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President Bush`s visit a blessing for Africa
2008-02-17 09:43:42
By Lucas Lukumbo
President George W. Bush landed yesterday in Dar es Salaam on his five-nation trip to Africa, with others stops in Benin, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. Staff Writer Lucas Lukumbo reports on the significance of the trip on Africa and Tanzania in particular...
ONE can summarily say that President Bush`s visit to the continent is a manifestation of the United State`s Commitment to African development.
Surely George Bush would discuss with leaders of these countries on ways to accelerate economic development and fight global HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases, with US support.
The President will meet with the leaders of these five nations to discuss how the United States can continue to partner with African countries to support sustained democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes, and economic opportunity across the continent.
The President`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which President Bush launched in 2003 would obviously be reviewed.
Today the initiative is supporting life-saving anti-retroviral treatment for about 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
The U.S. is on track to increase total assistance to Africa to US Dollars 8.7 billion by 2010, double the level of assistance in 2004.
In addition, the President`s Malaria Initiative (PMI), launched in 2005, is adding to PEPFAR`s efforts to combat disease in Africa and is estimated to have already reached 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to help in the fight against malaria.
Just recently President George W. Bush announced some new steps to help continue this progress, including adding five investment funds supported by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
These funds will mobilize US Dollars 875 million in capital for the continent.
This is in addition to US Dollars 750 million in investment capital that will be mobilized by OPIC Funds announced by the US administration last November, bringing the total to more than US Dollars 1.6 billion.
On his trip next week, Bush is expected to sign the largest project in the Millennium Challenge Corporation`s history - a US Dollar 698 million compact with Tanzania. This Compact will benefit 4.8 million Tanzanians.
He is also expected to sign a bilateral investment treaty with Rwanda - US`s first such treaty in Sub-Saharan Africa in a decade.
The treaty will promote investment by providing legal protections for U.S. and Rwandan investors that underscore the two countries` shared commitment to open investment and trade policies.
To prove that Unites States is partnering with African governments to overcome poverty in President Bush`s first term, the United States more than doubled development assistance to Africa - part of the largest expansion of American development assistance since the Marshall Plan.
This Initiative provides 100 percent debt relief from the major International Financial Institutions to the world\'s poorest, most heavily indebted countries.
It has reduced a total of US Dollars 42 billion in debt to date - US Dollars 34 billion of which was for 19 African countries.
The U.S. also secured reforms with the International Financial Institutions aimed at preventing the re-accumulation of unsustainable debt.
President Bush launched the Millennium Challenge Account as a new model to support governments that commit to the rule of law, invest in people, and encourage economic freedom.
To date, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has signed seven compacts with African countries totaling US Dollars 2.4 billion to fight poverty through economic growth.
The President worked with Congress to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Over 98 percent of African exports to the U.S. entered the U.S. duty-free last year through AGOA.
In 2007, AGOA exports to the U.S. totaled over US Dollars 50 billion - more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA. During the same period, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa have doubled, totaling over US Dollars 14 billion.
In 2006, President Bush launched the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), which will provide US Dollars 200 million over five years to support increased trade and investment in Africa.
Four regional Global Competitiveness Hubs are the primary implementers of AGCI and are located in Ghana and Senegal for West Africa, Botswana for Southern Africa and Kenya for East and Central Africa.
It must also be noted that the United States is proud to be the world`s largest donor of food assistance. Its humanitarian food aid totaled more than US Dollars 1.7 billion in 2007, and its emergency food aid reached about 23 million people in 30 countries.
In 2002, President Bush launched the Africa Education Initiative (AEI) and committed to provide US Dollars 600 million over eight years to increase access to quality basic education.
By 2010, AEI will have distributed over 15 million textbooks, trained nearly one million teachers, and provided 550,000 scholarships for girls.
Also in the year 2003, President Bush launched the President`s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), committing US Dollars 15 billion over five years to combat global HIV/AIDS. PEFPAR is the largest international health initiative in history to fight a single disease.
Today, PEPFAR is supporting life-saving anti-retroviral treatment for over 1.3 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, up from 50,000 when President Bush last visited Africa in 2003.
Also on May 30, 2007, President Bush announced his proposal to double America`s initial commitment and provide an additional US Dollars 30 billion over the next five years.
In 2005, President Bush launched the President`s Malaria Initiative (PMI), committing US Dollars 1.2 billion over five years to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in 15 target African countries.
He has challenged the private sector to join the fight against malaria, It is estimated that the PMI has already reached 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
America continues to work closely with local partners to address remaining security challenges in Africa.
For troubled Kenya, the US feels that there must be an immediate halt to the violence, justice for the victims of abuse, and a full return of democracy.
The President who has called for power sharing, has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to travel to Kenya to support the work of the former Secretary General Kofi Annan.
In fiscal year 2007, the U.S. provided close to US Dollars 175 million for programs to promote just and democratic governance in African nations.
According to statistics, the U.S. is the largest donor to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with more than 40 percent of that funding going to Africa in 2007.
Tanzania has benefited very much from its cordial relations with the US.
It is one of 15 PEPFAR focus countries. With around 6.5 percent of the adult population HIV positive, PEPFAR is helping to deliver anti-retroviral treatments to over 96,000 Tanzanians.
Roughly 1.1 million pregnant women have received mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention services to date.
Last year, Tanzania launched a National HIV/AIDS Testing Campaign. President Kikwete and the first lady of Tanzania were the first to be tested.
As a President`s Malaria Initiative (PMI) focus country, Tanzania has seen a number of malaria cases among children on the island of Zanzibar drop by 95 percent between 2005 and 2007.
To date, PMI has provided spraying operations that have protected nearly 170,000 residents, procured and disbursed nearly 700,000 treatments of artemisinin-based combination therapies, and provided roughly 1.8 million bed net vouchers targeting infants and pregnant women.
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