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USA: Africa Conference, Amoako Speech
USA: Africa Conference, Amoako Speech
Date distributed (ymd): 990322
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+ +US policy focus+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains remarks by Dr. K. Y. Amoako, Executive
Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to the
Conference on U.S.-Africa Partnership for the 21st Century, as
well as the joint communique issued at the end of the
conference. The previous posting contains remarks to the
conference by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Additional documents from the conference, which involved
ministerial-level representatives from 50 African countries
(including four in North Africa), eight regional organizations
and the U.S., are available at the web sites of the State
Department (http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa) and
USIA (
http://www.usinfo.state.gov/products/washfile/af.shtml).
A "blueprint" for a new relationship between the U.S. and subSaharan
Africa was issued at the conclusion of the conference,
and is available at the USIA site
(http://www.usia.gov/products/washfile/af.shtml).
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Address Delivered by Dr. K. Y. Amoako,
Executive Secretary of
the Economic Commission for Africa,
at the U.S.-Africa
Ministerial Meeting
Held in Washington, D.C.
Excellencies,
Honorable African Ministers,
Distinguished members of the President's Clinton's cabinet,
Members of the US Congress,
AID Administrator Brian Atwood,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honor for me personally, and to the UN Economic
Commission for Africa, to help commence this historic
partnership consultation. I am asked to give you an
overview of the transformation of Africa's economic policies
over the past decade -- a task often asked of the Commission.
But in addition, I am asked to address you on how to improve
partnership between you, the key actor in today's world
economy, and Africa -- and this is new, and a particularly
welcomed request.
Africa has seen a remarkable turnaround in the 1990s.
Sustained economic growth in a wide range of countries over
the last four consecutive years is convincing evidence of
improved economic performance in the continent. On average,
countries in Africa grew by 4.5% in 1995 through 1998, the
highest growth rate of any region in the world, and Africa's
best economic performance since the late 1970s. More than 30
countries have enjoyed real per capita growth for the last
four years.
Last year's performance was particularly encouraging -- it
was achieved in the face of declining global growth and a
substantial drop in net transfers of financial resources to
the continent. We sometimes speak of an African Renaissance,
by which we mean a whole set of favorable changes. Most
significant has been improved macroeconomic policies,
including liberalizing trade and investment regimes, reducing
tariffs and subsidies, rationalizing exchange rates,
modernizing regulatory regimes, and the gradual restructuring
of public expenditures, with greater emphasis on social
development. The private sector now plays a greater role and
governance is more participatory and effective. These changes
have led to a new sense of dynamism and improved confidence in
the continent's performance.
The key question is: Has Africa crossed the critical threshold
into sustainable, poverty reducing growth? We attempt to
answer this question in The 1999 Economic Report on Africa -
one of our annual publications - using a sustainability index
we developed at the Economic Commission for Africa. The
sustainability analysis evaluates social, economic and other
performance, outcomes, and policy efforts of countries in
terms of the underlying structural constraints and progress
towards a well-defined long-term goal of reducing poverty by
one-half by the year 2015.
Our findings reveal that the challenge of sustainability
remains monumental for most African countries. Only a handful
of countries, with a small proportion of the continent's
population met the essential conditions in 1998 to sustain
growth consistent with the defined poverty reduction
objective. Not surprisingly, the lowest scoring countries on
all the indices were those significantly impacted by civil
conflict. Countries which are making high gains in economic
and social well being were far less prone to political
fracture.
What does Africa need to do to put itself on a sustainable
growth path? First, macroeconomic stabilization needs to be
bolstered by institutional capacity building and investments
in human capital development. Second, we are far from the 7%
per annum growth required to reduce poverty by half by the
year 2015. Achieving that growth rate requires: first
increased domestic savings through continued fiscal discipline
and improved macroeconomic policies; and second, increased net
transfer of resources, particularly through official
development assistance, foreign direct investment and
substantial debt relief
Which brings me to what we in Africa expect from our partners
to improve the prospects for our development. We seek five
kinds of international solidarity.
First, we realize that the hallmarks of progress are peace,
human rights and an international ethos of proper behavior.
War is a disaster and we have had more than our share of them.
We ask partners to support conflict prevention and peace
processes; foster ethical behavior by public and private
actors; and to seek the high moral ground in international
discussions. The U.S. can build upon an already fine record
by more concerted investments in peace and human rights in
Africa.
