This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.

Administrator J. Brian Atwood
National Press Club, "A New Day in Africa"
Washington, D.C., March 16, 1998
U.S. Agency for International Development

It is a pleasure to be here today to discuss the President's upcoming trip to Africa. Not since President Carter traveled to Liberia and Nigeria in 1978 have we had an official visit from a U.S. President to Africa. President's Clinton's trip will focus on our expanding trade links with Africa, the growing importance of Africa to our national interests and highlight our deep cultural ties and new partnerships with Africa.

I think this is a very important trip in part, because through the media, many Americans will be exposed to an Africa they know little about. Let me just give you one example. Many of the people I work with, and my Chief of Staff leaps to mind, are absolutely in love with Ethiopia. They know Ethiopia as green and lush with some of the most fertile land in Africa. They know Ethiopians as warm, friendly people, living in a country that is making remarkable progress. As a matter of fact, I have a hard time keeping my Chief of Staff out of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

But I guarantee you that if we went outside and asked 10 people on the street what they thought Ethiopia was like, nine of them would quickly conjure up images of that country during the famine of 1986: A land so parched that the earth itself was cracked and broken; a monolithic landscape of hunger, tragedy and refugees.

Americans need to see what Africa is really like, and understand that Africa today is home to stock markets, a new generation of entrepreneurs and people dedicated to achieving progress and prosperity. For our part, the Clinton Administration is committed to a new partnership with Africa. The end of the Cold War is allowing us, more than ever before, to closely collaborate with democratic countries committed to sound economic policies and investing in their own people. As a consequence, we are seeing some very promising trends.

Just last week, the House of Representatives passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act with broad bipartisan support. The Congress recognizes the uniqueness of both the continent's promise and need, and progress on this legislation is just another encouraging sign of a new and evolving partnership between the United States and Africa.

Africa's new leaders are pursuing extensive economic reforms, including privatization, reducing top-heavy budgets and unleashing the power of the private sector. These reforms have begun to spur growth across large parts of Africa. Thirty-five African countries achieved more than three percent growth in 1997 -- more than double the number who accomplished that level of growth in 1996.

Indeed, when you exclude the large, slow growing economies of Nigeria and South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa as a whole should experience five or six percent growth this year. Stronger ties to the global economy have played an important part in this progress. We estimate exports in Africa grew by a healthy seven percent in 1997, and are hopeful that the Growth and Opportunity Act can help expand and accelerate this growth.

With a nascent but expanding market, and a population projected to grow to one billion by the year 2015, Africa has the potential to be a major market for U.S. exports. As we have seen through NAFTA and our long tradition of free trade, the United States mutually benefits from fair trade with our neighbors and allies. Open markets are a win-win proposition.

In fact, both the size of Africa's market and the U.S. share of that market are expanding. U.S. exports to Africa increased by 14 percent in 1996, for a total of $6 billion. Trade with Africa already supports more than 100,000 American jobs, and this number will only go higher.

Not only are 30 million Americans of African descent, but the U.S. also depends on Africa for critical industrial inputs like oil and strategic metals and minerals. The U.S. imports about $15 billion worth of goods from Africa per year, including over $10.7 billion dollars worth of oil.

Across the board, we are seeing international investors take increasing notice of Africa. Average net private capital flows, which were negative in 1990, and negligible in 1992, are now equivalent to 10 percent of total investment in Africa. But this is, literally, just a drop in the bucket. Global private investment has surpassed $340 billion annually, and only about 1 percent goes to Africa. Clearly, increasing Africa's attractiveness to investors is a priority, and this can only be accomplished by maintaining the momentum for political and economic reform.

Democratic governments and transparent institutions are key to not only to business, but also to driving a development process that reflects the true needs, hopes and tremendous capabilities of the African people themselves. The Clinton Administration remains deeply committed to assisting democracy's advance on the continent, and we are heartened by recent developments in that regard.

Perhaps nowhere in the world has the progress toward human freedom been more remarkable this decade than in Africa. In 1990, only 4 countries in Africa were rated democratic by the Freedom House. By 1997, 18 countries were considered democratic and many others had made significant progress in moving toward more liberalized systems. Numerous African countries that began the transition process after the fall of the Berlin Wall, such as Benin, Ghana, Namibia and Mali, have now instituted democratic political systems and are consolidating reforms. Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania continue to implement political reforms in the wake of their democratizing elections.

Last year, we continued to see dramatic political transitions in Africa. In 1997 we saw elections in Liberia, and with the fall of Mobutu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first real opportunity for democratic development in that country in over 30 years. At the same time, some transitional countries have suffered setbacks, including political instability in Zambia stemming from a contentious electoral issue, ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley of Kenya, continued turmoil in Sudan and a coup in Sierra Leone.

Across Africa, many of these new democracies will remain fragile for a period of time, and continued economic growth and improving relations with the international community are vital to encourage long-term social stability.

The potential for political instability in Africa remains high, in part, because the national boundaries drawn by colonial powers often poorly reflected the continent's tremendous ethnic diversity. Many countries have relatively large military forces that need to be downsized and demobilized, and African leaders need to recognize that investing in their people is more valuable than military hardware.

But no one is looking at these issues as an excuse not to make progress. Indeed, Africa's leaders have been quite clear in articulating that the responsibility for growth and development lies in the hands of the African people themselves. This process must be driven from the grassroots and it must reflect the aspirations of the African people. The United States, and the international community can assist this process -- and it is in our interests to do so -- but we will not direct this effort.

