WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. My pleasure to welcome the president of Burkina Faso, Preside…
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s my great pleasure to welcome President Nkurunziza of Burundi, and I’m delighted to be able to have a chance to share some thoughts with him today.
We – the United States engages with our Burundi partners on a number of different fronts. First, we are working with them to augment their capacity with respect to law enforcement, the judiciary and military, to develop the institutions and the procedures that will protect citizens and establish a foundation for long-term national and regional stability, and this is a key effort; working on the protection of human rights and countering politically motivated violence; and we’ve been working very hard with our friends in Burundi on that.
We’re also working with the Independent National Electoral Commission to improve the quality of voter education and to enhance the training of electoral officials, as well as develop an electoral dispute resolution procedure in order to build confidence among the citizens in the electoral process. It’s still up to Burundi to secure the notion that elections are going to be free and fair and transparent and peaceful, but the U.S. intends to help where we can.
Finally, the United States provided more than 53 million in Fiscal Year 2013 funding for Burundi primarily to support health-related programs, including those directed at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, and to provide increased maternal and child health and voluntary family planning efforts.
We also engaged with Burundi on a broader set of issues like conflict mitigation with youth, with very vulnerable youth; the Burundi deployment of peacekeeping missions, which we’re grateful for; and also improved productivity and profitability of the agriculture cycle. So we have a lot going on. There’s a lot of good work, and I look forward to talking with the President about those ways in which we can enhance this partnership. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT NKURUNZIZA: (Via interpreter.) First of all, I would like to thank the United States of America for having hosted me and my delegation today. At the same time, I would like to use this opportunity to thank you for all of the support that the United States is providing us in Burundi to support us. And we are a post-conflict country which has had many difficulties in the past, but today we are happy the fact that we are back in peace and we have defense and security agreements. And we are helping other countries that are in difficulty, such as Somalia, Central Africa, or Cote d’Ivoire, but also South Sudan. And very soon, we will also be deployed in South Sudan. That proves that we are at peace, so everything that we receive from the United States, it’s a way of supporting us to move forward. And so I’m very happy that today we are being hosted by the Secretary of State to have an exchange together and to show how the United States and Burundi continue to work together to deal with all of the programs that we work on together. And we would like to thank you for the support that you’re providing Burundi for development and the stability of our country. Thank you very much.
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning. Again, it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome Vice President Vicente here to Washington and to tell him how much I appreciated my welcome when I was in Angola. We had a wonderful visit with President Dos Santos, with the foreign minister, and much of his delegation who are here today.
I want to thank him and the Government of Angola for their tremendous cooperation and their leadership with respect to the Kimberley Process and the Great Lakes Process, with respect to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, the FDLR, and the issue of trying to resolve that crisis once and for all. Their leadership has been very, very important.
We have also have been – and they chair, I might add, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and help – and have helped significantly resolving that conflict. President Dos Santos’ stature, his seniority in the region, and his leadership have been very, very important to helping to set up the principles, which have helped to bring that crisis to a road, a path, that everybody understands could bring peace.
In addition, we have strengthened our economic relationship with Angola, and we look forward to doing so even more. And we congratulate Angola on the significant job that they have done to help to reintegrate some 500,000-plus people who were displaced as a result of their very long civil war.
So there is a great deal that is happening, and Angola is one of the countries that is evidence of the transformation that is taking place in Africa. And we are very happy to welcome the vice president here today and to have a chance to talk about these things. Thank you.
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir. Please.
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Well, I’m – I’ll address to you in Portuguese.
SECRETARY KERRY: I think we have somebody to —
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: I don’t know if there is a translation here. Okay. (In Portuguese.)
SECRETARY KERRY: (In Portuguese.) Do we have our – we don’t have him here. I know he’s speaking – we were counting on his excellent English, which I know he speaks, but basically – do you want to summarize, or do you want me to just say —
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: You can.
