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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE WASHINGTON FELLOWSHIP FOR YOUNG AFRICAN LEADERS PRESIDENTIAL SUMMIT TOWN HALL
Omni Shoreham Hotel
Washington, D.C.
11:10 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Hello,
everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everybody,
please have a seat. Have a seat. We’re just getting started here.
Well, hello, everybody. (Applause.) Welcome to Washington. I know
most of you are visiting our country for the first time. So on behalf
of the American people, welcome to the United States of America.
(Applause.) We are thrilled to have you here. And to everybody who’s
watching online across Africa, or at watch parties, or following through
social media — you are a part of this, too, and we’re very glad that
you’re with us.
And can everybody please give Faith a big round of applause for the
great introduction. (Applause.) I have to say Faith didn’t seem very
intimidated by the — (applause) — she seemed not lacking in confidence.
(Laughter.) And she’s doing great work in South Africa to empower
young people and young entrepreneurs, especially women.
Now, I’m not here to give a big speech. The whole idea of a town
hall is for me to be able to hear from you. But first, I want to speak
briefly about why I believe so strongly in all of you being here today.
Next week, I’ll host a truly historic event — the U.S.-Africa Leaders
Summit, where nearly 50 Presidents and Prime Ministers attend from just
about all of your countries. It will be the largest gathering any
American President has ever hosted with African heads of state and
government. And the summit reflects a principle that has guided my
approach to Africa ever since I became President — that the security and
prosperity and justice that we seek in the world cannot be achieved
without a strong and prosperous and self-reliant Africa.
And even as we deal with crises and challenges in other parts of the
world that often dominate our headlines, even as we acknowledge the real
hardships that so many Africans face every day, we have to make sure
that we’re seizing the extraordinary potential of today’s Africa, which
is the youngest and fastest-growing of the continents.
So next week’s summit will focus on how we can continue to build a
new model of partnership between America and Africa — a partnership of
equals that focuses on your capacity to expand opportunity and
strengthen democracy and promote security and peace. But this can’t be
achieved by government alone. It demands the active engagement of
citizens, especially young people.
And so that’s why, four years ago, I launched the Young African
Leaders Initiative to make sure that we’re tapping into the incredible
talent and creativity of young Africans like you. (Applause.) Since
then, we’ve partnered with thousands of young people across the
continent — empowering them with the skills and the training and
technology they need to start new businesses, to spark change in their
communities, to promote education and health care and good governance.
And last year in South Africa, at a town hall like this in Soweto —
some of you were there — I announced the next step, which was the
Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The objective was to
give young Africans the opportunity to come to the United States and
develop their skills as the next generation of leaders in civil society
and business and government.
And the response was overwhelming. Across the continent, young men
and women set out on a journey. In remote villages with no phones and
Internet, they navigated the back roads, and they traveled by bus and
train to reach larger towns and cities — just to get an online application for the program. One young
woman from rural Zimbabwe took a five-hour bus ride, then another
six-hour bus ride, then another seven-hour bus ride — a two-day journey — just to get her interview.
And ultimately, some 50,000 extraordinary young Africans applied.
And today they’re at the heart of what we’re calling our YALI Network,
the online community across Africa that’s sharing their ideas and
forging new collaborations to realize the change that they seek. And I
want everybody out there in the YALI Network to know that you’re the
foundation of our partnership with Africa’s youth.
So today, we’re thrilled to welcome you, our Washington Fellows, to
an exchange program unlike any other that America has ever had with
Africa. And among your ranks is that young woman from Zimbabwe who
endured all those bus rides. So we want to welcome Abbigal Muleya.
(Applause.) Where’s Abbigal? Where’s Abbigal? Where is she? There’s
Abbigal. (Applause.) That’s a lot of bus rides. (Laughter.)
Now, I do have a first item of business. As I said, I launched this
fellowship in Soweto, not far from the original home of Nelson Mandela.
And the spirit of this program reflects Madiba’s optimism, his
idealism, his belief in what he called “the endless heroism of youth.”
And so today, with the blessing of the Mandela family, to whom we’re so
grateful, we are proud to announce that the new name of this program is
the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
(Applause.) So you’re the first class of Mandela Washington Fellows.
(Applause.)
Now, I know all of you have been busy — all of you have been busy at
some of America’s top colleges and universities. You’ve been learning
how to build a grassroots organization, and how to run a business, and
how to manage an institution. As one of you said, “My brain has been
bubbling with all sorts of ideas.” And I know you’ve also been
developing your own ideas for meeting the challenges that we’ll address
at next week’s summit. And I wanted you to know I’ve read some of the
recommendations that were produced at each university and college, and I
thought they were outstanding pieces of work. And that’s what I want
you to hear today — your ideas, your vision for Africa.
