The United States and Africa - A Growing Partnership

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"We will help nations on this continent to achieve greater health and education and trade with the world. Working together, we can help make this a decade of rising prosperity and expanding peace in Africa."  -President George W. Bush

PARTNERSHIP GOALS
• Promote peace, democracy, and good governance
• Foster growth-oriented sustainable development
• Encourage trade and investment and debt relief
• Provide post-conflict humanitarian assistance
• Contribute to the global war on terrorism

U.S. ASSISTANCE
Bilateral Assistance - The U.S. is providing more than $2 billion in assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2004.

Millennium Challenge Account - The most significant development program since the Marshall Plan, this initiative aims to offer $5 billion annually to developing countries that are committed to good governance, the rule of law, human rights protection and an open economic system. Eight of the 16 countries eligible for Fiscal Year 2004 funding are African.

HIV/AIDS - President Bush pledged $15 billion over five years to fund the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the largest commitment ever made by a single nation for an international health initiative. The U.S. is working with international, national and local leaders to promote integrated prevention, treatment and care programs.

The U.S. will meet its $2.4 billion commitment in the first year of the plan. AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias has already committed $865 million to prevention, care and treatment in 15 of the hardest hit countries, 12 of them in Africa.  The U.S. is building partnerships with governments,businesses, faith-based organizations, NGOs and local communities to save lives.

Africa Growth and Opportunity Act - This act brings new investment into African countries, creating jobs and helping form mutually profitable commercial linkages. Exports under the program increased by 55 percent in 2003 to $14 billion, over half of sub-Saharan Africa’s overall exports to the United States.

Congo Basin Forest Partnership - This U.S.-led partnership supports economic development and poverty alleviation through conservation. With nearly 30 government and private sector partners, we are supporting a network of parks and protected areas, well-managed forestry concessions, and creation of economic opportunities for communities that depend on the forests and wildlife of the Congo Basin.

Sudan - The U.S. has been very supportive of the African-led process to bring peace to Sudan. Centered in Naivasha, Kenya, these achievements cannot bear fruit as long as violence continues in Darfur. Intensive U.S. efforts with its African and European partners are underway to stop the violence there and to allow food, shelter, and medicines to reach a desperate population of more than a million people. The U.S. continues to work with the parties to the Naivasha agreements and to press the Sudanese government for action on Darfur.
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