SECRETARY KERRY: The quickest summary in the world is that he said he was very happy to be here in Washington with the Secretary of State, very happy to be here as part of this conference, that he looks forward to working with us and the continued stabilization of the continent of Africa. He talked about the growth and development and economic relationship. And I think that’s the quickest summary. Is that fair?
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: That’s good.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. All right.
VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Thank you.
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning. I’m very pleased to welcome the Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni here in Washington.
This is a very critical time in Libya. We are very much encouraging all Libyans to respect the recent election of the Council of Representatives and to support the work of the constitutional defining assembly and to reject the use of violence.
Libya’s challenges can really only be solved by Libyans themselves, but we are committed to stand by them as they engage in the difficult work of doing so. We believe that Libya is filled with possibilities, even at this difficult moment. And we intend to work very, very closely with our Libyan friends in an effort to try to help to build the capacity of the government to be able to restore stability to this country.
As we announced on July 26th, we have had to temporarily – and I emphasize temporarily – relocate our personnel out of the Embassy in Tripoli because of the fighting going on around them, not directly at it, but around it. And we wanted to make sure we were providing for the security of our personnel, who are temporarily operating from other places.
Above all, we want the recent elections that took place in Libya to be respected, and that means the legitimate Council of Representatives needs to be seated and the government needs to be able to move on with its work. We are committed to continuing to support the Libyan people, to work with the Libyan Government, and to return our people to Tripoli as soon as the security situation allows.
So thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, for being with us today. I look forward to our conversation.
PRIME MINISTER AL-THINNI: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much. In the name of God, the merciful and the compassionate, I seize the opportunity of my presence here in Washington and the commencement of the first U.S.-Africa Summit, particularly the economic forum, to express my high regard for the efforts that President Obama himself and the U.S. Government and the people, the U.S. people, have extended to provide indefinite and limitless support to Libya.
And I would also like to thank the U.S. President, President Obama and the American people for the special role that they have played before the liberation of Libya and specifically for President Obama’s move to freeze the assets of al-Qadhafi and the former – and his former elite allied with him.
And I also highly value the role that President Obama played in – with the affair of the Libyan oil tanker, which oil was trying to be – some parties were trying to seize it, and when he also issued instructions to stop it, and this has ensured that Libya became a secure place and nobody could advance threats against it. And as a result, the Libyan Government has managed to solve the crisis of the oil. And today, we have four oil ports that are able to export oil inside of the security situation in that region.
And we also ask the United States to stand by the Libyan people and parliament and its government so that it can overcome this very difficult period that it’s experiencing. And particularly by pressuring the various warring parties, which have really destroyed the infrastructure of the city of Tripoli. And these parties have engaged in aggression against the country’s airports, against civilians. They have killed and terrorized innocent civilians.
I also ask the U.S. to provide – to support us in our effort to bring up our institutions, particularly the army and the police, so that weapons are only in the hands of elements of these two institutions.
And I would like to assure everybody that despite all the challenges and problems and armed conflict that Libya is experiencing, we hope that, with the assistance of our friends, particularly the U.S., we’ll be able to overcome this critical stage and lay the foundations of a democratic system and the peaceful transition of power.
We also urge the Libyan parliament to take very strong and solid resolutions that would enable the Libyan state and the apparatuses the state to be strong so that it can also overcome this very critical stage. And thank you very much for this meeting.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much.
WASHINGTON, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: I don’t think we need these big, formal podiums, but let me – it’s my great pleasure to welcome President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo to Washington. I’m very, very happy he’s here. He received me in May on my trip to the D.R.C. We then talked about the efforts that he is making with respect to strengthening democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And we’re very grateful to him for the efforts that he has made, the leadership that they’ve offered to help deal with the problems of the FDLR and the problems with the M23 group, which with his military effort and MONUSCO, they were able to help disarm. That process is continuing and it is a process that will help bring peace and stability ultimately to the region.
We also talked about economic development and the future. We have a lot to work on and we look forward to a good conversation today. Thank you, Mr. President, for being with us. Thank you.
