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 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 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 committed 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 self-reliance 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 Africans 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 That the House of Representatives— (1) notes the African Union’s efforts toward strengthening political and governance institutions across the continent and encourages the African Union and its member countries to prioritize and advance political and economic reforms which uphold human rights, combat corruption, create an enabling business climate for private sector investment, and promote transparent and accountable governance; (2) affirms the sustained use of diplomacy and multilateral engagement with the African Union and its member countries on areas of mutual benefit to African countries and the United States and calls for urgent efforts to explore expanded partnerships with the African Union and its member countries to promote security and stability, strengthen economic engagement, and address infectious disease outbreaks, humanitarian crises, and food insecurity; (3) supports the strengthening of technical and operational capacities of the African Union and sub-regional organizations to effectively address peace and security challenges and mobilize African resources to bolster continent-led stabilization missions; (4) underscores the significance of the African Union’s promotion of inclusive regional economic development, initiation of the AfCFTA, and advancement of continental economic integration; (5) supports efforts to partner with the AfCFTA Secretariat and African Union to facilitate the implementation of the AfCFTA, including by building regional capacity and encouraging commercial investment, deeper economic ties, and public-private partnerships; and (6) encourages President Biden and Secretary Blinken to carry out the commitments from the United States-Africa Leaders Summit, including initiatives to bolster trade, investment, and inclusive economic growth, elevate diplomatic engagement, combat food insecurity and climate change, invest in technological innovation and health care, protect democracy, and promote peace and security.

Summary: This resolution encourages the African Union (AU) and its member countries to prioritize economic and political reforms that uphold human rights, combat corruption, create an enabling climate for private sector investment, and promote transparent and accountable governance. The resolution also calls on the U.S. President and Secretary of State to carry out initiatives that bolster trade, elevate diplomatic engagement, combat food insecurity, and promote peace in Africa. (AU is a multilateral organization consisting of 55 member states of the African continent.)