IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 261 

Reaffirming the importance of diplomacy and development in United StatesAfrican Union relations, promoting strategic partnerships and shared 

objectives between the United States and the African Union, and expressing strong support for the successful implementation of the African 

Continental Free Trade Area. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE (for herself, Mr. ALLRED, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. DEAN of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. MOORE of 

Wisconsin, Mr. EVANS, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CARSON, Ms. LEE of 

California, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. HORSFORD, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 

Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Mississippi, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. KEATING, 

Mr. LIEU, Ms. OMAR, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. 

JACOBS, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. JACKSON of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Reaffirming the importance of diplomacy and development 

in United States-African Union relations, promoting strategic partnerships and shared objectives between the 

United States and the African Union, and expressing 

strong support for the successful implementation of the 

African Continental Free Trade Area. 

Whereas, since the formation of the African Union in July 

2002, succeeding the Organization of African Unity 


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•HRES 261 IH 

founded in 1963, the African Union has set out notable 

goals to foster peace and security, socioeconomic development and growth, democratic and accountable governance, and economic engagement and investment across 

the continent and its member States; 

Whereas the United States Government recognized the African Union as an international organization in 2005, and 

initiated the United States Mission to the African Union 

in 2006, making the United States the first non-African 

country to establish a diplomatic mission to the African 

Union; 

Whereas the United States has collaborated with the African 

Union since 2002, and in 2010, the United States and 

the African Union held their first bilateral meeting of 

senior officials, which sought to strengthen mutual 

United States-African Union interests, promote shared 

values in a new strategic partnership, and foster cooperation on a range of issues, notably those relating to peace 

and security, democratic governance, economic growth, 

public health, and food security in Africa; 

Whereas the Department of State continues to maintain robust relations with the African Union through the annual 

United States-African Union Commission High-Level 

Dialogue between the Secretary of State and Chairperson 

of the African Union Commission in addition to sub-cabinet officials across the United States Government and 

their African Union counterparts, and the eighth annual 

dialogue in March 2022 reaffirmed both parties’ commitment to collaboration on issues of global concern; 

Whereas the second United States-Africa Leaders Summit 

was held in December 2022 and affirmed renewed United 

States engagement with the African Continent, including 


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•HRES 261 IH 

in areas related to peace and security, public health and 

infectious disease outbreaks, food security, human rights, 

and economic development; 

Whereas the African Union has mobilized peacekeeping missions to regions on the continent experiencing conflict 

and in 2018 revitalized the Peace Fund through which its 

member states will finance African peace and security operations; 

Whereas the United States has provided security support to 

the African Union Commission Peace Support Operations 

Division and 23 African nations; 

Whereas the United States supports the African Union’s 

Agenda 2063 goal of fostering improved education on the 

continent and the development of the next generation of 

African leaders through support for basic and secondary 

education, the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), 

and people-to-people ties through cultural and educational exchange programs benefitting Africa’s youth 

and young Americans seeking to enhance their understanding of the continent; 

Whereas the United States continues to support the member 

States of the African Union through various longstanding 

global health initiatives, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s 

Malaria Initiative, and efforts to combat infectious disease outbreaks and build the capacity of health systems 

to benefit the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of Africans; 

Whereas the United States partnered with the African Union 

to establish the Africa Centres for Disease Control and 

Prevention (Africa CDC) and remains strongly comVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Mar 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR261.IH HR261

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•HRES 261 IH 

mitted to assisting the Africa CDC in its fight against 

COVID–19 and other infectious disease outbreaks; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic and resulting border closures, travel and commercial activity restrictions, and 

supply chain challenges shrunk African economic output 

by $95 billion in 2020 alone according to the International Monetary Fund, highlighting the need for the 

African Union and its member States to expand their capacities to mitigate future economic shocks through selfreliance and regional economic integration; 

Whereas the United States African Growth and Opportunity 

Act (AGOA) initiated and expanded trade with four-fifths 

of sub-Saharan African countries since its enactment in 

2001 and established an important instrument for engaging African nations on issues of trade, capacity building, 

good governance, human rights protections, and economic 

growth and job creation in the United States and Africa; 

Whereas the African Union’s formation in 2018 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has created 

the world’s largest trade bloc by number of countries 

with the potential to substantially boost economic growth, 

create economic opportunities for women and youth, promote significant commercial investment, and fundamentally transform and expand economic engagement on the 

continent; 

Whereas the World Bank estimates that full implementation 

of the AfCFTA could: surge Africa’s cumulative GDP by 

approximately $450 billion—with most of those gains 

coming from streamlining the cost and efficiency of customs procedures, raise the total value of Africa’s exports 

in goods and services by $560 billion (40 percent of 

which will be from intra-African trade), lift 30 million AfVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:24 Mar 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR261.IH HR261

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•HRES 261 IH 

ricans out of extreme poverty, boost the wages of African 

women and unskilled workers in particular, and enhance 

manufacturing production while increasing the rest of the 

world’s GDP by $76 billion; 

Whereas the Department of State, United States Agency for 

International Development, and other United States development agencies have facilitated private sector investment and United States commercial engagement in Africa through interagency initiatives such as Power Africa 

and Prosper Africa, and continue to promote regional integration in sectors such as technology, infrastructure, 

transportation, telecommunications, and energy; and 

Whereas the United States recognizes the importance of the 

strategic partnership between the United States and the 

African Union and is committed to advancing their continued mutually advantageous cooperation, including by 

promoting and expanding economic engagement with and 

within Africa: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) notes the African Union’s efforts toward 

3 strengthening political and governance institutions 

4 across the continent and encourages the African 

5 Union and its member countries to prioritize and ad6 vance political and economic reforms which uphold 

7 human rights, combat corruption, create an enabling 

8 business climate for private sector investment, and 

9 promote transparent and accountable governance; 

10 (2) affirms the sustained use of diplomacy and 

11 multilateral engagement with the African Union and 


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•HRES 261 IH 

1 its member countries on areas of mutual benefit to 

2 African countries and the United States and calls 

3 for urgent efforts to explore expanded partnerships 

4 with the African Union and its member countries to 

5 promote security and stability, strengthen economic 

6 engagement, and address infectious disease out7 breaks, humanitarian crises, and food insecurity; 

8 (3) supports the strengthening of technical and 

9 operational capacities of the African Union and sub10 regional organizations to effectively address peace 

11 and security challenges and mobilize African re12 sources to bolster continent-led stabilization mis13 sions; 

14 (4) underscores the significance of the African 

15 Union’s promotion of inclusive regional economic de16 velopment, initiation of the AfCFTA, and advance17 ment of continental economic integration; 

18 (5) supports efforts to partner with the 

19 AfCFTA Secretariat and African Union to facilitate 

20 the implementation of the AfCFTA, including by 

21 building regional capacity and encouraging commer22 cial investment, deeper economic ties, and public-pri23 vate partnerships; and 

24 (6) encourages President Biden and Secretary 

25 Blinken to carry out the commitments from the 


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1 United States-Africa Leaders Summit, including ini2 tiatives to bolster trade, investment, and inclusive 

3 economic growth, elevate diplomatic engagement, 

4 combat food insecurity and climate change, invest in 

5 technological innovation and health care, protect de6 mocracy, and promote peace and security. 

Æ 


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