PRESIDENT KABILA: Thanks a lot, Secretary of State. Of course, first of all, I am, myself, and my delegation glad and happy that we finally meet again in Washington, as I promised I would come for this particular summit. And I’m glad that on the sidelines of this particular summit that we’re going to raise, once again, the three or four issues in as far as the situation is concerned, not only in the Congo but the region.
But it’s worth noting that since we met, I believe one, two months ago, the situation has continued to evolve and move forward in the right direction, and that now the Congo is living the era of peace and that we are moving towards stability and long-term stability in all sectors – not only security but also economic development and the development of the region as a whole.
So once again, I’m glad that we’re here as per the invitation, and I hope that in our discussions we definitely are going to raise those issues and chart the way forward in our relations. Thanks a lot.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, my friend. Thank you, sir.
LONDON, United-Kingdom, August 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Minister for Africa summoned Ethiopian Chargé d’Affaires to raise concerns about arrest of a Briton
The Chargé d’Affaires at the Ethiopian Embassy in the UK, Mr Demeke Atnafu, was summoned to the Foreign Office this afternoon to meet the UK’s Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds MP.
Mr Simmonds expressed deep concern that the Ethiopian authorities had not allowed consular access to Mr Andargachew Tsege, a British national who has now been detained in Ethiopia for six weeks after being removed from Yemen.
Mr Simmonds asked the Chargé to urge his government to deliver on previous commitments to provide consular access without further delay, and to provide assurances that they do not intend to carry out the death penalty imposed in absentia.
JUBA, South Sudan, August 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — UNMISS is deeply concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Bunj, Maban County, Upper Nile State, where, since yesterday, there have been clashes between a community-…
WASHINGTON, August 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
World Bank
Washington, DC
August 4, 2014
Well, President Kim, Jim, thank you very, very much for your welcome. Welcome to all of you here, and I appreciate your – the substance of your comments. And I also appreciate your generous comments regarding my privilege of being here as Secretary. (Laughter.)
This is a very exciting week for us here in Washington, and we are really thrilled to welcome everybody here on this particular discussion and many others that are going to take place. And I need to beg your indulgence at the beginning of my comments. I have to speak and run, so to speak, because I have a series – we have so many presidents in the city over the next few days, that I am beginning a marathon of bilat meetings this morning, as well as trying to fit in the number of events that we have. I know you will understand that.
I thank Jim Kim for his tremendous leadership of the bank and for hosting us here today. I want you all to know that one of the things I admire most about Dr. Kim is that wherever he has been in his life, whatever leadership role he has served in, this is a man who’s been willing to challenge the status quo. And that was true when he found innovative ways to deliver healthcare in the Partners in Health. It was true when he applied himself to finding new ways to provide care for HIV and AIDS at the World Health Organization, and when I was in the Senate I did some work with him on that. And then it was true when he balanced the budget and led Dartmouth College through its critical period of transition. So we welcome his leadership here.
What I think many of you may not know is that when he was in high school, he was a quarterback. And those of you who know American football have to just imagine what it was like for this young guy about 10 years after he arrived in America. He was facing down big, Midwestern linebackers – (laughter) – and there’s no better preparation for today’s world and life than that.
A few decades later, he was working – revolutionizing, really, how HIV and AIDS was going to be dealt with. And I was in the Senate, and we were working then to try to find a way to create stronger trade links with Africa, particularly with sub-Sahara Africa.
And for several years, with the help of somebody you all know well, I think – Jim McDermott, a former Foreign Service officer and member of Congress at the time – we discussed creative ideas about how to break down the barriers to trade while at the same time lifting up the standards for governance and for transparency. And the result of those early efforts was, in fact, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act that President Clinton signed into law in the last months of his presidency.
So for 14 years now – as Michael Froman said, this is the 13th meeting annually – but for 14 years, AGOA has been one of the primary tools to push forward greater trade and investment in Africa. And guess what? It is working. We’ve seen imports from AGOA nations grow by 300 percent. Whether it’s cocoa and cashews from Ghana or textiles from Mauritius or petrochemical products from Angola, AGOA has served as a catalyst for greater trade and prosperity, and it’s helped to promote greater protections for the African workforce.