Second, we invite partnership to reinforce home-grown policies
and Africa-led initiatives; facilitate a process of consensus
building around shared goals and priorities; enhance civil
society participation in development, and strengthen capacity
building efforts to maximize intellectual and policy
leadership within the continent. With the support of the
Organization of African Unity and the African Development
Bank, we at the Economic Commission for Africa have created,
starting this Fall, the annual African Development Forum to
facilitate this process.
Third, partnership should also share reasonable risks. New
leaderships are coming to the fore in Africa. It is easy and
important to back acknowledged winners, but even more
insightful to support emerging winners.
Fourth, poverty remains the over-arching challenge in Africa,
and human development is the most important priority to reduce
poverty and encourage growth. Partnerships can range from
fostering universal basic education and health, through to the
resurrection of higher education and expanded science-based
training. Africa has much to learn from countries like the
U.S., where social development has been well practiced---to
learn how to incorporate environmental concerns, women, youth,
the aged, and the physically challenged in human development.
Fifth, we must exercise the most insightful and the highest
quality modalities of cooperation with a continent that cannot
afford mistakes. The following are the modalities we in Africa
seek in a spirit of partnership:
- Trade. There has been a conceptual breakthrough in Europe
with the Lome Convention, and now here in the U.S., that trade
can be enormously helpful to Africa's development. We are
reforming to promote intra-regional and external trade to help
integrate Africa into the global economy. We hope your own
plans will provide us greater and broader access to the U.S.
market.
- Aid. We wish to work in partnership to enhance the
effectiveness of current aid and the prospects for sustained
external support, without which our future unquestionably will
suffer. Special pleading is not unheard of here in
Washington, so I have to say that Africa must not be the locus
of the overall decline in official development assistance.
- Investment. Investment in Africa is in your interest, since
we have the highest rate of return of any region. It is
obviously in our own interest too. But that investment must
be broad based and encompassing-- promoting and targeting
regional markets, stimulating small and medium scale
enterprises based on domestic markets, as well as the larger
enterprises that target global markets. I have to add that
we are making numerous reforms to make investment attractive,
but one reform requires special cooperation -- and that is the
need to recoup enormous amounts of stolen funds parked abroad.
The ethos on this issue is changing, and clearly needs
continued acts of leadership by the world's most powerful
governments.
- Debt. We appreciate stronger U.S. leadership on debt
relief. Continued partnership is needed to support the
efforts to make the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC)
initiative more effective. A far larger number of poor
countries should be encompassed in this exercise, but to do so
HIPC's terms must be more flexible and the HIPC Trust Fund
must have augmented resources. Africa also wants to be
associated with the discussions of possible new debt relief
modalities, which the June 1999 G-8 Summit in Cologne,
Germany, will consider.
- Information Technology -- With each passing day, the gap
between Africa and the rest of the world in the information
age increases. We need to develop partnership to build
Africa's capacity to tap the global knowledge base through
information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICTs offer
unprecedented opportunities to leapfrog Africa's development.
- Regionalism -- We will reap far greater rewards from
integration in the world economy if our own house is
integrated first. We in Africa must invest in regional
mechanisms for peace, trade and policy coordination. We
therefore welcome your support of regional integration and
cooperation, particularly for regional infrastructure projects
and the strengthening of regional institutions.
- Multilateralism -- Partnership not only must be expressed
through bilateral ties, but in an interdependent world, more
is being done through multilateral cooperation. Therefore, my
colleagues across Africa would have me add that supporting the
United Nations means supporting Africa. At home we see the UN
differently than you do in the U.S -- especially in the
Congress. In Africa, we see the UN at work every day, a
vital partner in our struggles for release from conflict,
injustice and poverty in every country and in almost all
sectors.
Now, at the risk of being audacious, let me offer some more
direct advice. We in Africa were thrilled with two events last
year: the bipartisan support for a legislative approach, which
linked development and trade, and, of course, the visit to
Africa by President Clinton. In my own country, Ghana, the
lack of fully developed public transportation systems meant
that only half a million people were able to greet the
President. A comparable figure in this country would be
about 9 million people, somewhat more than the total number
who greeted President Mandela throughout this country a few
years ago.
So there is plenty of political and popular goodwill. This
meeting is seeking to stimulate solid results to build on this
goodwill. We are with you on this. Your proposed trade
and development bill has become a centerpiece for what I hope
will be an expanding agenda of cooperation -- an agenda which
merits the support of all your policy and lawmakers, the
business community and civil society.
