Washington, DC — The "Sub-Saharan African Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum" gets underway Monday to review progress on the US' expanding trade relationship with Africa.
The meeting was postponed from its original slot at the start of October and shortened from two days to one, thanks to the terrorist attacks on September 11, but the State Department is nonetheless expecting a long list of African ministers and dignitaries to attend.
They will be addressed by President Bush and meet his Secretaries of State, Commerce and the Treasury as well as the United States Trade representative for discussions on the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which was passed May 18, 2000.
The act authorizes the U.S. President to permit duty-free importation into the United States of a range of African goods - particularly textiles - if the exporting African nation is certified as complying with specified market reforms, such as phasing out government subsidies and price controls, removing barriers to U.S. trade and investment, protecting human and intellectual property rights and making efforts to combat corruption.
The holding of the Forum is required by the act. All 35 African nations that are "AGOA-approved" - meaning "eligible" for certification - have been invited, said Walter Kansteiner, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, on the Voice of America's Africa Journal program. "President Bush will welcome them and Secretary of State Colin Powell will also probably be involved."
Kansteiner suggested that there might be workshops for participants; "The United States is a multi-faceted and complicated market to be selling your goods in, so what we want to do is have some workshops to help them understand" how to operate in that environment." But it is unclear whether there will be time for these to take place, now that the meeting has been squeezed into one day.
Two now-cancelled "parallel" Forums, one for businesses and another for NGO's, might have permitted real exchanges of view between U.S. and African officials; but the Forum is likely to be limited to a number of presentations by Cabinet officials.
President Bush will give a midday speech. Secretary Powell will also address the gathering. Perhaps reflecting the changed circumstances since September 11, National Security Council Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, will close the day-long meeting. Unconfirmed reports say participants will also sign a document of "cooperation."
The Forum - to be held at the Department of State - aims to accelerate efforts to involve more African economies. The Bush administration has made AGOA a key part of its Africa policy. Announcing the Forum in the White House Rose Garden last May, President Bush said, "We want to encourage a brighter future through policies that nurture and support freedom and democratic reform. The Forum will discuss further measures we can take to stimulate trade [and] to develop prosperity."
Though 35 nations have been deemed eligible to take advantage of the act's provisions, fewer than a dozen African nations have been certified as being in compliance with AGOA's requirements and are actually exporting to the U.S. under AGOA's favorable terms.
Nonetheless, said Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker, speaking at an Organization of African Unity conference of Trade Ministers held in Abuja, Nigeria Monday, "in little more than a year of enactment, AGOA has resulted in nearly $4bn in expanded trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa. This surpassed the predictions and estimates of our own economist at the International Trade Commission."
Whitaker, in what amounted to a preview of the Administration's stance on AGOA, cited Madagascar, Lesotho, Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Ghana and Cape Verde as examples of "encouraging early results: "During the first quarter of this year, U.S. imports from AGOA countries were up 24 percent compared to the same period last year, she said. "Some countries experienced staggering increases: Madagascar and Senegal were up 138 percent and 544 percent respectively. These dry numbers mean jobs and improved prospects for families in sub-Saharan Africa."
Critics challenging the assumptions of AGOA continue to raise their voices. Writing in Ghana's weekly Public Agenda newspaper on Monday, columnist Tetteh Hormeku called the United States the "main beneficiary" of AGOA. "Only those products and apparel using fabric and yarns produced from America will have easy access to the U.S. market," he wrote. "[AGOA] will also "undermine regional economic cooperation efforts by African countries."
Some critics also charge that AGOA only provides market access for low wage, low skill workers and for raw materials-based export production. More important needs, in this view, would be the cancellation of external debts, increased U.S. development assistance, expanded market access for a wider range of African products and a lifting of AGOA's conditionalities.
The day after the Forum, many participants will travel on to Philadelphia to participate in the Corporate Council on Africa's (CCA) 2001 U.S.-Africa Business Summit, October 30-31. As part of the summit, there will be a series of workshops and other special activities - "AGOA at the Summit" - designed to assist American companies to take advantage of AGOA. Panels will discuss customs, raw material restrictions of the Act, trade logistics and infrastructure development.
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Revised legislation, loosely known as "AGOA II", is taking shape in Congress. Some Senators from textile-producing states in the U.S. want to tighten the fabric requirements. The CCA is also trying to spark greater interest in small- and medium-size businesses in Africa and increase understanding in African nations about AGOA, says the organization's President, Stephen Hayes.
"We're now a year and a half into AGOA," says Hayes. "Very few countries have gotten the certification yet, so there are questions. I think there is a lot of education and work to be done."
As for U.S. businesses, says Hayes, "I wouldn't be surprised if 95 out of 100 have never heard of the African Trade Bill."
"I think AGOA for our next two years is going to be another priority," he says: "This organization came in late... For the next round and for helping businesses, we're going to try to [take] a leadership role."
