railway to better 
     integrate the region.
       Ladies and Gentlemen: Africa is a continent of overwhelming 
     promise. All human beings possess the dignity and the 
     capacity to flourish in freedom. And AGOA is helping the 
     talented men and women of Africa to realize their natural 
     potential for prosperity.
       The United States will always offer our full support to the 
     people of Africa as they build thriving democracies and 
     achieve lasting development. You have set these goals for 
     yourselves, and by yourselves. You are taking ownership of 
     your destiny. And America is proud to be your partner.
       (Applause.)
       Now, it is my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Sall to 
     the podium. Thank you very much for your time.

                          ____________________