America.gov (Washington, DC)
4 February 2008
Washington, DC — The visit of Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure to the White House for talks with President Bush February 8 "is confirmation of the increasingly close relationship between Mali and the United States" and further exemplifies the president's close, intensive relationship with the leaders and people of Africa.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Todd Moss made that point to America.gov in a February 4 interview that previewed the White House talks.
Moss said the Bush-Toure talks will recognize "the great strides that Mali has made in consolidating its democracy." But he went on to caution that Mali "is still an extremely poor county that faces a lot of challenges, which makes its progress on democracy all the more remarkable."
He added "poor countries are not too poor for democracy. It is not a luxury. I think Mali has shown that."
Moss recalled that, besides democracy, both leaders are expected to discuss Mali's efforts to increase economic growth and prosperity.
The White House meeting comes about one week before Bush is scheduled to depart on his second trip to Africa. He is expected to visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia February 15-21.
Asked to detail the progress Mali has made to date, Moss said it stands as a "very open society with a history of religious and political tolerance." Moss also praised it as a country that has been able to avoid some of the problems suffered by its neighbors. "It is really a society that is on the right path" to development, he said. "I think there is broad consensus within Mali that there is no turning back from the democratic path," he added.
Asked about the $461 million compact that Mali recently signed with the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Moss said that compact alone is "confirmation that they are doing well on the indicators that the MCC uses and that the U.S. government views Mali as an important partner in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in West Africa."
Moss quickly added that U.S. assistance is not limited to the MCC program. "We have a very robust assistance program with Mali that cuts across a lot of sectors. Mali is part of President Bush's education and malaria initiatives and gets substantial resources in the normal U.S. bilateral assistance program as well," he said. In 2007 alone, Moss said, Mali received $45 million in bilateral U.S. assistance. Regular U.S. assistance funding for Mali is expected to rise this year, he added.
Mali recently hosted the Community of Democracy summit. Moss stressed that this shows that "the entire international community recognizes Mali's progress on the democratic front and also that it stands as an example for the region -- which has similar aspirations."
Moss acknowledged that Mali still has some significant security issues in its northern areas. He added, however, that the United States continues to work with the Malian government to help it control its borders and territory so that the country cannot become a haven for traffickers or for terrorism.
"Mali," Moss said, "is a close partner in counterterrorism cooperation" and a country with which the United States shares "very good military-to-military relations."
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