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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Lacelle who wrote (16370)	4/5/2000 5:35:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________ For Immediate Release March 16, 1999 REMARKS BY PRESIDENT CLINTON TO CONFERENCE ON U.S.-AFRICA PARTNERSHIP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, Department of State, Washington, DC, March 16, 1999 9:38 A.M. EST mtholyoke.edu [...] A year ago next week I set out on my journey to Africa. It was, for me, for my wife, and for many people who took that trip, an utterly unforgettable and profoundly moving experience. I went to Africa in the hope not only that I would learn, but that the process of the trip itself and the publicity that our friends in the press would give it would cause Americans and Africans to see each other in a new light -- not denying the lingering effects of slavery, colonialism, Cold War, but to focus on a new future -- to build a new chapter of history, a new era of genuine partnership. A year later, we have to say there has been a fair measure of hope, and some new disappointments. War still tears at the heart of Africa. Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Sudan have not yet resolved their conflicts. Ethiopia and Eritrea are mired in a truly tragic dispute we have done our best to try to help avoid. Violence still steals innocent lives in the Great Lakes region. In the last year, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam became battlefields in a terrorist campaign that killed and wounded thousands of Africans, along with Americans working there for a different future. [...] One of the best days of my trip last year was the day I opened an investment center in Johannesburg, named after our late Commerce Secretary, Ron Brown, a true visionary who knew that peace, democracy and prosperity would grow in Africa with the right kind of support. I can't think of a better tribute to him than our work here today, for he understood that Africa's transformation will not happen overnight, but on the other hand, that it should happen and that it could happen. Look at Latin America's progress over the last decade. Look at Asia before that. In each case, the same formula worked: Peace, open markets, democracy and hard work lifted hundreds of millions of people from poverty. It has nothing to do with latitude and longitude, or religion or race. It has everything to do with an equal chance and smart decisions. There are a thousand reasons Africa and the United States should work together for the 21st century, reasons buried deep in our past, reasons apparent in the future just ahead. It is the right thing to do, and it is in the self-interest of all the peoples represented in this room today. Africa obviously matters to the 30 million Americans who trace their roots there. But Africa matters to all Americans. It provides 13 percent of our oil, nearly as much as the Middle East. Over 100,000 American jobs depend upon our exports to Africa. There could be millions more when Africa realizes its potential. As Africa grows it will need what we produce and we will need what Africa produces. Africa is home to 700 million people, nearly a fifth of the world. Last year, our growing relationship with this enormous market helped to protect the United States from the global financial crisis raging elsewhere. While exports were down in other parts of the world, exports from the United States to Africa actually went up by eight percent, topping $6 billion. As wise investors have discovered, investments in Africa pay. In 1997, the rate of return of American investments in Africa was 36 percent -- compared with 16 percent in Asia, 14 percent worldwide, 11 percent in Europe. [...]