Here at this summit, you’re going to engage with some of our nation’s
leading voices, including someone who I know you can’t wait to see,
which is Michelle Obama, because — (applause.) But many members of
Congress, who are strong supporters of this program, are also here.
Where are the members of Congress? I know that we’ve got a few. There
you are. (Applause.) So some outstanding members of Congress are here.
You’ll get a chance to meet some of them. And I know some of you are
headed off to internships in some of our nation’s leading companies and
organizations. One of you said, “I will take what I’ve learned here and
put it into practice back home.” And that’s the whole idea.
And I want to say, by the way — I took some pictures with some of the
university officials who had hosted all of you, and uniformly they said
they could not have been more impressed with all of you, and what a
great job you did in engaging and taking advantage of the program. So,
thank you. (Applause.)
I know you’ve also been experiencing America as well, the places that
make us who we are, including my hometown of Chicago. (Applause.)
You’ve experienced some of our traditions, like a block party.
(Laughter.) You’ve experienced some of our food — Faith said she ate a
lot of Texas barbeque when she was in Austin.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Wooo!
THE PRESIDENT: You really liked that barbeque, huh? (Laughter.) So
you got the whole Longhorn thing going on and all that? (Laughter.)
And Americans have been learning from you as well, because every
interaction is a chance for Americans to see the Africa that so often is
overlooked in the media — the Africa that is innovative and growing and
dynamic. And a new generation, all of you, on Facebook and Twitter,
and creating new ways to connect — like Yookos and MXit. I see some of
you tweeting this town hall — (laughter) — although mostly I see these
guys shifting into the seat over and over again so everybody can get a
picture. (Laughter.) Don’t think I didn’t notice. (Laughter.) You
all just — you need to stay in your chairs. (Laughter.) Everybody
thinks they’re slick. (Applause.)
So the point is, our young leaders — our Young African Leaders
initiative is a long-term investment in all of you and in Africa and the
future that we can build together. And today, I want to announce some
next steps that I think are important.
First, given the extraordinary demand for this fellows program, we’re
going to double it so that in two years, we’ll welcome a thousand
Mandela Washington fellows to the United States every year. (Applause.)
So that’s good news.
Second, we’ll do even more to support young entrepreneurs with new
grants to help you start a business or a nonprofit, and training
thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs in smaller towns and rural areas.
And given the success for our annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit, I
can announce that next year’s summit will be hosted for the first time
in Sub-Saharan Africa, which I think is going to be terrific.
(Applause.)
Third, we’re launching a whole new set of tools to empower young
African through our YALI network — new online courses and mentoring, new
ways to meet up and network across Africa and around the world, new
training sessions and meetings with experts on how to launch startups.
And it all begins today. And to get started, all you have to do is to
go to Yali.state.gov — Yali.state.gov — and that will give you
information about how you can access all these resources going forward.
And finally, we’re creating new regional leadership centers across
Africa. So we’re joining with American universities, African
institutions, and private sector partners like Microsoft and MasterCard
Foundation — we want to thank the two of them; they’re really helping to
finance this. So give Microsoft and MasterCard Foundation a round of
applause. (Applause.) Starting next year, young Africans can come to
these centers to network and access the latest technology, and get
training in management and entrepreneurship. And we’re starting in
Senegal, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. (Applause.) And we aim to help
tens of thousands of young Africans access the skills and resources
they need to put their ideas into action.
So the point of all of this is we believe in you. I believe in you.
I believe in every one of you who are doing just extraordinary things —
like Adepeuju Jaiyeoba. (Applause.) In Nigeria — there’s Adepeuju.
In Nigeria, she saw a close friend die during childbirth. She now helps
train birth attendants, and delivers kits with sterile supplies, and
helping to save the lives of countless mothers and their babies. So we
want to thank Adepeuju. (Applause.) We want her to save even more
lives.
Or, to give you another example, Robert Nkwangu from Uganda.
(Applause.) There’s Robert. So Robert is deaf, but even though he
can’t hear, he can see that the stigma and discrimination against people
with disabilities must end. (Applause.) He’s been their champion.
He’s standing up for the rights in schools and on the job. (Applause.)
So thank you, Robert. We want to be your partner in standing up for
the universal rights of all people.
