Testimony
Tibor P. Nagy, Jr.
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Washington, DC
December 12, 2018
Thank you Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and Members of the
Committee for the opportunity to testify today on U.S. policy toward
Africa, and to my colleague and friend Ramsey Day of USAID here with me
today. I also want to express my gratitude to Chairman Royce and other
members for your longstanding interest in Africa.
Today’s hearing comes at an opportune time. We are at a critical
juncture for the relationship between the United States and the nations
and people of Africa. Africa faces an uncertain and challenging, but by
no means predetermined, future. The choices we make now will affect not
only our relationship with the continent, but will have ramifications
worldwide.
Africa is facing a demographic tsunami. Its population will double by
2050 to around 2.5 billion people, 50 percent of whom will be under the
age of 24. Challenges with infrastructure, corruption and terrorism
continue, and China is asserting itself on the continent economically,
militarily, and politically. We must remain a positive alternative, and
make clear that engaging with the United States will mean greater
prosperity and security for Africa.
I am very fortunate to be in my current position. Virtually my entire
career centered on Africa, much of it living there in eight different
countries. Since my first diplomatic assignment forty years ago, Africa
has changed dramatically.
I recently concluded two trips to the continent, in West Africa and
East Africa, where I also addressed the African Union. Let me assure you
of this: Our potential with Africa is limitless! With every challenge
there is opportunity, and we must capitalize on our successes.
Here I would like to articulate some of the focus areas of the Bureau of African Affairs.
First, we are promoting stronger trade and commercial ties between
the United States and Africa,
working with our African partners to build
a level playing field across the continent’s markets.
African
governments need to increase transparency and fairness in their
commercial environments to attract more business, and have predictable
policies, laws conforming to international standards, and a credible
dispute resolution process.
Second, more than 60 percent of sub-Saharan Africa, 600 million
people, is below the age of 25, representing 40 percent of sub-Saharan
Africa’s unemployed. We are working to match American investment and
ingenuity with the dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit of young
Africans; anchoring them to their countries, and keeping them from
resorting to migration, militancy, or crime.
A third area is working to advance peace and security through
partnerships with African governments and effective regional mechanisms.
Finally, we are focused on countering the Chinese narrative and
setting the record straight. The United States has a longstanding
commitment to Africa, as a partner positively supporting economic
growth, good governance, rule of law, enhanced gender equality, and
health of the African people.
Let me begin with the promotion of stronger trade and investment
ties. Everywhere I speak to an African audience, I emphasize we seek to
do business not just
in Africa, but
with Africa.
Our promotion of free trade agreements with the United States
communicates to Africans that transparency, fairness, and good
governance attract U.S. investment, and we hope to negotiate a
first-ever Free Trade Agreement with a Sub-Saharan African country.
Trade has greatly expanded. Under the African Growth and Opportunity
Act, or AGOA, from 2000 to 2016 U.S. investment in sub-Saharan Africa
increased from seven to 29 billion dollars, providing opportunities for
hundreds of thousands of Africans. Since 2000, U.S. exports to Africa
rose from six to more than 14 billion dollars last year, and U.S.
imports from Africa totaled nearly 25 billion dollars, a total two-way
trade of 39 billion dollars in 2017, up 5.8 percent from 2015.
The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation provides assistance to the
world’s poorest countries who demonstrate commitment to good governance,
economic freedom, and investing in their citizens. This week, I
attended a ceremony with Secretary Pompeo where MCC and the Government
of Senegal signed a 550 million dollar compact that will modernize
Senegal’s power sector to increase economic growth and reduce poverty
through improved access to electricity.
The BUILD Act, which President Trump signed into law in October with
strong bipartisan support, will establish the U.S. International
Development Finance Corporation. This new law consolidates, modernizes
and reforms the U.S. government’s development finance capabilities.
Africa is the largest regional exposure totaling more than six billion
dollars and the BUILD Act will help mobilize additional private sector
investment.
With our second focus, we go beyond investing in
Africa, to investing in
Africans.
Through the Young African Leaders Initiative, or YALI, we equip the
next generation of Africans with leadership and entrepreneurship skills. The YALI Network, a virtual community of more than a half
million members, helps young Africans develop skills and connections
needed to make change in their communities.
Our third focus, promoting peace and security, is essential to secure
Africa’s opportunities and prosperity. We support African-led efforts
against terrorism and other transnational threats. U.S. assistance has
brought some success in the Lake Chad region, Somalia and elsewhere, and
we seek burden-sharing opportunities with non-African actors as well.
We have provided training to peacekeepers from more than 20 African
countries, with substantial impact. Ten years ago, Africans comprised
only 40 percent of the continent’s peacekeepers. Now that figure has
exceeded 60 percent. U.S.-funded programming is vital to these forces,
as it is to the G5 Sahel Joint Force and African-driven efforts in the
Lake Chad region to counter terrorism in West Africa.
Our African partners are working to ensure stability and defeat
terrorist organizations in East Africa as well. The AMISOM mission
composed of regional states is helping Somalia become more stable and prosperous, and we are providing development and security assistance so the Somalis can govern themselves.
Additionally, we support efforts by African partners to strengthen
their maritime and border security and their efforts to address
trafficking in arms, drugs, and wildlife.
Finally, we want to be clear to all Africans that the United States
has an unwavering commitment to the continent, shown through our
long-standing partnerships and support for good governance, security,
human rights and economic growth, and provision of humanitarian
assistance.
African countries should know that some infrastructure projects and
seemingly attractive loan terms from other countries can lead down a
dangerous path to indebtedness, loan defaults, and concessionary
extraction of natural resources stifling the economic growth needed to
create jobs.
In contrast, the United States is pursuing sustainable alternatives
for African growth and development. U.S. programs like AGOA, PEPFAR,
Power Africa, and Feed the Future opened the U.S. market to African
goods, countered HIV/AIDS, brought electricity to rural areas, protected
vulnerable women and children, supported youth entrepreneurship, and
helped Africans in innumerable ways.
As we continue to engage with Africa, we must assess how to best work
with each country and multilateral institutions to advance our mutual
interests and priorities.
The State Department cannot do this alone; we need to continually
synchronize our approach among all elements of national power. Only by
balancing resources among development, diplomacy, and defense can we
speak with a coordinated voice to the governments, and the people, of
Africa.
I do not exaggerate when I say Africa is the continent of the future,
but a future envisioned by Africans and not one seen as forced upon
them, and success must ultimately come from developing African solutions
to African problems. We must look at Africa through the windshield, NOT
through the rear-view mirror.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I look forward to your support as our nation continues our engagement with Africa.
