President Obama hosts 2nd U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York

On Monday, September 26, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered opening remarks for the 2016 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. The following is an excerpt of her remarks. 

Since 2000, AGOA has been the cornerstone of U.S. economic policy in Africa. The annual AGOA Forum serves as the premier event that brings together African Trade Ministers with U.S. counterparts to discuss how we can work together to enhance our trade and investment relationship. 

The theme of this year’s AGOA Forum is ‘Maximizing U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment’. That is the task and opportunity in front of all of us today. Judging by the fantastic turnout – the room is practically full – that we have here today, the great lineup of events, we all know how important this is.

Since 2000, AGOA has been the cornerstone of U.S. economic policy in Africa. And it’s having great success. Non-petroleum exports from Africa to the United States have grown from $1.3 billion in 2000 to $4.1 billion in 2015. And U.S. investment in sub-Saharan Africa rose from $9 billion in 2001 to more than $34 billion in 2014.

Last year’s reauthorization of AGOA was huge news and provided momentum to expand trade and investment. We are capitalizing on this momentum. We’ve seen some great signs that more investors and more African countries are taking advantage of trade preferences under AGOA.

Let me share a few examples. U.S. textile conglomerate Phillips Van Heusen is investing in a $1 billion industrial park in Ethiopia that is expected to employ 50,000 new workers. Namibia this year became the first African country authorized to export organic beef cuts to buyers such as McDonalds in the United States. Companies in Ghana have developed new channels for exporting fresh-cut fruit and fashion garments to the United States. These are just a few of countless examples of countries and companies seizing the opportunities offered by AGOA.

And if that’s not enough momentum for you – just look at some of the events we’ve had in just the last week alone.

President Obama hosted the second U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York. Almost all of your heads of state were present. The Corporate Council on Africa hosted a side event featuring AGOA success stories in business and manufacturing.

The first-ever Labor and Trade Ministerial meeting provided a forum for discussing how labor standards can strengthen the business climate, promote inclusive economic growth, and attract investment. Members of AWEP, the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program, ended a study tour with a panel focused on boosting women’s entrepreneurship.

The Civil Society Forum brought together leading non-governmental and diaspora organizations to share ideas for reinforcing efforts under AGOA and upholding AGOA’s eligibility criteria. Power Africa Coordinator Andy Herscowitz hosted an event updating us on Power Africa’s progress in making the African power sector more attractive to the private sector. And this morning, our Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues Cathy Russell and our U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a Ministerial breakfast highlighting the crucial role of women in AGOA.

So clearly, this is an important moment that we are taking advantage of. And it all leads us to where we are right now. There are many reasons why today’s Forum is important, but I’ll highlight one in particular – Africa’s youth bulge. This is in my view the number one challenge facing Africa. Almost 70 percent of Africans are under 25 years old, and Africa’s labor force is projected to increase to 830 million people by 2050. This is a challenge for us, but it’s also an opportunity that we have to take advantage of.

We have to create opportunity for this next generation. This will require an all-encompassing effort. Expanding trade and investment will be at the center of that effort, because that is what will generate employment.

But the youth bulge should not only be seen as a challenge, as I noted earlier. It is an opportunity. Take manufacturing, for example. Given rapid urbanization and a burgeoning labor force, Africa is positioned to become a manufacturing powerhouse. A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute indicated that by 2025, Africa could nearly double its current manufacturing output of $500 billion to almost $1 trillion. That’s an incredible opportunity.

AGOA is playing a big role in helping to make this a reality by eliminating tariffs on thousands of products. But the manufacturing boom won’t happen automatically. It will require decisive action by African countries to improve the environment for manufacturers. Today’s session gives us the opportunity to share ideas on some of these key actions needed to spur manufacturing and to push growth.

So where do we go from here? How do we expand the benefits of AGOA? How do we truly maximize U.S.-Africa trade and investment?

Two key focus areas have to be youth and women. We need to build up youth entrepreneurship. The next generation will be the ones who will drive growth in Africa. Fortunately, Africa’s youth are talented, and they are motivated. And I see this regularly when I meet YALI Fellows. And as I said, there are some of them in the room. Where are you, YALI Fellows? Let’s give them a hand of applause. Because they really will be the engine of growth in the future.

But we need to provide opportunity for these young people so that they can use the talent and the motivations that they have to help their countries grow. Equally important, we have to support women entrepreneurs. This morning’s meeting was a great opportunity to share ideas on how we can do that. Africa’s success depends on including women in all aspects of society. Countries simply cannot afford to exclude half of their population. Programs like AWEP are making a major impact supporting women entrepreneurs. We need to maintain this focus and look for ways to expand it together.

We need to work harder to expand AGOA benefits to more countries and more industries. To do this, we encourage countries to develop and implement focused AGOA utilization strategies. Countries that have done this have had the most success in expanding exports under AGOA.

We should build on the progress made at last week’s U.S.-Africa Business Forum to generate more business opportunities in Africa. And toward this end, we should work together to eliminate barriers to trade and investment, develop a sound enabling environment for businesses, and to make companies feel welcome to your countries.

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