I believe in Mame Bousso Ndiaye. (Applause.) So in Senegal, she’s
taking a stand against the human trafficking that condemns too many
women and girls to forced labor and sexual slavery. She runs an academy
that gives them education and skills to find a job and start new lives.
And so, we are so proud of you. Thank you for the good work that
you’re doing. (Applause.) We want to help you help these young women
and girls to the kind of future of dignity that we want for every woman
all across the continent and all around the world.
And I believe in Hastings Mkandawire. Where’s Hastings? (Applause.)
In rural Malawi, he saw towns in darkness, without electricity. So
now he gathers scrap metal, builds generators on his porch, takes them
down to the stream for power, delivers electricity so farmers can
irrigate their crops and children can study at night. Hastings, thank
you. (Applause.) We want to help you power Africa. (Applause.)
And everybody here has a story, and we believe in all of you. We see
what’s possible. And we see the vision that all of you have — not
because of what you’ve seen here in America, but because what you’ve
already done back home, what you see in each other and what you see in
yourself.
Sobel Ngom, from Senegal. (Applause.) Sobel has a wonderful quote.
He has a wonderful quote. He said, “Here, I have met Africa, the
[Africa] I have always believed in. She’s beautiful. She’s young.
She’s full of talent and motivation and ambition.” And that’s a good
description. (Applause.) And being here with all of you, and learning
together and working together and dreaming together has only
strengthened his determination, he says, to realize “my aspirations for
my country and my continent.”
So to Sobel and to all of you, and to everyone across Africa who
joins our Young Leaders Initiative, I want to thank you for inspiring us
with your talent and your motivation and your ambition. You’ve got
great aspirations for your countries and your continent. And as you
build that brighter future that you imagine, I want to make sure that
the United States of America is going to be your friend and partner
every step of the way.
So thank you very much, everybody. Let’s get a few questions and comments in this town hall. (Applause.)
So, okay, I know this is kind of a rowdy crowd. (Laughter.) First of
all, I want everybody to sit down. Sit down. Now, I’m not going to be
able to call on everybody, so just a couple of rules. Number one,
don’t start standing up and waving or shouting. Just raise your hand
and I will try to select from the audience, and I’ll try to take as many
questions as possible. So let’s keep the questions — or comments
relatively brief, and I will try to give a brief answer — although if
you ask me what are we going to do about ending war, then that may
require a longer answer. So we’ll see how it goes. So that’s rule
number one.
Rule number two, we should have microphones in the audience, and
so wait — when I call on you, wait until the microphone comes. The
attendant will hold it in front of you. You can answer. Please
introduce yourself, tell us what country you’re from, and ask your
question or make your remark. Number two, just to make sure it’s fair,
we’re going to go boy, girl, boy, girl. (Laughter.) In fact, you know
what — in fact, we’re going to go girl, boy, girl, boy. (Laughter.)
That’s what we’re going to do. Because one of the things we want to
teach about Africa is how strong the women are and how we’ve got to
empower women. (Applause.)
All right? So let’s see who we’re going to call on first. This
young lady right here. Right here. So wait until the mic is there.
Here, there’s somebody right behind you who’s got the microphone.
Introduce yourself and — welcome.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I’m from South Africa. And my
question is, previously Nelson Mandela had inspired the foundation of
the South Africa Fund for Enterprises. It has run for two decades, and
it has since been stopped. Is there any chance to develop another fund
for enterprises in Africa?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s a great question. One of the things
that’s been interesting in not only some of the platforms that you
developed at your universities, but also during my trips to Africa is
the degree to which young Africans are less interested in aid and more
interested in how can they create opportunity through business and
entrepreneurship and trade. Not to say that we do not need to deal with
very serious challenges in terms of poverty. We need to make sure that
we are continuing to work on behalf of the least of these. But what I
think everybody recognizes is that if you want sustained development and
sustained opportunity and sustained self-determination, then the key is
to own what is produced, and to be able to create jobs and opportunity
organically and indigenously, and then be able to meet the world on
equal terms.
So part of the challenge in entrepreneurship is financing. And
for so many individuals across the continent, it’s just very difficult
to get that initial startup money. And the truth is, is that in many
communities around Africa it’s not that you need so much, but you need
something, that little seed capital.
And so what we’d like to do is to work with programs that are
already existing, to find out where are the gaps in terms of financing,
and then to make sure that we are utilizing the resources that we have
in the most intelligent way possible to target young entrepreneurs to
create small- and medium-sized businesses all across the continent that
hopefully grow into large businesses. And if we’re supplementing that
kind of financing with the training and networking that may be available
through YALI, then we could see the blossoming of all kinds of
entrepreneurial activities all across the continent that eventually grow
into larger businesses.
