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Ambassador Susan G. Esserman, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Remarks, WTO Libreville 2000, Meeting of African Trade Ministers Libreville, Gabon, November 13, 2000 Released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative |
Good morning. It is an honor to be representing the United States before such an impressive gathering of trade officials from throughout Africa. We appreciate the leadership of President Bongo and Trade Minister Mabicka in bringing together the region's trade ministers. We thank Director General Michael Moore for his commitment to Africa and his instrumental role in this meeting. We applaud the participation of so many African ministers in this important conference reflecting their active interest in the WTO. I welcome this opportunity to discuss the World Trade Organization and to participate with you in a dialogue on WTO issues. The new millennium finds Africa charting a new course for its economic future. In nation after nation across the continent, government officials and the private sector alike are responding to the challenges and opportunities that globalization offers for the welfare of the region. Today, many African countries recognize the vitally important role that international trade can play in generating economic growth and are taking steps to liberalize their economies. We are beginning to witness the dividends from this new direction. Many African nations have experienced positive economic growth during the last half of the 1990's even during the tumultuous period of the 1997-1998 international financial crisis. These positive economic trends form the foundation upon which further progress and reform can be grounded for those African nations with the resolve to fully utilize the world economy for the benefit of their citizens. Robust economic growth alone will not reduce poverty for all segments of African society, but it is key to creating the resources to do so. The future of African economies is one of diversified trading relationships, new and expanded markets as well as new market niches and untapped opportunities rather than reliance on old and outdated trading patterns. It will depend upon absorbing and adapting new technologies and creating an enabling environment for investment, including sound regulatory policies, transparent and predictable legal processes and investment in telecommunications and other basic infrastructure. African participation in the WTO, regional free trade initiatives and enhanced bilateral trade relationships are vital to achieving this economic potential and are mutually reinforcing. If the goals of African governments and entrepreneurs for the international marketplace are to be sustained over the long term, it is important that Africa enhance its participation and assert its rightful role in the multilateral trading system. Active participation in the WTO will enable African countries to manage their interests in a global economy and maximize the benefits of global trade. The WTO is the central forum in which each of us, as well as our European, Latin, and Asian trading partners, find our most significant opportunities to open markets in the products most important to our industries and to assert our rights and interests in the global economy. Through the WTO, we lower trade barriers, creating larger markets for our goods, and we establish trading rules that afford commercial predictability and thus attract investment. The WTO also gives each of us, regardless of size, the same right to assert our interests when disputes arise. It is vitally important that African countries participate actively to shape their destiny and work in partnership with other nations rather than simply leave it to others to speak and act for them. A few brief examples demonstrate just how intertwined Africa's economic agenda is with the WTO's agenda. Agriculture, information technologies and financial services are all critical to Africa's economic revitalization and diversification. Each of these areas are, or have been, the subject of recent major multilateral agreements in the WTO:
We also must make sure that the WTO moves now to facilitate trade in the dynamic area of electronic commerce before barriers are erected. Africa has a special stake in this area, given the potential for e-commerce and the Internet to leapfrog stages of development. It is crucial that Africa not miss the information technology revolution. We also need to carefully consider issues such as labor and environment without promoting protectionism. Rather, we should seek to discuss them in a way that contributes to the quality of life of our citizens. Beyond ensuring a balanced negotiating agenda that serves the diverse interests of WTO members, several additional elements are necessary to promote Africa's more effective participation in the WTO. Clearly tailored, coordinated and innovative capacity building is key. Today's conference is an important dimension to this ongoing process. The United States is committed to seeing that assistance delivered. We have actively supported the mainstreaming of trade into broader development assistance strategies through the World Bank and are committed to providing effective assistance through the WTO's own programs, including through the Integrated Framework. We need to consider creative and new ways to ensure full African participation. Based on our past discussions, I would like to explore whether it makes sense to develop a regional African capacity in dispute settlement or other complex WTO areas that all countries in the region can draw upon. In the coming year alone, we will spend roughly $5 million in Africa on technical assistance on WTO-related issues. I am also pleased to inform you that the United States is providing a $650,000 direct grant to the WTO to support important technical assistance for African countries for the development and production of computer-based training on WTO Agreements. In addition to our support for multilateral technical assistance, the United States devotes substantial bilateral funds to trade-related capacity building. Over the past two years, the United States has committed more than $600 million toward strengthening the trade-related capacity of developing and transitional economies. With these funds we have supported activities both to improve the capacity of a country to participate in the WTO and also to establish the domestic legal, regulatory and technical mechanisms to succeed in participating in international trade and operating a domestic economy attractive to investment. Of course, participation in the WTO also depends upon effective access to the processes and mechanisms of the WTO. In the last year, progress has been made to improve the internal transparency of the WTO, reflecting the commitment of Mike Moore to enhancing communications and information flow among WTO Members, and to improve public understanding of the WTO. We hope that we can build on this good start to take further steps to improve the public's understanding and support of the WTO's work. African Members can play an important role in advancing that process. Also critical to Africa benefitting fully from the WTO is the issue of implementation of existing agreements. We have worked closely to address your concerns about implementation by finding practical and constructive solutions. We also seek through the technical assistance that I have described to facilitate African country compliance with customs valuation and other agreements, since adopting modern regimes contemplated under the WTO agreements promotes investment and trade in your countries. Developed countries have a responsibility to assure active African participation in world trade not only through technical assistance but also by offering special access to our markets. The United States is committed to this principle and has delivered concretely through the passage in May of this year of the historic African Growth and Opportunity Act, known as AGOA. AGOA ushers in a new era of trade relations between the U.S. and Africa, elevates the relationship with Africa and opens the U.S. market as never before to African nations. The Act dramatically increases - by nearly two thousand products - the number of African products eligible to enter the U.S. market on a duty and quota free basis from eligible countries. For the first time certain apparel products will be accorded duty free treatment. All of this affords African suppliers a competitive advantage over other suppliers to the U.S. market. The Act places a priority on technical assistance to strengthen trade and investment regimes and establishes financing mechanisms without which new productive capacity and export transaction cannot exist. Importantly, AGOA offers concrete benefits to African nations now - not a simple promise for benefits in the future. We are taking final steps to implement the Act, and we expect in the next week or two to determine the additional products eligible for duty-free treatment. We are completing remaining implementation steps while simultaneously conducting seminars in sub-Saharan Africa on how to take advantage of AGOA. In fact a seminar will be held this Thursday at this location, and all are invited to attend. Through this Act and our outreach, we expect that new business relationships can be established at the outset - as AGOA goes into effect. From AGOA to the launching of regional trading arrangements, such as COMESA, SADC, and WAEMU, the landscape of African international trade and economic policy is being transformed. I applaud the timing and foresight of the WTO and the leadership of Gabon for bringing the multilateral dimension to this rapidly changing region. Your participation in this event confirms their judgment that this focus was both needed and would be welcomed. We look forward to working in partnership with you to implement concrete and tangible proposals that will significantly advance African integration into the multilateral trading system, improve prospects for economic growth in Africa, and generate real progress on issues of mutual importance. Thank you. [end of document]
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