Release No. 0106.99 
U.S-Africa Ministerial
Remarks
          As Prepared for Delivery
                               by
                                
             Secretary of Agriculture  Dan Glickman
                                
                   Business Networking Lunch
                Washington, D C   March 16, 1999
                                
     "Good morning and welcome.  Thank you, Susan, for that kind
introduction.  Susan Rice is truly one of the stars of this Administration,
and she deserves a great deal of credit for the ever-increasing strength of
U.S.-Africa ties.  I'm honored to be here at this business luncheon.  Although
this Ministerial is primarily a government-to-government dialogue, private
sector leaders on both sides of the Atlantic play a critical role in making
the U.S.-Africa relationship one of friendship and mutual prosperity in the
next century.

     "I also want to thank Coca-Cola for their sponsorship of this
luncheon...and, more importantly, for  their commitment to Africa and its
people.  With 143 plants and 45,000 employees across the continent, it's clear
that Coca-Cola is in the vanguard when it comes to understanding the potential
of this market, and we hope that other companies will follow suit.  

     "I had the pleasure of joining Vice President Gore for the Binational
Commission meeting in South Africa last month.  It was my fourth BNC and my
second visit to Africa.  I came back more convinced than ever of the
importance of U.S.-Africa ties...and determined to become even more involved -
- both me personally and the Department of Agriculture as a whole -- in
efforts to promote growth and development in Africa.  

     "The fact that the entire Clinton Administration is engaged in Africa
speaks volumes about our commitment.  The idea that the U.S. Department of
Transportation would be involved in African aviation safety efforts...or that
the U.S. Department of Interior would be partnering with Africa on wildlife
conservation and parks management...or that the U.S. Department of Agriculture
would be helping transfer skills and technology to African farmers...this
amounts to a revolutionary change in policy.

     "It's not that we never did such things before.  In fact, USDA has been
engaged for many years in ad hoc development projects in sub-Saharan Africa. 
But our activity was usually on the margins.  Never before had there been a
coordinated effort. 
                                
     "Since African independence and until this Administration, U.S.
policymakers viewed Africa through a Cold War prism.  Africa was a chess piece
in a diplomatic contest.  We embraced political figures simply based on our
belief that they could help advance the policy of containment and keep the
Soviet Union out.  In most cases, there was no broader purpose for our
involvement. 
-
     "The U.S.-Africa commercial relationship was virtually non-existent. 
Partly because the market was undeveloped, but partly because we didn't have
the will.  We just conceded the market, figuring that Europe had a foothold in
Africa, and we couldn't hope to match the historic ties developed by years of
colonial relationships.  Not anymore.  We believe that American companies have
a lot to offer the African consumer, and we are on the ground, investing in
African communities and aggressively promoting our goods and services.

     "To the extent that we had an Africa policy in the past, it was one
based on aid.  That was the right instinct   to want to help.  And aid does
help; it provides sustenance, a lifeline.  But aid doesn't attack the root of
the problem.  It just fixes the leaky roof over and over again, when what you
really need is a new house with a stronger foundation. 

     "The Peace Corps, the Agency for International Development, and the NGO
community have done outstanding work in Africa for many years.  And they will
continue to be an important part of a coordinated Africa effort.  But the fact
is that 21st century prosperity in Africa will depend on the extent to which we
can develop commercial ties and integrate the continent into the modern global
marketplace.  

     "We need to have a relationship not of benefactor and dependent...but
one of interdependent equals...exchanging goods and services for the benefit
of both our peoples...working together in multilateral settings like the WTO
when the rules of global engagement are drawn up.  By adding a trade and
investment component to our strong aid agenda, we're not only supporting the
African people but empowering them as well.

     "Through bilateral trade and business exchange with the United States,
African nations can build the economic base that creates jobs, generates
opportunity and revitalizes communities.  We're not overlooking political
reform.  But you can't have a thriving civil society or a democratic culture
when people are jobless and hungry.  Poverty and deprivation breed tyranny and
unrest.   But when there is hope...when there are jobs...when people see a
future worth having...that is when stability sets in...that is when people
will come to believe in the principles of accountability and self-government. 
                                