And so we are very interested in this. This will be a primary
focus of the summit that we have with the African leaders next week —
how do we make sure that financing is available, and, by the way, how do
we make sure that the financing does not just go to those who are
already at the top; how do we make sure that it filters down. You
shouldn’t have to be the son of somebody or the daughter of somebody —
(applause) — you should be able to get — if you’ve got a good idea, you
should be able to test that idea and be judged on your own merits.
And that’s where I think we can help bypass what oftentimes is
in, sadly, too many countries a system in which you have to know
somebody in order to be able to finance your ideas.
One thing I do want to say, though — keep in mind, even in the
United States, if you’re starting a business, it’s always hard getting
financing. So there are a lot of U.S. entrepreneurs and small business
people, when they’re starting off, they’re borrowing from their brothers
and their sisters, and begging and scratching and taking credit cards
and they’re running up debt. Inherently, there is risk involved. And
so I don’t want to give you anybody the illusion who is out there
starting a business or wanting to launch a business that it’s going to
be easy. It will not be.
But there are ways where we can make a difference. And
oftentimes, particularly in rural areas of Africa, you don’t need a lot
of capital to get started, right? So you may be able — if you buy one
piece of equipment that can increase yields for a whole bunch of farmers
in that community, and then the additional profits that they make now
allows you to buy two pieces of equipment, and then four, and then
eight, you can grow fairly rapidly because the baseline of capital in
that community may be relatively low. So you don’t necessarily have
huge barriers of entry. You just have to make sure that you have that
initial capital.
But of course, in communities like that, even a small amount of
capital can be hard to come by. And that’s why making sure that this is
a top priority of our efforts is something that we’ll really emphasize.
Okay?
All right, let’s see — it’s a gentleman’s turn. I’m going to
call on this guy just because he’s so tall. (Laughter.) I always like —
I like height. (Laughter.) There you go. All right, go ahead.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. I’m from Senegal. President
Obama is the first President of the United States of Africa.
(Applause.) I would like to know can you share the two important issues
you will discuss as the first President of the United Nation of Africa?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m sorry, I’m the first African American
President of the United States. I wasn’t sure of — heads of state?
What are the top two issues that I’m going to be discussing when we’re
in the summit tomorrow?
Q If Africa becomes the United States of Africa –
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I see.
Q — and you get the chance to meet the first president.
THE PRESIDENT: I see, okay. All right, so this is sort of like
a — it’s kind of an intellectual exercise. If I were to discuss — no,
no, now I understand your question.
Q It’s clear?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s an interesting question. The idea is if
somehow Africa unified into a United States of Africa, what would be
something that I would say to him or her –
Q Yes. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I think the thing that I would
emphasize first and foremost is the issue of governance. Now, sometimes
this is an issue that raises some sensitivities because I think people
feel like who’s the United States to tell us how to govern. We have
different systems. We have different traditions. What may work for the
United States may not work for us. Oh, and by the way, the United
States, we don’t see that Congress is always cooperating so well and
your system is not perfect.
I understand all that. So let’s acknowledge all that. What I
will say is this, that regardless of the resources a country possesses,
regardless of how talented the people are, if you do not have a basic
system of rule of law, of respect for civil rights and human rights, if
you do not give people a credible, legitimate way to work through the
political process to express their aspirations, if you don’t respect
basic freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, if there are not laws
in place in which everybody is equal under the law so that there’s not
one set of rules for the well-connected and another set of rules for
ordinary people, if you do not have an economic system that is
transparent and accountable so that people trust that if they work hard
they will be rewarded for their work and corruption is rooted out — if
you don’t have those basic mechanisms, it is very rare for a country to
succeed.
I will go further than that: That country will not succeed over
the long term. It may succeed over the short term because it may have
natural resources that it can extract, and it can generate enough money
to then distribute and create patronage networks. But over time, that
country will decline.
And if you look at examples around the world, you’ll have a
country like Singapore which has nothing — it’s a small, tiny,
city-state with not a lot of — it has no real natural resources, and yet
it’s taken off. And you have other countries, which I won’t mention —
(laughter) — that have incredible resources, but because there’s not a
basic system of rule of law that people have confidence in, it never
takes off and businesses never take root.
And so what I would emphasize is governance as a starting point.
It’s not alone sufficient. You then also have to have over time
infrastructure. And you also have to have an education system that’s in
place. And there are all kinds of other elements that are necessary.
