Washington, DC — Five African presidents met at the White House on June 13 with President George Bush to talk on issues relating to democracy and economic development. Taking part were John Kufuor of Ghana, Botswana's Festus Mogae, Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Namibia's Hifikepunye Pohamba, and Mozambique's Armando Guebuza. "All the Presidents gathered here represent countries that have held democratic elections in the last year," Bush said in a press briefing following what he called "a great discussion" that lasted about 45 minutes. He provided no details of the session and took no questions. The major read-out came later from President Mogae, who told White House reporters that he and his colleagues had asked President Bush to help eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks, especially regarding the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which is slated to provide extensive assistance to countries that meet its criteria for good governance and sound economic policies. In an AllAfrica interview, an administration Africa policymaker, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Ranneberger, described how the meeting came about and what the administration sought to achieve. Excerpts:
We have been thinking about this for some time - to recognize the achievements and the expansion of democracy in Africa in recent years. There have been 50 democratic elections in the last four years in Africa at all levels, and a number of peaceful changes from one democratically elected government to another. You know that President Bush in his inaugural address certainly emphasized democracy and the power of that in transformational diplomacy and so this was an opportunity to recognize that.
Was there significance to the timing, coming just after the White House hosted Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African President Thabo Mbeki and a few weeks before the leaders of the G8 meet, with Africa high on the agenda?
The lead up to the G8 provides a natural opportunity to focus on Africa, and we're doing that in several ways. Thabo Mbeki was here. We will be participating in the Corporate Council of Africa summit. There's the AGOA summit in Dakar and the G8 meeting, so it was timely in that sense, in that buildup.
How were the five countries selected? Elections were held in other countries as well.
All five of those countries did have democratic elections last year, and, as you point out, there were others. We certainly didn't mean to single out some at the expense of others. These were simply five who proved able to come during that time frame to talk about democracy and its future in Africa. It was a matter of practicality really.
Were their judgments made that some elections were free and fair and others weren't?
With respect to these five, there were. As international observers, we and others had clearly indicated that all five of these elections were viewed as credible and free and fair. That's not always the case in some other elections, I don't want to single out individual countries [but] in some others, there were statements about serious irregularities. These were five of the cleanest, if you will, and they also involved changeovers from one democratically elected president to another.
Did the White House meeting result in any concrete decisions or actions?
The meeting was not oriented as a results-delivered event. This was to focus attention on a major theme of our Africa policy, which is promotion of democracy and economic prosperity, and to make the point that there is a relationship between the two. That countries are going to have trouble achieving equitable economic prosperity without good governance and democracy and that, similarly, having good governance and democracy can help promote investment and economic growth. So it highlighted that relationship and again that was timely because we have a number of economic related events coming up - the Agoa Forum [in Dakar next month] most importantly, but also the Corporate Council on Africa summit, and the meetings of the G8.
What about President Mogae's complaint about bureaucratic bottlenecks, especially at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)?
Some of the African countries have indicated frustration with the pace of this, but in fact, when you look at how complicated the process is, the MCC has actually moved ahead in a pretty expeditious way. We signed several agreements for technical assistance with threshold countries, and we signed the compact with Madagascar.
Now that the MCC is properly launched, I wouldn't say the problem is so much with bureaucratic bottlenecks. It's more with how do countries go about meeting the criteria. And of course, there are good governance criteria as well as economic criteria. So by nature it's a fairly detailed and involved process which is going to take time.
Textile industries in a number of African countries have been leading beneficiaries from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or Agoa, which was adopted in 2000 and was on the agenda for the White House discussion. But the steep rise in U.S. imports from China since the beginning of this year, when quotas that reserved a share of the market for African producers expired, is having a huge impact in Africa. Is the administration taking steps to address this problem?
Agoa provides a framework to grow trade between the U.S. and Africa. The end of the multi-fiber agreement is just a fact of life that countries will have to adjust to, but there is a recognition that African countries - those that are benefiting from the textile provisions - are particularly hard-hit and do need a particular focus.
One of the things we're doing is trying to work with countries on how they can diversify their imports under the Agoa provisions. There are thousands and thousands of products you can bring in under Agoa, and there are already a number of cases in Africa where that is happening. We want to point out these examples and perhaps provide some appropriate technical assistance, in order to make sure that Agoa continues to be a trade and growth-driving engine.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Do you have specific expectations for the Agoa Forum in Dakar next month?
These forums have proven to be important opportunities to talk and to share experiences about how countries are benefiting from Agoa. Private sectors in one country might be focusing in a particular area that some other country hasn't thought of, so there is a lot of information sharing that takes place. And it's an opportunity for frank dialogue.
I think what we'll find as a result of this meeting is that African countries recognize that Agoa has had a huge impact on their economies. Trade with Africa has tremendously increased as a result of Agoa, and the question is, how can they better target their approach so that they take more advantage of these categories to bring duty-free products into the U.S.
Regarding the five countries whose leaders met with President Bush, were there any specific bilateral outcomes to their presidents' visits this week?
Nothing that I want to comment on here. We did take advantage to have meetings with, I think, all of these presidents, and at very high levels. They were all very useful. We have excellent relations with all five countries. They are all countries in which our economic and political relationship is growing, and so there was a lot to talk about.