     "Africa is making great strides toward stable governments and stronger
economies.  Across the continent, nations are putting subsidies and statism
behind them to embrace free markets and more open trade.  In the past few
years, over 2,000 formerly state-owned African enterprises have been
privatized.  Fifteen African nations have stock markets, with a combined 1,000
companies listed.  The continent as a whole has averaged 4% percent economic
growth over the last few years.  

     "South Africa, of course, is one of the world's fastest emerging
markets.  When it gained independence 30 years ago, Botswana was one of the
poorest nations in the world.  Today, it has registered 8% growth for nearly
two decades.  Uganda was in economic distress as recently as the mid-
1980s...but has averaged over 6% real GDP growth over the last decade, thanks
to a program of fiscal discipline and monetary stability.  Ghana, under the
leadership of President Rawlings, has turned the corner, with an aggressive
reform plan that includes privatization, eliminating exchange rate controls
and lifting import restrictions.

     "American companies have taken notice.  Companies like Enron, Cargill,
Coca-Cola, and PanAmStat are pumping millions of investment dollars into
Africa, creating jobs and opportunity in African and American communities
alike. 

     "Some of the best business we do with Africa is in agriculture.  We
export more wheat to Africa  than we do steel...more meat than aluminum...and
more fruits and vegetables than ships, boats, and trucks combined.  Last year,
Africa took in more of our agricultural goods than Eastern Europe, the former
Soviet Union, and South Asia combined.  The goods flow both ways too -- we
imported over $900 million in agricultural products from Africa last year.

     "If I could be parochial for a minute, I want to talk about agriculture
just because it is so much a part of African life...and therefore such a major
piece of our growing partnership.  Agriculture accounts for about two-thirds
of jobs and one-third of all economic activity in Africa.  Unfortunately,
neglect of agriculture over the years has damaged many African economies. 
Agricultural production is struggling to keep up with a growing African
population, and undernourishment is rising in Africa while it falls in the
rest of the developing world.

     "In the United States, we've learned over the years that a strong
agricultural sector depends on investments in farmers -- investments in
education, extension services, and research and development.  That same
approach can work for Africa as well.

     "At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we're building new partnerships
in Africa that will address African food security issues and stimulate growth
in the African agricultural sector.  Since 1997, we've extended over $450
million in export credit guarantees to sub-Saharan Africa.  We've authorized
$20 million in credit guarantees to finance the sale of U.S. capital goods
needed to improve agriculture-related facilities.  We've also sponsored
several trade shows in Africa, and we are sending about 200,000 metric tons of
wheat to sub-Saharan Africa under President Clinton's Food Aid Initiative
unveiled last July.
                                
     "Also, under our Food for Progress program, Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire,
Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe and South Africa have been approved for additional
food aid for fiscal year 1999.  This food assistance program is targeted
primarily at emerging democracies that have made a commitment to free market
principles in their agricultural economies.

     "But we're going beyond trade promotion activities to work together on a
much broader and deeper level.  For example, we established an initiative that
will allow sub-Saharan nations to take part in food safety workshops and
seminars.  We've provided statistical assistance to Ethiopia, increasing their
data collection capacity so that their agricultural policymakers can make more
informed decisions.  We've committed half a million dollars to 16
collaborative research projects and three exchange visits between American and
African scientists.  And when President Rawlings was here, I agreed to a
bilateral exchange with Ghana that will focus on rural development,
conservation and agricultural research.
                                
     "I'm all for encouraging a diversified African economy that includes
manufacturing and high-tech.  But the simple truth is that, for Africa to
flourish, African agriculture must flourish.  Agricultural growth reverberates
throughout the economy.  In developing countries, every dollar of additional
agricultural output actually contributes $2.32 to the economy.  Rising farm
incomes mean farmers have more to spend on other goods and services.  If
agricultural production is inefficient and food is expensive, consumers will
have less money left to buy homes, computers, cars, or anything else. 