But if you don’t have the basic premise that ordinary citizens can
succeed based on their individual efforts, that they don’t have to pay a
bribe in order to start a business or even get a telephone, that they
won’t be shaken down when they’re driving down the street because the
police officers aren’t getting paid enough, and this is the accepted way
to supplement their income — if you don’t have those things in place,
then over time there’s no trust in the society. People don’t have
confidence that things are working the way that they should. And so
then everybody starts trying to figure out, okay, what’s my angle? How
am I going to get my thing? And it creates a culture in which you can’t
really take off.
Look, you’re never going to eliminate 100 percent of corruption.
Here in the United States, occasionally we have to throw people in
jail for taking money for contracts or having done favors for
politicians. All that’s true. But the difference here in the United
States — and it’s true in many of the more developed, industrialized
countries — is that’s more the aberration rather than the norm.
I mean, the truth is here in the United States, if you want to
start a business, you go ahead and you file papers, you can incorporate.
You might have to pay a fee of $50 or $100 or whatever it ends up
being, and that’s it. You’ve got your business. Now, the business
might not be making any money at that point, you still got to do a whole
bunch of stuff to succeed — but the point is, is that basically rule of
law is observed. That’s the norm. That’s what happens 95 percent of
the time.
And that’s I think where you have to start. And that’s where
young people I think have to have high expectations for their
leadership. And don’t be fooled by this notion that, well, we have a
different way, an African way. Well, no. (Laughter.) The African way
is not that you suddenly have a — you’ve been in office and then,
suddenly, you have a Swiss bank account of $2 billion. That’s not the
African way. (Applause.)
And part of rule of law, by the way, is also that leaders
eventually give up power over time. It doesn’t have to be the same way
all the time. But if you have entrenched leadership forever, then what
happens over time is it just — you don’t get new ideas and new blood.
And it is inevitable I think sometimes that rule of law becomes less and
less observed because people start being more concerned, about keeping
their positions than doing the right thing.
Okay, great question, even though it took me a while to understand it. (Laughter.)
So it’s a young lady’s turn. Let me make sure that I’m not
restricting myself to — how about that young lady right there. Yes,
you. (Laughter.) Hold on a second, the microphone is coming.
Q Good morning, Mr. President. I’m from Botswana. I just
wanted to find out how committed is the U.S. to assisting Africa in
closing gender inequalities, which are contributing to gender-based
violence, which it threatens the achievement of many Millennium
Development goals, such as access to universal education, eradicating
HIV and AIDS.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, listen, you will not find anybody more committed than I am to this issue, and let me tell you why.
First of all, I was mentioning earlier, if you look comparatively at
countries around the world, what societies succeed, which ones don’t,
one of the single-best measures of whether a country succeeds or not is
how it treats its women. (Applause.) And if you think about it, it
makes sense, because, first of all, women are half your population. So
if you have a team — we just finished the World Cup, right — if you have
a soccer team — what you all call a football team — and you go out and
the other side has a full team and you send out half your team, how are
you going to do? You will not do as well.
If you are not empowering half of your population that means you have
half as few possible scientists, half as few possible engineers.
You
are crippling your own development unnecessarily. So that’s point number
one.
Point number two is if you educate and empower and respect a mother,
then you are educating the children, right? So with a man, you educate
him, yeah, it’s okay. (Laughter.) A woman, you educate her, and
suddenly you’ve got an entire village, an entire region, an entire
country suddenly is becoming educated.
So this is an absolute priority for us. And we’ll be discussing this
with the heads of state and government that we see next week. And
we’ve seen some progress on some fronts, but this is where sometimes
traditions can get in the way.
And as many of you know, my father was from Kenya, and — (applause) —
that’s the Kenyan contingent. (Laughter.) But I think what applies to
Kenya is true and applies to many of the countries in Africa — and this
is not unique to Africa, we see this in other parts of the world — some
of the old ways of gender relations might have made sense in a
particular setting. So in Kenya, for example, in the Luo tribe,
polygamy existed. It was based on the idea that women had their own
compounds, they had their own land, and so they were empowered in that
area to be self-sufficient. And then urbanization happened; suddenly
the men may be traveling to the city and suddenly there is another
family in the city and the women who were left back in the villages may
not be empowered in the same way. So what worked then might not work
today — in fact, does not work today. And if you seek to — if you try
to duplicate traditions that were based on an entirely different economy
and an entirely different society and entirely different expectations,
well, that’s going to break down. It’s not going to work.
So as a continent, you have to update and create new traditions. And
that’s where young people come in. You don’t have to accept what’s the
old ways of doing things. You can respect the past and respect
traditions while while recognizing they have to be adapted to a new age.
