Africa must launch tough economic reforms, says Clinton

African nations must stop seeking handouts and begin tough structural reforms, particularly in the area of trade, if they truly want to improve their economies, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.

“Most of the work that needs to be done needs to be done in Africa,” Clinton told a forum about US diplomacy on the continent.

“If you look at trade between African countries, it is abysmally minimalistic,” Clinton said. “African countries don’t trade with themselves. They have barriers and tariffs and customs problems that stand in the way of developing their own economies.”

Clinton’s sharp comments came in response to a question about broadening the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a measure passed by Congress in 2000 which gives favourable access to US markets to dozens of African countries.

While many African governments hope the benefits can be made permanent, Clinton signalled that Washington is going to look for signs that African countries are serious about improving their own domestic economic policies.

“The United States will do our part, but African countries have to start doing their part and making the changes that will grow the economies in the sub-Saharan region,” she said.

“It means doing things that are going to run afoul of special interests and government bureaucrats and businesses that already have a lock on a market,” Clinton added.

“They’d rather have the biggest piece of a small pie than a smaller piece of a big pie. So if you are going to have that mentality, it is really hard to utilise the incredible tool that AGOA is.”

Both Clinton and US President Barack Obama have used trips to Africa to stress good governance, saying local leadership is as important as foreign help in the drive to eradicate war, corruption, and disease in Africa.

Although big improvements under AGOA have been made, overall US trade with sub-Saharan African countries remains small, accounting for just slightly more than 1 percent of total US exports and about 3 percent of total US imports in 2008.

US imports from sub-Saharan Africa grew about 28 percent in 2008 to US$86 billion, although higher oil prices accounted for a large chunk of that increase.

Sounding almost exasperated, Clinton indicated that Africa’s arguments for the redress of economic imbalances left by colonialism were beginning to wear a little thin – at least in Washington.

“For goodness sakes, this is the 21st century. We’ve got to get over what happened 50, 100, 200 years ago and let’s make money for everybody. That’s the best way to try to create some new energy and some new growth in Africa,” she said.

Andrew Quinn (Reuters, Washington)

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AGOA Forum Seeks to Expand U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment

Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson speaks to African diplomats

The eighth African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, August 4–6, is the only ministerial event held annually between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa, said the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who said the Obama administration is seeking to strengthen and deepen America’s ties with the region.

Carson spoke to the African diplomatic corps in Washington June 19 at the State Department, along with Peter Ogego, the Kenyan ambassador to the United States, whose country will host the forum. They were joined by a broad array of other senior U.S. officials who plan to attend the trade ministerial. All had gathered to brief the diplomatic corps on the ministerial and to solicit input.

President Obama, with the close support of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, “wants to engage positively, actively with Africa,” Carson told his audience, in one of his first appearances before the African diplomatic corps as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. “You are clearly part of our foreign policy agenda,” he told his audience. “We value Africa and the role that it plays in the international community, and it is our determination to try to strengthen the relationship, build it as broadly and as deeply as we possibly can.

“In building bridges and in building relationships with countries,” he said, “it is indeed a two-way street. We can do our part, and we are determined to do that. We hope that we will have strong partners on the other side to help work with us to help achieve our objectives.”

AGOA is a part of that process, he said. “AGOA is a part of the effort to strengthen the relationship in the area of trade and commerce, and we want to do more. We want to build on this.”

Carson, a former U.S. ambassador to Uganda, Zimbabwe and Kenya, said the United States is “extraordinarily pleased” that the government of Kenya will host the eighth AGOA forum, which will be centered on the theme “Realizing the Full Potential of AGOA through the Expansion of Trade and Investment.”

Trade and investment, Carson said, are two of the “many important links” between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, “which share many historic bonds and common objectives.”

The Trade and Development Act of 2000, which created AGOA, mandated an annual trade and economic cooperation forum with eligible sub-Saharan African nations to discuss expanding trade and investment relations between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. The act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.

