{"id":675485,"date":"2019-08-08T07:24:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T07:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"
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Abidjan \u2014 Bonjour tout le monde.<\/p>\n

C\u2019est un grand honneur de conclure officiellement le Forum AGOA 2019 \u00e0 Abidjan.\u00a0 Tout d\u2019abord, je voud"},"modified":"2019-08-08T07:24:19","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T07:24:19","slug":"africa-agoa-closing-remarks-by-the-assistant-secretary-nagy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/08\/08\/africa-agoa-closing-remarks-by-the-assistant-secretary-nagy\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa: AGOA Closing Remarks by the Assistant Secretary Nagy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Abidjan \u2014 Bonjour tout le monde.<\/p>\n

C\u2019est un grand honneur de conclure officiellement le Forum AGOA 2019 \u00e0 Abidjan.\u00a0 Tout d\u2019abord, je voudrais remercier le gouvernement ivoirien d\u2019avoir accueilli le forum de l\u2019AGOA.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m especially honored to be here alongside the Prime Minister of Cote d\u2019Ivoire, the Honorable Amadou Gon Coulibaly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m always happy to come back to the continent, as I have a long and happy history living and working in Africa.<\/p>\n

With seven diplomatic postings, I\u2019ve committed my entire career to Africa and its wonderful people. In fact, three of my children were born on the continent — the first triplets in independent Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

Now, as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, I have another opportunity to promote the real story of Africa, which is an increasingly prosperous, peaceful and democratic continent.<\/p>\n

I always say we must view Africa through the windscreen and not the rearview mirror.\u00a0 This statement exemplifies for me the promise that Africa offers. Nor am I alone in this belief.\u00a0 Africa has strong, and enduring, bipartisan support from both of our political parties.<\/p>\n

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This is significant if you know how Washington works.<\/p>\n

The population of Africa is projected to double by 2050 to over 2 billion people, 70 percent of whom will be under 30 years old.\u00a0 If the emerging \u201cyouth bulge\u201d is brought to its full potential, the possibilities are limitless!<\/p>\n

We must capitalize on this reality.<\/p>\n

This forum marks the 18th year government officials, business leaders, entrepreneurs and civil society from African countries and the United States have convened to advance commercial and trade ties.<\/p>\n

The AGOA forum has been the cornerstone of U.S. economic engagement with the countries of Africa since 2000.<\/p>\n

Because of AGOA, the rate of growth in critical areas has been substantial since its inception.<\/p>\n

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Non-oil trade under AGOA increased more than 300 percent since 2001, and the growth of these non-oil industries has spurred an estimated 300,000 direct jobs in beneficiary countries.\u00a0 AGOA has led to many more indirect jobs.<\/p>\n

To put a real face on AGOA\u2019s successes, look at the Alafia company in Togo and Ghana.\u00a0 With AGOA, Alafia created 14,000 jobs for Africans, most of whom are women.\u00a0 The company also won the U.S. Secretary of State\u2019s Award for Corporate excellence in 2018.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ethiopia only started using the AGOA program for footwear in 2007.\u00a0 However, in the last six years, Ethiopia\u2019s exports through AGOA have increased over forty-five-fold!\u00a0 Ethiopia is now the first substantial AGOA footwear supplier to the United States.\u00a0 What a great achievement!<\/p>\n

Kenya is now the second-largest exporter of non-oil products under AGOA.\u00a0 70 percent of its exports fall under AGOA, with the majority coming from the agriculture sector.\u00a0 There clearly is a strong demand for Kenyan produce in the United States.\u00a0 It is estimated this sector contributes to approximately 36 percent of GDP, and exports of these products support over 100,000 farmers in Kenya!<\/p>\n

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And it doesn\u2019t stop there!<\/p>\n

In fact, the Trump Administration\u2019s new Africa Strategy is taking our relationship with Africa to a whole new level.<\/p>\n