Now, I have to say there are some traditions that just have to be
gotten rid of and there’s no excuse for them. Female genital mutilation
— I’m sorry, I don’t consider that a tradition worth hanging on to.
(Applause.) I think that’s a tradition that is barbaric and should be
eliminated. Violence towards women — I don’t care for that tradition.
I’m not interested in it. It needs to be eliminated. (Applause.)
So part of the task is to find what traditions are worth hanging
on to and what traditions you got to get rid of. I mean, there was a
tradition in medicine that if you were sick, they would bleed you.
That’s a bad tradition. And we discovered, let’s try other things —
like medicine. (Laughter.) So we don’t have to cling on to things that
just don’t work. And subjugating women does not work, and the society
will fail as a consequence. (Applause.)
So everything we do, every program that we have — any education
program that we have, any health program that we have, any small
business or economic development program that we have, we will write
into it a gender equality component to it. This is not just going to be
some side note. This will be part of everything that we do.
And the last point I’m going to make — in order for this to be
successful, all the men here have to be just as committed to empowering
women as the women are. (Applause.) That’s important. So don’t think
that this is just a job for women, to worry about women’s issues. The
men have to worry about it. And if you’re a strong man, you should not
feel threatened by strong women. (Applause.)
All right. So we’ve got gentleman’s turn. This gentleman in this bright tie right here. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Your Excellency. I’m coming from Kenya.
THE PRESIDENT: Hey, habari?
Q Mzuri sana. (Applause.) Asante sana (Swahili) opportunity.
Africa is losing her people to starvation and diseases, which
are otherwise curable. And this is largely because our governments are
establishing very huge debts to the G8 countries. As a global leader in
the family of nations, when will the U.S. lead the other G8 countries in
forgiving Africa these debts so that our governments can be in a
position to deliver and provide essential services, like social, health
care, and the infrastructural development services to our people?
(Applause.) Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, let me make a couple of points
on this. First of all, I think it’s important to recognize on issues
of health the significant progress that has been made — because I think
sometimes we are so properly focused on the challenges that we forget to
remind ourselves how far we’ve come. And when you know how far you’ve
come, it gives you confidence about how much further you can go.
So over the last 20 years, HIV occurrence has been cut in half
in Africa — half. Tuberculosis and malaria deaths have been reduced by
40 percent and 30 percent respectively; 50 percent fewer women die
giving birth; 50 million children’s lives have been spared. And most
importantly, now what we’re doing is not just providing assistance
through programs like PEPFAR, but we’re also empowering governments
themselves to begin to set up public health infrastructure and networks,
and training nurses and clinicians and specialists so that it becomes
self-sufficient. So we’re making progress.
Now, I think there is a legitimate discussion to be had around
debt forgiveness. And in meetings with what now is the G7, I just want
to let you know — (laughter) — but that’s a whole other topic that —
(laughter) — we don’t want to get too far afield — I think there’s
genuine openness to how can we help make sure that countries are not
saddled with debts that may have been squandered by past leaders, but
now hamstrung countries — are making countries unable to get out from
under the yoke of those debts.
The only thing I will do, though, is I will challenge the notion
that the primary reason that there’s been a failure of service delivery
is because of onerous debt imposed by the West. Let me say something
that may be somewhat controversial. And I’m older than all of you —
that I know. (Laughter.) By definition, if you’re my age you’re not
supposed to be in this program. (Laughter.) You lied about your age.
(Laughter.) When I was a college student, issues of dependency and
terms of trade and the legacy of colonialism, those were all topics of
great, fervent discussion. And there is no doubt that, dating back to
the colonial era, you can trace many of the problems that have plagued
the continent — whether it’s how lines were drawn without regard to
natural boundaries and tribal and ethnic relationships; whether you look
at all the resources that were extracted and the wealth that was
extracted without any real return to the nature of trade as it developed
in the ‘60s and the ‘70s, so that value was never actually produced in
country, but was sent somewhere else. There are all kinds of legitimate
arguments you can look at in terms of history that impeded African
development.
But at some point, we have to stop looking somewhere else for
solutions, and you have to start looking for solutions, internally. And
as powerful as history is and you need to know that history, at some
point, you have to look to the future and say, okay, we didn’t get a
good deal then, but let’s make sure that we’re not making excuses for
not going forward.