     "As far as we've come in the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship, we
shouldn't be satisfied.  The U.S. is still garnering less than 10 percent of
the African market.  Africa still accounts for only 1% of all U.S. global
investment.  The gap between our progress and our potential is still gigantic. 
Imagine what our agribusinesses can do for a continent that is notoriously
malnourished.  Imagine what our engineers and power companies can do for
Africa's infrastructure needs.  Think of the possibilities for our
telecommunications sector in a continent where many people live a few miles
away from the nearest phone. 

     "There are still considerable obstacles standing in the way.  Some of
them are psychological.  We have to do more to encourage exploration of the
African market by American businesses who are still locked into outdated
preconceptions about Africa.  Some are statutory.  And in that vein, we must
pass the African Growth and Opportunity Act this year.  I think it would be a
tragedy if this bill, which can do so much for the greater good, were pecked
to death by the parochial concerns of special interests.      

     "But Africa must continue to do its part to create an environment
conducive to trade and investment.  American investment dollars will be drawn
to countries with low tariffs, skilled workers, and a stable political regime. 
African countries must do more to build a legal system that is fair and
transparent.  They must do more to weed out bribery and corruption.  They must
do more to ensure intellectual property rights protection, if they want to
attract software companies and the film and recording industries.
                                
     "Our new approach to the U.S.-Africa relationship combines the very best
of pragmatism and humanitarianism.  For too long in the United States, I think
we've been paralyzed by clumsy stereotypes about profit-mongering in the
private sector.  It's only now we're realizing that corporate citizenship is
not a contradiction in terms...that commerce and compassion can go hand in
hand...that you can be an agent for social change even if you wear wingtips
and not sandals.

     "For the American business community, Africa presents a unique
opportunity to, as they say, do well by doing good. On the one hand, here is
this great untapped reservoir of burgeoning consumer power...a market of 700
million people...with growing incomes...coveting everything American, whether
it's pharmaceuticals, computer software or NBA basketball.  But on top of
that, by being a presence in Africa, American businesses can contribute to the
continent's social, economic, and political development.  At the same time
that they can reap greater profits, they can serve a cause even greater than
their own bottom line.  Simultaneously, they can practice both salesmanship
and statesmanship.

                                
     "We have our doubters -- people who try to label our new Africa agenda
as new-fangled colonialism.  But they have it all wrong.  This is not about
lecturing Africa or building Africa in our own image.  We don't want to run
African institutions.  We want them to be self-sufficient.  We want to be a
good partner, and that's what we're doing.

     "There are others who claim that this is all in vain, who doubt Africa's
economic potential.  These are the same people who, thirty years ago, scoffed
at the notion that the backwater of Southeast Asia could grow into a regional
economic powerhouse.

     "What we're doing here is as much about changing perceptions as changing
policy.  Too many Americans don't understand Africa and don't grasp its
texture or its complexities.  We are changing the perception that Africa is a
troubled monolith, a Third World from which we'd just as soon avert our eyes. 
We are changing the perception that Africa is little more than nightly news
famine coverage and exotic photographs from National Geographic.  To build a
successful partnership, we need images that highlight not our differences with
Africa, but our common hopes and aspirations.

     "That's why the President's trip to Africa, almost exactly a year ago,
was so important.  The trip was about so much more than communiques and
Memoranda of Understanding.  It was about sending a different roll of film
back to the American people from Africa...one that featured not disease and
despair, but optimism and opportunity.  

     "Which is not to say that our Africa policy is all about photo ops and
nothing else.  Anything but.  We have made serious substantive breakthroughs,
just as we will this week.  And there are people in government and business
working tirelessly every day to advance the U.S.-Africa relationship...to make
it a true partnership in the 21st century.  

     "I think the President best captured our new approach to the U.S.-Africa
relationship.  In the past, he said, we always talked about what we were going
to do for Africa...or what we were going to do about Africa...even sometimes
what we would do to Africa.  Now, finally, we are doing something with Africa.

Thank you very much."

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