At a time of economic crisis, he explained, it is important that both the United States and sub-Saharan African countries “work cooperatively to protect the advances in economic growth that have been made and lessen the negative impact of market fluctuations.”

To ensure the widest possible U.S. government participation, Carson said, members of the U.S. Congress have been briefed on AGOA and have been asked as well for their views. “We have also been working very closely with members of civil society and the private sector to ensure that we have captured their concerns as well,” he added.

The AGOA Forum will begin with private sector and civil society events August 4 at the same time the Africa Consultative Group convenes. The ministerial will begin August 5 and conclude August 6.

Carson praised the government of Kenya for doing an “absolutely wonderful job” of organizing what he predicted would be a “dynamic and very successful” AGOA Forum.

Carson thanked the African diplomats for providing their suggestions on the AGOA Forum and, in particular, Kenya’s ambassador, Ogego, for his work to make the event a success.

Topics to be covered at the forum range from democracy and good governance to regional trade integration. Discussion topics include “Possible Effects of Global Challenges on AGOA,” “Africa Trade,” “Successes and Prospects,” “Transportation and Supply Chain Infrastructure” and “Meeting Food Markets Poverty Challenges by Transforming Staple Food Markets and Trade Systems.”

Carson told the diplomats: “We value your input, your engagement and your activity in making this year’s forum a success. I certainly look forward in working with your governments in Nairobi to make this one of the best AGOA Forums that we have ever had.”

By Charles W. Corey

http://www.besternews.com/related/America.gov-World%20Regions:%20Africa/AGOA%20Forum%20Seeks%20to%20Expand%20U.S.-Africa%20Trade%20and%20Investment/?ref=world|africa/

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President Barack Obama will visit Ghana next week.

President Barack Obama will visit Ghana next week after talks with other world leaders in Italy on restoring global economic growth and completing the long-running Doha round of world trade talks.

Mr. Obama, appointed U.S. trade representative, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who said "the world's poorest developing nations have a special place in the Obama trade agenda."

Mr. Kirk will travel to Kenya in early August for an annual trade forum with sub-Saharan African countries.

Here are some facts about U.S. trade with sub-Saharan African countries:

U.S. trade with sub-Saharan African countries remains small, despite U.S. duty-free treatment for most of the region's exports. Sub-Saharan African countries accounted for just slightly more than 1 percent of total U.S. exports and about 3 percent of total U.S. imports in 2008.

U.S. imports from sub-Saharan Africa grew about 28 percent in 2008 to $86 billion, but higher oil prices accounted for a large chunk of that increase.

Oil accounted for about 80 per cent, or $71.2 billion of U.S. imports from sub-Saharan Africa last year. The United States also imported about $3 billion of platinum, $2 billion of autos and auto parts, $1.6 billion of diamonds and $1.3 billion of iron and steel from the region.

The U.S. exported about $18.6 billion worth of goods to sub-Saharan Africa in 2008. The top export was $2.2 billion in motor vehicles, followed by grains and oilseeds, oil and coal products and aircraft and aircraft parts.

West African countries, in the Doha round of world trade talks, have pushed for deep cuts in U.S. cotton subsidies, which they believe have depressed world cotton prices and have robbed them of potential export markets.

The U.S. has agreed in principle to deeper and faster cuts in cotton subsidies than for other crops. But its insistence that major developing countries like Brazil, India and China make better offers to open their markets to U.S. farm and manufactured goods has prevented a Doha round deal.

Many African countries like Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe are sugar producers. Their access to the U.S. sugar market is restricted by a quota that is fiercely defended by the politically powerful U.S. sugar lobby.

Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, is from Texas, a U.S. cotton and sugar-producing state. He has met with trade ministers from Angola, Nigeria and Mozambique since taking office in March and traveled to South Africa in May for the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma.

Congress passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act in 2000 to boost trade with the continent. Mr. Kirk will travel to Kenya in early August for the annual AGOA meeting with sub-Saharan trade ministers.

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