And the truth is, is that there’s not a single country in Africa
— and by the way, this is true for the United States as well — that
with the resources it had could not be doing better. So there are a lot
of countries that are generating a lot of wealth. I’m not going to name
any, but you can guess. This is a well-educated crowd. There are a
lot of countries that are generating a lot of income, have a lot of
natural resources, but aren’t putting that money back into villages to
educate children. There are a lot of countries where the leaders have a
lot of resources, but the money is not going back to provide health
clinics for young mothers.
So, yes, I think it’s important for Western countries and advanced
countries to look at past practices — if loans have been made to
countries that weren’t put into productive enterprises by those leaders
at that time, those leaders may be long gone but countries are still
unable to dig themselves out from under those debts — can we
strategically in pin-point fashion find ways to assist and provide some
relief. That’s a legitimate discussion. But do not think that that is
the main impediment at this point to why we have not seen greater
progress in many countries, because there’s enough resources there
in-country, even if debts are being serviced, to do better than we’re
doing in many cases.
Okay, so it’s a young lady’s turn. I haven’t gotten anybody way back
in the back there. So how about that young lady right there with the
glasses.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Zu (ph).
THE PRESIDENT: Zu? (ph). I like that name.
Q Yes, from Madagascar.
THE PRESIDENT: From?
Q Madagascar.
THE PRESIDENT: Madagascar.
Q It’s a great honor for me, Mr. President, to thank you on behalf
of the Malagasy people to reintegrate Madagascar last month in the
AGOA. And my question is, at it will end on 2015, we want to have your
confirmation right here what will happen after 2015. We all know that
the AGOA was a great way to decrease youth unemployment in our country,
so what will happen after this, the end? Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: So AGOA, for those of you — I think everybody here is
probably aware — this is one of the primary tools we have to promote
trade between the United States and many African countries. It’s set to
expire. There’s a negotiation process taking place as we speak. More
progress will be made next week. I think that we’ve learned some
lessons about what works and what doesn’t through the first stage of
AGOA. In some cases, what we’ve discovered is, is that many countries
can’t — even if they have no tariff barriers that they’re experiencing,
they still have problems in terms of getting their goods to market. And
so part of what we’re trying to do is to find ways in which we can
lower some of the other barriers to export for African countries — not
just the tariffs issue, but how can we make sure that there is greater
transportation networks; how can we make sure that trade financing is in
place; what are the other mechanisms that may inhibit exports from
African countries. So that’s the first thing.
On a separate track, part of what we’re also trying to figure out is
how can we promote inter-African trade. Because so often — and this
does relate to a legacy of the past and colonialism — you have strong
infrastructure to send flowers from Kenya to Paris, but it’s very hard
to send tea from Kenya down to Tanzania — much closer, but the
infrastructure is not built. And so part of what we have to do is to
try to find ways to integrate Africa.
Much of that is a question of infrastructure. Some of it has to do
with coordinating regulatory systems between countries. We’re embarking
on some experiments starting in East Africa to see if we can get Uganda,
Kenya, Tanzania — see, you guys know all of them. (Laughter.) We’re
starting to work with these countries to see can we get some blocks of
effective trading taking place.
Because, look, obviously there’s going to be a certain market for
certain goods — I mentioned flowers from Kenya. The market — that’s
primarily going to be in some of the wealthier countries. But there are
going to be some goods that it’s going to be much easier to sell. If
I’m a Kenyan businessman, it’s going to be easier for me to sell my
goods to a Tanzanian or a Ugandan than it is for me to try to compete
with Nike or Apple in the United States. Right?
And historically, when you look at how trade develops — if you look
at Asia, for example, which obviously has grown extraordinarily fast — a
huge volume of that trade is within the region first, and then over
time that becomes a launching pad from which to trade globally.
So this is an area where I think we can also provide some assistance
and help. But just to answer directly your question, we are very
strongly committed to making sure that AGOA is reauthorized. And
obviously, we’ve got a bunch of members of Congress here who care about
this deeply, as well.
How much time do we have, by the way? I just want to make sure — he
said, one hour. (Laughter.) Okay, I think we’ve got time for two more
questions.
AUDIENCE: Awww –
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m sorry, but — (laughter.) So it’s a
gentleman’s turn. Let me see — this gentleman in the white right here.
That guy right there. Hold on one second, let’s get a microphone on
him.
Q Hi, I’m from Liberia. It is a pleasure meeting you, Mr.
President. My question has to do with the issue of antitrust law. You
will be meeting our leaders next week. Will you discuss the issue of
antitrust law that will protect young entrepreneurs in Africa? If not,
are you willing to include it on your agenda, please, to solve our
problems back home? Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, obviously, each country is different, and
I’ll be honest with you, I’m not familiar with the antitrust laws in
every country. But what I would certainly commit to do is to talk about
antitrust in the broader context of what I said at the beginning after
maybe the first question, and that is the issue of rule of law and how
it interacts with the economy.
