II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3495 

To direct the President to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate 

United States development programs and private sector investment activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2012 

Mr. ISAKSON (for himself and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To direct the President to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate United States development programs 

and private sector investment activities, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Growth and 

5 Development Act.’’ 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The promotion of sustainable economic 

2 growth is the only long-term solution to lifting peo3 ple out of poverty and addressing development chal4 lenges such as infectious disease, food security, edu5 cation, and access to clean water. 

6 (2) Several of the greatest development success 

7 stories in the last 50 years demonstrate how private 

8 sector investment and economic growth are funda9 mental to lifting populations out of poverty. 

10 (3) There has been a dramatic shift in the com11 position of capital flows to the developing world. 

12 Whereas forty years ago more than 70 percent of 

13 capital flowing to developing countries was public 

14 sector foreign assistance, today 87 percent of capital 

15 flowing to the developing world comes from the pri16 vate sector. 

17 (4) Eleven of the 15 largest importers of 

18 United States goods and services are countries that 

19 graduated from United States foreign assistance, 

20 and 12 of the 15 fastest growing markets for United 

21 States exports are former United States foreign as22 sistance recipients. 

23 (5) With 12 departments, 26 agencies, and 

24 more than 60 Federal Government offices all in25 volved in the delivery of United States foreign assistVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:39 Aug 10, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3495.IS S3495

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1 ance, it is extremely difficult for United States busi2 nesses to navigate the bureaucracy in search of op3 portunities to partner with such United States agen4 cies. 

5 (6) Although many United States development 

6 agencies have taken steps to improve their private 

7 sector coordination capabilities in recent years, these 

8 agency-specific strategies remain opaque and must 

9 be integrated into a coherent interagency coordina10 tion structure to engage the private sector. 

11 (7) President Barack Obama’s 2010 Policy Di12 rective on Global Development created an Inter13 agency Policy Committee (IPC) for Global Develop14 ment. However, the IPC has not yet established a 

15 streamlined, interagency mechanism for coordination 

16 with the private sector. 

17 (8) In order to better leverage United States 

18 foreign assistance dollars and to promote sustainable 

19 economic development in partner countries, the pri20 vate sector should be consulted during development 

21 planning and programming processes. 

22 (9) Whether it is in the context of country, sec23 tor, or global development strategy, decisions on pro24 gram prioritization and resource allocations would 


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1 benefit greatly from private sector perspectives and 

2 market data. 

3 (10) By consulting with the private sector from 

4 the outset, development programs can be designed to 

5 better attract private sector investment and to pro6 mote public-private partnerships in key development 

7 sectors. 

8 (11) The Millennium Challenge Corporation 

9 and the Partnership for Growth both analyze con10 straints to growth as part of their planning proc11 esses, but these analyses need to be included in all 

12 agency country, sector, and global development 

13 strategies to more effectively inform and guide the 

14 full spectrum of United States development pro15 grams. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

20 States Agency for International Development. 

21 (2) UNITED STATES DEVELOPMENT AGEN22 CIES.—The term ‘‘United States development agen23 cies’’ means the Department of State, the United 

24 States Agency for International Development, the 

25 Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Overseas PriVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:39 Aug 10, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3495.IS S3495

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1 vate Investment Corporation, the Trade and Devel2 opment Agency, the Inter-American Foundation, and 

3 the African Development Foundation. 

4 (3) PRIVATE SECTOR.—The term ‘‘private sec5 tor’’ means for-profit United States businesses. 

6 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of State. 

8 SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 

9 The purpose of this Act is to maximize the impact 

10 of United States development programs by— 

11 (1) enhancing coordination between United 

12 States development agencies and their programs and 

13 the private sector and its investment activities; 

14 (2) integrating the private sector into United 

15 States development agencies planning and program16 ming processes; 

17 (3) institutionalizing analyses of constraints to 

18 growth and investment throughout United States de19 velopment agencies planning and programming proc20 esses; and 

21 (4) ensuring United States development agen22 cies are accountable for progress toward improving 

23 coordination of United States development programs 

24 and private sector investment activities. 


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1 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY MECHANISM TO COORDINATE 

2 UNITED STATES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS 

3 AND PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT ACTIVI4 TIES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, in consultation 

6 with the Secretary, the Administrator, the Chief Executive 

7 Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the 

8 heads of other United States development agencies, shall 

9 establish an interagency mechanism to improve coordina10 tion of United States development programs with private 

11 sector investment activities. 

12 (b) DUTIES.—The mechanism established under sub13 section (a) shall— 

14 (1) streamline and integrate the various private 

15 sector liaison functions of United States develop16 ment agencies; 

17 (2) facilitate the use of various development 

18 and finance tools across United States development 

19 agencies to attract greater private sector participa20 tion in development activities; and 

21 (3) establish a single point of contact for the 

22 private sector for partnership opportunities with 

23 United States development agencies. 


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1 SEC. 6. INTEGRATING PRIVATE SECTOR CONSULTATION IN 

2 COUNTRY, SECTOR, AND GLOBAL DEVELOP3 MENT STRATEGIES. 

4 The Secretary and the Administrator shall direct 

5 their respective policy and country teams to include pri6 vate sector consultation in all country, sector, and global 

7 development strategies, including integrated country strat8 egies, regional and functional strategies, country develop9 ment cooperation strategies, mission strategic resource 

10 plans, and global development strategies. 

11 SEC. 7. ANALYSIS OF CONSTRAINTS TO GROWTH AND IN12 VESTMENT IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND 

13 SECTORS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Adminis15 trator shall ensure that independent constraints to growth 

16 and investment analyses are conducted as a component of 

17 all appropriate country, sector, and global development 

18 strategies. 

19 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The analysis re20 quired under subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, 

21 an identification and analysis of— 

22 (1) constraints posed by the inadequacies of 

23 critical infrastructure, rule of law, tax and invest24 ment codes, and customs and regulatory regimes of 

25 recipient countries, as appropriate; and 


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1 (2) particular economic sectors that are central 

2 to achieving economic growth, such as agriculture, 

3 transportation, energy, and financial services. 

4 (c) CONDUCT.—The analysis required under sub5 section (a) shall be conducted by teams composed of rep6 resentatives of United States development agencies, inter7 national organizations, the private sector, including rep8 resentatives from commercial sectors of recipient coun9 tries, and other stakeholders. 

10 (d) RESULTS.—The results of the analysis required 

11 under subsection (a) shall be incorporated into develop12 ment strategies of United States development agencies 

13 and shall be used to inform and guide resource allocations. 

14 SEC. 8. REPORT. 

15 Not later than one year after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the Com17 mittee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appro18 priations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Af19 fairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

20 of Representatives a report that describes the specific 

21 measures that have been taken to implement this Act and 

22 the outcomes that such measures are intended to produce. 

Æ 


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