President Bush Makes Big Hit At AGOA Forum With Video Address

Announces requested extension of U.S.-Africa trade act beyond 2008

Flic en Flac, Mauritius -- President Bush caught the attention of African officials who were relaxing January 15 after putting some hard intellectual labor into the opening day of the second U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum when he announced, via videotape, that he would ask Congress to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beyond 2008, the current expiration date for the legislation.

Bush's message to the Forum was played at an evening reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador John Price for the more than 150 African ministers of trade, economics and finance who have come to discuss ways to expand trade and investment relations under the AGOA program, for which 38 sub-Saharan African nations now have qualified. The party was held at the elegant Domain Anna restaurant nestled in the sugar cane fields outside the seaside resort of Flic en Flac.

Ambassador Price caught the noisy gathering's attention when he said, "And now I present to you a man who needs no introduction" and President Bush's face appeared on a large video screen inside the restaurant's main pavilion. Caught completely by surprise, the crowd, which included Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Paul Berenger, quickly hushed as Bush greeted the audience in his taped speech.

Speaking from the Oval Office in the White House, the President said, "I'm disappointed I'm not able to join you in person. I still look forward to visiting Africa later this year. I'm grateful to Prime Minister Jugnauth for hosting this Forum. And to all the ministers and delegates and guests from our fellow AGOA nations, I extend the good wishes of the American people."

After thanking African nations for their support in the war on terrorism, Bush reiterated his administration's commitment to African development based on business and trade as the dual engines of economic change. He said "America is committed to building on the great success of AGOA. One important way we can do this is to give business the confidence to invest in Africa, knowing the law's benefits will continue long into the future. Therefore, I'm pleased to announce that I will ask the U.S. Congress to extend AGOA beyond 2008."

The President's next few words went unheard as the room burst into applause. After that, however, a clearly energized crowd responded equally enthusiastically to the announcement that he would soon assign agricultural officers to the regional business hubs the U.S. government promised to set up in Africa after the first AGOA Forum held in Washington in October 2001.

Before he finished his remarks, the President reminded the delegates of U.S. humanitarian and development aid pledges including: the dispatch of one million metric tons of food to famine-stricken regions on the continent; continued work on negotiations toward a free trade agreement with the Southern African Customs Union; a request to Congress to fund a 50-percent increase in U.S. development assistance over the next three years; the creation of a special African Millennium Fund administered by the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and an additional $200 million over five years, including $30 million for school books, to improve education on the continent.

Bush concluded: "For many years, America and the world looked to the continent of Africa and saw only its problems. That era has passed. In this new century, the world is beginning to see the great potential of Africa, and the goodness of its people."

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who is leading the 25-member U.S. delegation to the forum, said at the reception that he was impressed with "roll-up-the-sleeves" attitude that he found among the forum's government, business and non-governmental organization participants. This AGOA forum includes a private-sector segment with representatives of 1,000 companies -- 200 of them American -- meeting to discuss the AGOA trade legislation as well as make business deals.

Zoellick said he had been speaking with some textile businessmen about investment prospects under AGOA and was struck by the practical way in which the future of the U.S.-Africa trade relationship was being discussed. He mirrored the sentiment expressed earlier in the day at a private sector workshop, featuring longtime Africa legal and investment specialist Tony Carroll and House Africa Subcommittee Chairman Ed Royce, that there was great potential for an AGOA III bill to follow on the amended version of the Act, called AGOA II, which President Bush had signed into law in August 2002.

Royce said, "Just as Congress took the lead in developing the first AGOA, business began to exert a larger influence in formulating the amended AGOA II and is proving to be the engine for pushing through an expanded AGOA III."

At a press roundup before the U.S. reception, Zoellick commented on the congressional delegation visiting Mauritius, saying the members are "really key to getting things done. What they also represent, something that I think is a very good signal, is that after AGOA was passed in 2000, we learned some lessons about some things that we could improve on and so last year we passed AGOA II. I hope that some of these discussions might create the basis for an AGOA III - to show this is a living, breathing economic partnership."