If you have monopolies or collusion between a few companies that
create artificial barriers to new entrants, then economic theory will
tell you that invariably that is inefficient. It means consumers are
going to pay more for worse products. It means those companies can
concentrate more and more wealth without actually improving what they
produce. And over time, the economy stagnates.
And here in the United States we had a history of huge, big,
corporations controlling huge sectors of the economy. And over time, we
put in laws to break up those monopolies and to create laws to guard
against artificial monopolies that prevented competition.
So antitrust is one element of a broader set of laws and principles
that every country should be adopting with the basic notion that, look,
if you’re successful — if you are a company like Apple that innovated,
or a company like Microsoft that came up with a new concept — you should
be able to get big and you should be able to be successful, and those
who founded it, like Bill Gates, should be wealthy. But what you also
want to make sure of is the next generation — the Googles or the
Facebooks — that they can be successful, too, in that space. And that
means that you have to make sure that those who got there first aren’t
closing the door behind them, which all too often I think happens in
many countries, not just in African countries.
So you make an excellent point, and we’ll make sure that that’s incorporated into the broader discussion.
Okay, this young lady right here. Yes, because she looks so nice. (Laughter.)
Q Thank you very much. I’m from Kenya.
THE PRESIDENT: We got a Maasai sister right here. (Laughter.) That’s it. Go ahead.
Q Thank you for this great initiative for the young people, and thank you for believing in the young people.
The upcoming summit of the Presidents, I know you’re going to
ask them on engagement of the young people back in our countries. And
my concern will be, how will you be able to engage them to commit to
their promises? Because I know they’re going to promise you that.
Thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: All right, don’t get carried away here. (Laughter.)
Well, look, part of what we’ve done here by building this YALI network
that we’re going to be doubling over the next couple of years is we’re
going directly to the young people and creating these networks and these
opportunities. And what we’re already seeing, I think, is many
countries are excited by this. They’re saying, you know what, this is
something that can be an empowering tool for us, so let’s take advantage
of it.
There are going to be some that may feel somewhat threatened by it —
there’s no doubt about that. But the good thing is we will be creating
this network — there are a whole bunch of people who are following this
online, who are following it on social media. We’ll have these regional
centers. You will help to make sure that some of these promises are
observed, because the whole continent of young people is going to be
paying attention, and we’ll be able to see which countries are really
embracing this opportunity to get new young people involved, and which
ones are ignoring its promise.
And so I will say to every one of these leaders, you need to take
advantage of the most important resource you have, and that’s the
amazing youth in these countries. (Applause.) But you’re going to have
to also help to hold them accountable collectively across countries,
and that’s part of why this network can be so important.
So I know this is sad, but I have to go.
AUDIENCE: Awww –
THE PRESIDENT: I have other work to do. (Laughter.) The good news
is you’ve got all these really amazing people who are still going to be
meeting with you and talking with you. And, most importantly, what an
amazing opportunity it is for all of you to get to know each other, and
to talk and to compare ideas and share concepts going forward.
The main message I want to leave you with is that, in the same way
I’m inspired by you, you should be inspired by each other; that Africa
has enormous challenges — the world has enormous challenges, but I tell
the young people that intern in the White House — and I usually meet
with them at the end of their internship after six months — I always
tell them, despite all the bad news that you read about or you see on
television, despite all the terrible things that happen in places around
the world, if you had to choose a time in world history in which to be
born, and you didn’t know who you were or what your status or position
would be, you’d choose today. Because for all the difficulties, the
world has made progress and Africa is making progress. And it’s
growing. And there are fewer conflicts and there’s less war. And
there’s more opportunity, and there’s greater democracy, and there’s
greater observance of human rights.
And progress sometimes can be slow, and it can be frustrating. And
sometimes, you take two steps forward, and then you take one step back.
But the great thing about being young is you are not bound by the past,
and you can shape the future. And if all of you work hard and work
together, and remain confident in your possibilities, and aren’t
deterred when you suffer a setback, but you get back up, and you dust
yourself off, and you go back at it, I have no doubt that you’re going
to leave behind for the next generation and the generation after that an
Africa that is strong and vibrant and prosperous, and is ascendant on
the world stage.
So I can’t wait to see what all of you do. Good luck. (Applause.)
END 12:14 P.M. EDT
