Our relationship served us well in Seattle last year, where we collaborated to make important progress on the agricultural agenda. We must continue to work together on institutional reform of the WTO, ensuring that it is more democratic, transparent and accountable, providing an equal seat at the table for developing and least-developed countries. The U.S. and Africa also share the belief that export subsidies have no place in a global economy based on the principle of a level playing field. Suppliers should succeed or fail based on the competitiveness of their product, not the generosity of their government. Export subsidies are especially damaging, of course, to LDCs, which simply cannot hope to compete with subsidized goods.
Biotechnology is another area of growing cooperation between the United States and Africa.
In this field, there is a lot at stake, especially for Africa, where millions upon millions of people continue to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. With its ability to increase agricultural productivity, lessen the strain on natural resources, create drought-resistant crops and produce food with enhanced nutritional value, biotechnology will be one of the keys to solving the most vexing challenges facing African agriculture. Hopefully, advances in technology will help Africa achieve agricultural self-sufficiency in the future. But until then, the U.S. is prepared to be there with food aid, to help sustain the most desperately impoverished of African communities. We recognize that the commercial relationship with Africa is unique, and that is why we've assembled this forum.