Slowly but surely, President Obama's Africa policy is beginning to take shape. In my twenty-five years of work on African economic issues, I've seen consecutive US Administrations become increasingly more committed to Africa's development. I don't believe President Obama will be an exception.
The fact that his overall foreign policy is driven by experienced-hands with Africa expertise gives reason to believe that Africa will be well-integrated and supported within the broader US foreign and economic policy construct. Integrating Africa into US security, economic, foreign assistance, environmental and health policies rather than building an "Africa" policy isolated from broader US initiatives is pivotal – especially given Africa's overall importance globally and dominance in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
The President's African heritage and own natural proclivities for the continent suggest that the US will have an Africa policy rooted in both personal and national interest. Within the first months of President Obama's time in office, we have already seen such commitments to Africa – the push for increased funding for key development programs and appointing Africa experts to drive foreign and economic policy.
President Obama has populated the highest levels of his administration with several experienced Africanists, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, and Gayle Smith, who sits in a strategic global policy seat at the National Security Council.
While it's important to ensure that Africa's interests are integrated into overall US policy, it is equally important to have a strong Africa Bureau and effective policy initiatives coming out of the State Department. President Obama's senior diplomat for Africa, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, has a wealth of experience working on the continent. He brings to the job focus and competence, and is a practical thinker who is never distracted by pettiness. From my own experience working with Ambassador Carson, when I was Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa during the Clinton and Bush Administrations, I can attest that he has a comprehensive view of Africa. He will balance security, trade, economic and humanitarian policy interests and will keep his focus on both front-burner issues such as the conflicts in Sudan and Somalia and the region's longer-term economic development goals.
Already there is evidence that Africa is high on the list of priorities for the President. Last week, the Administration requested that Congress increase funding for critical development programs in health and infrastructure. The President unveiled a $63 billion global health initiative, including $51 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a $3 billion increase from the last PEPFAR allocation. He also called for a 63% increase in the Millenium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) funding, which aims to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth and sound government policies. This impressive step will build on the bipartisan commitments of President Bush, who created PEPFAR and on whose watch the US quadrupled its aid to Africa. President Obama recently noted that the world is interconnected and that the benefits of supporting global development accrue both to the nations the funds assist, many of which are in Africa, and to the United States.
The President's decision to increase funding to the MCC also underscores a point made by Rwandan President Paul Kagame in a recent column for the Financial Times: that the donor community, including the US, must demonstrate that it has "not just a heart for the poor, but also a mind for them." Specifically, President Obama should push to make the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a bi-partisan law that has increased exports from sub-Saharan Africa to the US by nearly 300% percent and created over 300,000 jobs in Africa, a permanent program. AGOA also needs to be enhanced to include market access for more products, especially certain agricultural exports that are the livelihood of so many Africans such as sugar, peanuts, cotton, and a broad range of processed cocoa products.
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The MCC, with its focus on empowering countries and building trade capacity, is a start in the right direction. But among the most effective and important actions the President can take for Africa will be to eliminate US cotton subsidies that are making poor African cotton farmers even poorer, reduce barriers for trade to flow, and provide incentives for US investment in Africa such as reduced rates on repatriated business income in AGOA-eligible countries. This will do much more for the region and provide US taxpayers with an even bigger bang for their buck.
These bold steps would bring new opportunities for US trade and the entrepreneurship that Africa is overflowing with, the kind of positive economic engagement that President Kagame is talking about.
Trade Talk is a regular column by Rosa Whitaker, president and CEO of The Whitaker Group. She was a hands-on architect of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the first ever Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa. To read other columns by Rosa Whitaker, visit The Whitaker Group website.