An American friend commented to me that in the mid-1980s, a
similar situation to that you now have was faced when two
legislative approaches to Africa were vying for support in
Congress. It was clear then that those not so favorable to
Africa would use the lack of a united approach as a reason to
kill both bills. It took a lot of determination, but
legislative aides and NGO leaders worked out a unified bill,
the Development Fund for Africa. I pass this on merely as an
historical footnote -- so to speak.
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies,
In Africa, we say there are three friends in the world -
courage, sense, and insight. All three are present here
today. May partnership and strategic alliance only increase
the abundant goodwill and friendship between our peoples!
I thank your very much for your kind attention.
(END)
For more information, please contact:
Peter K.A. da Costa
Senior Communication Adviser
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
United Nations
P.O. Box 3001 (official) or 3005 (personal)
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51 58 26
Fax: +251-1-51 03 65
E-Mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Web: http://www.un.org/depts/eca
18 March 1999
U.S.-AFRICA MINISTERIAL JOINT COMMUNIQUE
(3/18 from Office of White House Press Secretary) (660)
WASHINGTON -- The White House Office of the Press Secretary on
March 18 issued a joint communique on the U.S.-Africa
Ministerial held at the State Department March 15-18, "in an
effort to consolidate and build upon the significant progress
achieved in Africa in recent years."
Following is the text of the communique:
(BEGIN TEXT)
THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
March 18, 1999
U.S.-Africa Ministerial Joint Communique
From March 15-18, 1999, the United States hosted the
first-ever meeting of African and American ministers to
enhance the U.S.-Africa partnership in order to foster greater
economic development, trade, investment, political reform, and
mutual economic growth in the 21st century. The president,
eight members of the Cabinet, and four agency heads met for
the first time with the African delegations. Eighty-three
ministers from 46 sub-Saharan African nations, representatives
from four north African nations, and the heads of eight
African regional organizations participated in this historic
and successful meeting. African ministers also met with
members of the U.S. Congress.
In an effort to consolidate and build upon the significant
progress achieved in Africa in recent years, ministers and
senior U.S. officials discussed concrete ways to accelerate
Africa's integration into the global economy. African
ministers expressed strong support for the immediate passage
by Congress of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and for
continued implementation of the President's Partnership for
Economic Growth and Opportunity.
U.S. and African ministers engaged in an active exchange on a
broad range of economic, political, and social issues. They
shared the view that high indebtedness constitutes a serious
constraint to sustainable development in many African
countries. In response to African requests for more effective
debt relief, President Clinton proposed a six-point expanded
debt relief program for highly indebted poor countries, which
was warmly welcomed by the African ministers.
African and American officials discussed trade finance, market
access, and access to private investment capital for ventures
in Africa. Initiatives to enhance trade and investment links
and economic policy dialogue were discussed, as well as
efforts to improve transportation and communications
infrastructure and cooperation in agribusiness and energy.
Ministers also reaffirmed the importance of addressing
environmental issues. They noted that early ratification by
the U.S. Senate of the U.N. Convention to Combat
Desertification will help to mobilize community and
international efforts to better manage land and water
resources.
African ministers and their U.S. counterparts exchanged ideas
on how to enhance Africa's ability to compete in the global
market through the development of its greatest resource -- its
people. Emphasizing the need for accelerating reform and
continued development assistance as well as trade and
investment, participants examined ways to bolster human
capacity through investment in education, skills training,
gender equity, micro-enterprises, and health, particularly the
prevention of HIV/AIDS. All agreed that these steps will
accelerate the ability of Africa to sustain socio-economic
development and reduce poverty. They also recognized the
crucial role of regional cooperation in the overall
development process and in the integration of African states
into the global economy.
Recognizing that sub-Saharan Africa is a vast and diverse
region marked by serious problems as well as significant
successes, ministers examined ways to enhance U.S.-Africa
cooperation to prevent and resolve conflicts. They also agreed
on the importance of strengthening democratic institutions and
respect for worker and human rights, accelerating economic
reform, and creating a positive climate for business through
political and social reforms. Ministers noted that the
ministerial illuminated the breadth and depth of the
U.S.-Africa partnership, and set it on a firm foundation for
future mutual advancement in the 21st century. All recognized
the need for continuing dialogue and agreed to work out the
means of ensuring regular and timely follow-up.
(END TEXT)
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.
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