AGOA FORUM

AGOA Forum, Remarks By U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab
AGOA Forum – Opening Ceremony, July 18, 2007

Mr. President, distinguished guests. I am so pleased to be here in Ghana
in its jubilee year of independence and to be participating in the 6th U.S.-
Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum.

My interest in and affection for Africa are linked to my early childhood
memories. In 1960, I arrived in Accra with my family on the way to
Lome, where we lived for 2 years. We used to return to Accra to shop at
Kingsway and to Aflao to buy fabric. Later, we lived in Nigeria, in
Sierra Leone and in Tunisia. I am a child of Africa and it is wonderful to
be back.

I am particularly excited to be here to discuss ways to strengthen the
U.S.-Africa partnership. It is a time of great potential.

Indeed, as President Mbeki has suggested, Africa is in a renaissance. It is
the time of a new breed of African leaders who want to turn their nations
away from the political upheaval of the past. More and more we see
democratic governance on the rise across the continent.

Accompanying the political stability are economic reforms. This is
attracting foreign investment and greater trade flows. The result is that many Africans have begun to enjoy the benefits of higher rates of economic growth.

A recent International Monetary Fund report predicts economic growth in
Sub-Saharan Africa of 6.75% in the coming year.

The United States is pleased to be a strong partner in contributing to this
renaissance, and working closely with Africa’s leadership to tackle the
challenges of the future.

President Bush has demonstrated an earnest commitment to making the
future of Africa a time of hope, health and prosperity through a variety of
initiatives.

Programs such as the Millennium Challenge Account, the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria
initiative, the Africa Education Initiative and, of course, the African
Growth and Opportunity Act are each important elements of our strategic
partnership with Africa.

The United States is also supporting Africa’s peacekeeping efforts to
resolve conflicts in Sudan and Somalia. And we are engaged in efforts to
rebuild and maintain peace in post-conflict areas such as Central Africa’s
Great Lakes region and Liberia.

We will not stop until every sub-Saharan African country and the
continent’s 700 million citizens are part of and benefiting from the
renaissance, and until Africa has met its enormous potential.

On the trade front, we must ensure that Africa benefits more from the
global trading system. Today Africa’s current share of world trade is
only 2 percent – down from 6 percent in 1980. If Africa were to increase
that by just one percentage point – to 3 percent – it would generate
additional export revenues of $70 billion annually, which is nearly three
times the amount of current development assistance to Africa from all
donors. This is why trade is now commonly accepted as the most
effective weapon against poverty.

It is vitally important that Sub-Saharan African countries become better
able to export more of their agricultural products. Just as important, they
must be able to export value-added processed and manufactured products
to the rest of the world – especially the large and rapidly growing
markets of major emerging economies.

It is also important to support regional integration in Africa by allowing African products to be traded more freely among African countries, to reduce cross-border barriers and streamline customs procedures that are needed to facilitate intra-African trade. Remarkably, 70 percent of the duties developing countries pay go to other developing countries. Growth in South-South trade holds especially great promise for development.

During this gathering, trade ministers and other officials will devote
some of our attention to the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda. I want all of you here today to know that President Bush is fully committed to a successful Doha round – one that reduces agricultural trade distortions, increases market access for both agricultural and manufactured products, and enhances services trade and, in so doing, fulfills its promise of being of being a true development round.

Meanwhile, we are committed to continuing access for African products
into the United States – a $13 trillion market – under AGOA.

Seven years after its enactment, AGOA continues to have a significant positive impact on U.S.-African trade. Two-way trade has more than doubled. Our non-oil imports from AGOA countries – everything from apparel to automobiles, footwear to flowers – more than doubled from 2001 to 2006. In addition, U.S. exports to Africa have more than doubled in the same time period.

This increased trade translates into thousands of new jobs in some of the
poorest countries in Africa, and hundreds of millions of dollars of new
investment in the region.

Among the challenges before us is to ensure that AGOA’s benefits are
shared more broadly. The United States understands that market access
alone is not sufficient. That is why we have devoted over a billion
dollars to trade capacity building activities in sub-Saharan African since
2001.

Working together we must continue to address supply-side constraints,
including transport, energy, and access to capital. Several MCC
compacts recently concluded in sub-Saharan Africa – including one with
Ghana – seek to address these issues through large-scale investments.
The Administration is committed to helping you find solutions to these
constraints and challenges – which is why we have 139 officials from 15
U.S. government agencies here as part of the U.S. delegation to the 6th
AGOA Forum. [List of Agencies]

Of course, if our efforts are to succeed, we must work closely with our
private sector stakeholders. Governments can help create a positive
environment for entrepreneurship, trade and growth, but only the private
sector can ultimately deliver on its promise. Without businesses on both
sides that understand AGOA and how to tap its benefits, we cannot
expect U.S.-Africa trade and investment under AGOA to grow and
diversify.

We also need the continued involvement of civil society in advancing the
core values of AGOA, ensuring that the benefits of increased U.S.-Africa
trade is enjoyed by all citizens, that labor and worker rights are respected,
the environment protected, and that other health and educational needs
that are critical to strong and prosperous African economies are
effectively met.

President Kufuor (Koo-FOUR) and Minister Kyerematen (cheer-ah-
MAH-ten), on behalf of the entire U.S. delegation, I’d like to thank you
for hosting this year’s AGOA Forum. And thank you for allowing us to be a part of this historic year for Ghana – a true signpost of Africa’s great promise – and another step toward the realization of an African renaissance.

I now bring you a message from the President of the United States,
George W. Bush – a great advocate for Africa.