Last week, experts on U.S.-African trade met at the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum to discuss its progress since it was signed into law in 2000.

AGOA gives beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries preferential access to U.S. markets by allowing many products from these countries to be imported duty free. International trade is essential for development in Africa, and AGOA offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to grow economically by exporting more to the U.S.

In the past ten years, AGOA has made progress in fostering U.S. trade with Africa. Currently, 38 countries are eligible to participate in AGOA. As Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) noted in the AGOA Civil Society Forum two weeks ago, “AGOA’s been a great success … it’s time to celebrate.” The Act has promoted new trade and investment, and it has created some 300,000 jobs in Africa. AGOA is also helping to create new markets in the U.S.

However, as Sen. Cardin also noted, several challenges still remain. For example, most of the increase in trade has been with oil and gas products, and AGOA has had a very limited impact on agricultural products. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the AGOA Forum last week, “Despite the best of intentions, AGOA has achieved only modest results and has not lived up to the highest hopes of a decade ago.”

There are many obstacles, but AGOA offers many opportunities as well. If necessary reforms such as broadening product coverage and simplifying eligibility rules are implemented, AGOA could help millions of Africans lift themselves out of poverty. AGOA can continue to foster reforms in African economies, provide technical support, and build platforms for dialogue. Hopefully, the AGOA Forum will continue to provide new insights and opportunities for advancing trade relations with Africa.

For more information on AGOA, please see ONE’s issue brief.

- Nathan Cole, global policy intern, ONE

Since Congress has not met it’s informal deadline of May 15th for passing the budget, need to fix the budget Committee’s $4 billion cut to our life-saving and development program in the appropriations process. We were also excited and appreciative that the Senator added his name to the Kerry-Lugar bipartisan letter to Chairman Dan Inouye urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the President’s Request of $58.8 billion for international affairs in the appropriations process. Please urge your respective Senators to add their names to help strengthen our national security, save lives and promote development in the poorest parts of the world.

The MD ONE Members even recorded some video thanking Senator Cardin for standing tall, time and again, to fight for the world’s most vulnerable people!

This is the concluding paragraph of the letter.

“America has, with bipartisan support from Congress, made tangible gains in saving lives in many impoverished countries and demonstrated our compassion to the world. This leadership must continue. As such, we urge you to support funding for global AIDS programs, including U.S. bilateral programs and the Global Fund, consistent with the Lantos-Hyde Act.”

 
It is signed by U.S. senators Boxer, Isakson, Casey, Lautenberg, Cardin, Durbin, Gillibrand and Kaufman. You can read the full letter here.

Some of those senators didn’t even get a chance, because Secretary-designate Clinton answered their questions before they could be asked. Her opening statement featured a long section on the two billion people worldwide living on less than $2 a day. She emphasized that the plight of the poor is “not marginal to our foreign policy but integral to accomplishing our goals.”

Opening remarks by Senator John Kerry (Massachusetts) also included a strong statement about the ongoing global hunger crisis. “The United States is uniquely situated to help the world feed itself and has the opportunities to recast its image by making the eradication of hunger a centerpiece of United States foreign policy,” he said.

In the subsequent question-and-answer period, ten out of fifteen of the Foreign Relations Committee Senators raised issues related to ONE issues, including these:

- Senator Bob Corker (Tennessee) asked about reforming and modernizing U.S. foreign aid, referring to the “maze of aid efforts that are underway” and the need for the State Department to examine and streamline these efforts.

- Senator Barbara Boxer (California) stated that “HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis — Africa, Asia, Latin America need our attention,” and went on to describe the persecution of women in the developing world.

Clinton responded with this assurance: “I want to pledge to you that as Secretary of State I view these issues as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser than all of the other issues that we have to confront.”

- Senator George Voinovich (Ohio) inquired about how “smart power” — which includes foreign assistance — might be used by the new State Department.

- Senator Bill Nelson (Florida) made a statement about the Global Initiative as an accomplishment adding to Hillary Clinton’s resume: “The fact that the Global Initiative has done such good things all over the world, the anti-viral drugs and the dispensing, the working on poverty and hunger, the fact of promoting development in the third world…is a significant accomplishment and that can only lend additional credibility to your coming to the table as the foreign policy representative of the United States government.”

- Senator Benjamin Cardin (Maryland) made a strong point about human rights, particularly in terms of addressing the needs of refugees of “conflict, famine, disease, [and] the economy”.

- Senator Robert Menendez (New Jersey) inquired about ways to elevate foreign assistance and streamline the structure of our foreign aid, and later asked about HIV/AIDS policies as well.

- Senator Johnny Isakson (Georgia) made a strong case for reviving and elevating development assistance to the level of defense and diplomacy as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, specifically in the areas of capacity and resources and attention to Africa.

- Senator Robert Casey (Pennsylvania) emphasized the importance of increasing resources allocated to development. “To truly harness the full strength of America,” he stated in a quotation from a speech made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July, “requires having civilian institutions of diplomacy and development that are adequately staffed and properly funded.”

- Senator John Barrasso (Wyoming) also asked about aid effectiveness, or rather “how to balance allocating foreign aid and making sure that American taxpayers are getting value for their money”.

In addition to these issues raised during the hearing, several of the Senators indicated that Secretary-designate Clinton pre-empted their questions in her opening statement when she covered the importance of U.S. humanitarian and development programs to U.S. foreign policy, her determination to seek adequate resources to realize ambitious development objectives and her intention to review, consolidate and streamline U.S. foreign assistance programs.

Other senators informed us that they submitted more than 20 additional questions, on topics including malaria, global education and agriculture, “for the record” to be answered by the Secretary-designate later.

You can read more about Hillary Clinton’s full answers here.

-Emily K. Stivers