America.gov (Washington, DC)
Charles W. Corey
15 July 2008
There has been a “sea-change” in the way Africans approach their own challenges, in America’s approach to the region and in the way the world sees today’s Africa, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the seventh annual African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum.
“More and more African leaders and citizens are reflecting the dignity of high standards -- the respect and pride that comes with holding one’s self and one’s nation to the most ambitious goals of political, social and economic progress and meeting them by your own energy and your own efforts,” Rice said in opening remarks to African delegates meeting at the State Department July 15.
Rice said "a new spirit of responsibility is alive in Africa today," among both the African people and their governments that are meeting their own challenges and "creating opportunity for all, connecting their citizens to the world, competing and succeeding in the global economy and doing it themselves."
Rice told the forum, which is focused this year on "Mobilizing Private Investment for Trade and Growth," that a "new enthusiasm" can be found across Africa today and a "renewed spirit of independence" that is magnificent to see.
"To be sure," she said, "Africa faces profound challenges, from violence in places like Darfur and Somalia, to rising commodity prices, to the disease and poverty that still rob so many of their God-given potential."
But Africans "deserve not the world's pity but our partnership," which lies at the center of the Bush administration's approach to Africa and at the heart of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Since 2000, AGOA has granted duty-free access to the American market for more than 6,500 African-made products, creating new economic opportunities for communities across the continent. The annual U.S.-Africa trade forum is a key component of AGOA. Since its inception, AGOA has dramatically increased trade between the United States and Africa. In 2007, AGOA trade increased more than 13 percent to more than $80 billion.
Rice credited the "relentless drive of Africa's entrepreneurs," supported by AGOA, for a 7 percent growth in Africa's wealth in just the past year. Non-energy trade between the United States and AGOA nations has doubled since 2001, she said, and U.S.-African partnerships in health and education are helping more and more people share in the fruits of Africa's economic growth.
Welcoming the two newest nations to the AGOA Forum -- Togo and Comoros -- Rice told her audience "the new partnership" that Africa and America are building together "touches on every field of human endeavor that is vital to human flourishing: ending conflicts, expanding free and fair trade, investing in health and education, and strengthening good, lawful democratic governments."
Rice said both she and President Bush are proud of the "dramatic increases" in support to Africa that the administration has achieved since 2001: quadrupling U.S. foreign assistance; providing billions of dollars of debt relief for Africa's 27 poorest nations; launching the Millennium Challenge Initiative and signing nearly $4.3 billion worth of Millennium Challenge compacts with 10 African nations; and forging historic partnerships to fight HIV/AIDS and malaria.
SUCCESS MEASURED IN IMPROVING AFRICAN LIVES
Ultimately, Rice said, "we measure the success of our partnership with Africa not in dollars but in the lives that we have sought to improve. We measure our success -- Africans and Americans together -- by the fact that by 2001, nine conflicts that long plagued the continent have now ended and we must remain vigilant to consolidate real peace."
Success is also measured, she said, by the fact that freedom, equality, democracy and the rule of law are popular in Africa and growing more so, and by the fact that just in the past four years, millions of Africans have received life-saving information about HIV/AIDS prevention, with more than 1.6 million Africans receiving life-enhancing medication. Nearly 6.5 million people, including orphans, now are receiving critical and compassionate care, she added.
Despite such progress, major challenges remain, such as the "heart-breaking plight" of the Zimbabwean people, Rice said.
"In the Mugabe regime, we see the page of history that Africa must turn, a leader for independence which inherited a nation full of promise but which has devolved into a tyranny that values nothing but power. It is hard to imagine how Africa will ever reach its full potential until all of its leaders are accountable to and respectful of the will of its people.
"Southern Africa will face perennial instability until the peaceful aspirations of all Zimbabweans are respected and reflected in their government. This is Africa's challenge and Africa must succeed."
But despite such challenges, Rice said she remains optimistic about Africa's future.
In closing, she told the delegates that "perhaps more than any two peoples anywhere in the world, the American people and the people of Africa share a lasting common bond" that will enable all the people of Africa to achieve the hope, respect and justice they deserve.
The conference runs July 14-16 and will feature a forum of civil society leaders from across Africa, a meeting of senior officials among the 41 nations currently participating in AGOA, and a meeting of American and African business leaders to consider how the private sector can complement government-to-government efforts to alleviate poverty.
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