•HRES 1342 IH 
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 develop-
ment and growth, democratic and accountable govern-
ance, and economic engagement and investment across 
the continent and its member states; 
Whereas the United States Government recognized the Afri-
can 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 coopera-
tion 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 United States 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 Govern-
ment and their African Union counterparts, and the 
eighth annual dialogue in March 2022 reaffirmed both 
parties’ commitment to collaboration on issues of global 
concern; 
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•HRES 1342 IH 
Whereas the second United States–Africa Leaders Summit is 
to be held in December 2022 to discuss new opportunities 
for regional engagement as well as issues related to peace 
and security, public health and infectious disease out-
breaks, food security, human rights, and economic en-
gagement; 
Whereas the African Union has mobilized peacekeeping mis-
sions 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 op-
erations; 
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 edu-
cational exchange programs benefitting Africa’s youth 
and young Americans seeking to enhance their under-
standing 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 Emer-
gency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s 
Malaria Initiative, and efforts to combat infectious dis-
ease outbreaks and build the capacity of health systems 
to benefit the health and wellbeing of hundreds of mil-
lions of Africans; 
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•HRES 1342 IH 
Whereas the United States partnered with the African Union 
to establish the Africa Centres for Disease Control and 
Prevention (Africa CDC) and remains strongly com-
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 clo-
sures, travel and commercial activity restrictions, and 
supply chain challenges shrunk African economic output 
by $95 billion in 2020 alone according to the Inter-
national Monetary Fund, highlighting the need for the 
African Union and its member states to expand their ca-
pacities 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 engag-
ing 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 Afri-
can 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, pro-
mote significant commercial investment, and fundamen-
tally 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 cus-
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•HRES 1342 IH 
toms 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 Af-
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 de-
velopment agencies have facilitated private sector invest-
ment and United States commercial engagement in Afri-
ca through interagency initiatives such as Power Africa 
and Prosper Africa, and continue to promote regional in-
tegration 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 con-
tinued mutually advantageous cooperation, including by 
promoting and expanding economic engagement with and 
within Africa: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, 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 ad-
vance 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; 
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•HRES 1342 IH 
(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 out-
breaks, 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 re-
sources to bolster continent-led stabilization mis-
sions; 
(4) underscores the significance of the African 
Union’s promotion of inclusive regional economic de-
velopment, initiation of the AfCFTA, and advance-
ment 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 commer-
cial investment, deeper economic ties, and public-pri-
vate partnerships; and 
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