The United States' approach to Africa combines the power of free trade with relatively modest investments in foreign assistance to help create the enabling environment for continued economic reform. This is not about whether aid or trade is more effective in promoting development; it is about using all the tools we have to do a very important job.

Our work in Africa is an investment in a shared future. At less than a penny a day per American, our development assistance is helping millions of Africans improve their own lives. I would also point out that our total annual foreign assistance to Africa costs less than half the price of a single B-2 bomber or Seawolf submarine, and constitutes a sound strategic and financial investment in preventing costly, destabilizing crises.

And while we must be bullish on Africa, we must also be realistic: Africa faces the greatest challenges of any region of the world. A quarter of all African children will die before their fifth birthday from disease and malnutrition. If current trends continue, by the year 2020 one out of every four African children will suffer from malnutrition. Malnutrition already is a cause of over a third of deaths of children under five in Africa.

Only half of Africa's primary school-age children are in school, and less than 50 percent of those entering first grade will complete their primary education. In Ethiopia and Mali, school enrollment is below 30 percent.

Infant mortality continues to decline on the continent, yet infant mortality rates in the region are almost twice those found in Asia and Latin America. Unfortunately, AIDS is also reversing many improvements in public health. AIDS is expected to decrease life expectancy in some African countries by as much as 20 years by the year 2000.

Even with AIDS and the high prevalence of other diseases, Africa's high birth rates will guarantee rapid population growth well into the next century. Africa's population is expected to nearly double between 1997 and 2020, from 610 million to more than 1.1 billion, placing a tremendous burden on schools and health systems. Further, much of the continent remains vulnerable to El Nino and other unpredictable weather patterns.

But we have seen progress in dealing with many of these issues. Immunization rates in Africa have doubled from what they were in the 1980s. Health care reform is moving rapidly throughout Africa. Innovative approaches for cost-sharing, health care insurance and protection of the poor are being developed and implemented in countries like Senegal, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and Mali.

The United States has supported important education reforms in countries like Uganda, Mali, Malawi and Ghana that are giving millions of Africans the knowledge that will lead to a better future. As a result of USAID assistance to Mali, girls enrollment increased almost 15 percent in just 1997. After just two years, USAID s basic education program in Uganda helped that country begin to rebuild an education system that had been shattered by years of strife and neglect -- over 2 million children and 75,000 teachers have benefited from this assistance.

The United States, through USAID, is also working with both governments and the private sector in sub-Saharan Africa to encourage the reforms that make broader economic growth possible. USAID's private sector projects encourage private investment and growth of the economy and generate income for Africans, typically through a combination of economic policy and financial sector reforms, provision of credit and business advisory services, and training of local entrepreneurs.

For example, as a direct result of USAID's Grain Marketing Reform Program in Zimbabwe, over 15,000 micro-mills have sprung up, creating some 40,000 new jobs. At the same time, the price of corn, the country's staple, has dropped 20 percent, directly benefiting poor Zimbabweans who typically spend up to 70 percent of their income on food.

So what I think we are seeing -- across the board -- is that Africa does have real problems, but that Africa's leadership and America's partnership with Africa is creating a time of dynamic opportunity on the continent. I think the six countries to be visited by the President during his trip are an excellent reflection of this dynamism, and underscore our growing ties to Africa.

Ghana is a leader in Africa in promoting economic reforms and is also a key ally of the United States in promoting peace in the region. After South Africa, Ghana is one of the most important trading partners for the United States in sub-Saharan Africa. With successful multi-party elections completed in December 1996, Ghana is now at the forefront of African countries that have made positive steps toward consolidating democracy and American investors are becoming increasingly active in Ghana.

Uganda is an excellent partner, with political leaders willing to make the tough reforms required for lasting development. Aggressive economic reforms, for example, have resulted in economic growth of more than 6 percent over the past three years. Uganda is also an important partner in our efforts to promote stability and reconciliation in central Africa and the Greater Horn regions.

South Africa exists as the economic and strategic powerhouse of Africa. When South Africa entered a new stage of non-racial democracy with the election of Nelson Mandela as president in 1994, it created the potential for economic revival throughout the entire southern Africa region and sent a powerful message of hope and non-violence to the whole world.

Botswana, a "graduate" from U.S. development assistance, is a wonderful example of today's Africa. Botswana's economy is doing well and the President will be in Botswana during the peaceful transfer of power within the democratic government. Botswana is an important leader in regional development efforts and a great example of what can be accomplished in Africa.

The President's last stop will be to Senegal, a country that is in many respects America's most important French-speaking partner in sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the few stable, multiparty democracies in Africa and we are eager to continue to improve are already good relations in terms of trade and development.

In conclusion, I just want to say that I think this trip is exciting in that many Americans will see sides of Africa they've never seen. Just as we saw the economies of Latin America and Asia take off after years of poverty, I think we are poised to see the same transformation in Africa during the coming years. The Clinton Administration is deeply committed to working with Africa, and I think this is a reflection of both our national values and our national interests. I thank you and look forward to your questions.

This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.

:  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  :  What's New : FOIA Requests : Privacy Policy : Email This Page : Plug-ins : FAQs : Help Desk : Contact Us : Site Map Last Updated on: July 18, 2001