And yes, we do have some of our own interests on the line here too, and I say it upfront. For instance, AGOA has made it possible for Ford Motor Company to export engines duty-free from South Africa, where Ford has invested over $300 million so they can supply engines worldwide. And the efficiencies of that operation have allowed Ford to create 800 new jobs at their Kansas City plant as part of the global production line. This is how it works, and this is what Africa’s witnessing now with I think something like 10 of the 15 fastest-growing countries in the world in Africa.
From day one in the White House, President Obama’s number-one priority has been creating strong middle class jobs here at home, but the President has always understood that the best way to do that is to strengthen our international economic ties and foster broad growth globally. Everybody here understands how interconnected we all are. Our populations are increasingly, all of them, walking around – in some countries more than others – with mobile devices. Everybody is connected to everybody every moment of the day, and that is changing the way people think. It’s changing their sense of possibilities. It’s changing aspirations and it’s changing realities of politics on the ground.
As President Obama has said, “Africa is a new center of global growth.” Since 2000, banking assets have more than doubled. The telecommunications market has doubled since 2004 alone. And we know that Africa will have a larger workforce than India or China by 2040. So it’s time simply to get ahead of the curve, to invest in education above all for the vast numbers of young people, and the increasing numbers of people who because of today’s interconnectedness are demanding their part of the future. That is much of what has been happening in places where we’ve seen tremendous upheaval of recent days, whether it’s been Tunisia or Egypt or Syria, elsewhere. It’s young people who motivated and energized those initiatives initially because of their sense of desire, frustration for the possibilities of the future.
So it’s time to build a more open exchange of ideas and information. That’s part of the reason President Obama thought of doing the summit that he’s having this week here in Washington. It’s to lead to greater partnership, to build our capacity for innovation, and AGOA is one of the best tools – most vital tools for pushing forward the dramatic transformation that we’re seeing today in parts of Africa.
So this is clearly a moment of opportunity for all Africans. It’s also, I say to you frankly, a moment of decision. Because it’s the decisions that are made or the decisions that are deferred that will ultimately determine whether Africa mines the continent’s greatest natural resource of all, and that is not platinum, it’s not gold, it’s not oil; it’s the talent and capacity and aspirations of its people.
The entire Obama Administration wants to unleash the potential, both for the benefit of the people of Africa, and to create greater prosperity for the world. President Obama is committed to that transformation, and with a seamless renewal of AGOA, the question is: Will we continue to create shared prosperity and a better future for both the people of the United States and the people of Africa and all of the others who benefit as a consequence? That is really the bottom line of what we are working to achieve today, and what we will work towards in anticipation of next year’s AGOA Forum in Gabon, the first ever in Central Africa, is to achieve this goal.
So I say unabashedly: We want and we will work hard to get more American companies to invest in Africa. We also want more African companies to invest here in the United States, and there’s no reason that they shouldn’t. The fact is, today, Africa is increasingly a destination for American investment and tourism, and African institutions are increasingly leading efforts to solve African problems. All of this underscores that dramatic transformation is possible, and it’s possible in the next few years. Prosperity can actually replace poverty, and cooperation can actually triumph over conflict.
So we know that our cooperation, all of us, is essential in order to promote economic growth that is shared by all Africans. I will say to you fighting corruption is a definitive, critical part of that process. To do so will take courage, and yes, it sometimes means assuming risks. But fighting corruption lifts more than a country’s balance sheet. Transparency and accountability attract greater investment. Transparency and accountability create a more competitive marketplace, one where ideas and products are judged by the market and by their merits, and not by a backroom deal or a bribe. The market always works better with transparency, with the sunshine of accountability. That is an environment where innovators and entrepreneurs can flourish, and I guarantee you it is an environment where capital makes a decision to move according to its sense of security and its sense of risk.
So ladies and gentlemen, Africa can be the marketplace of the future. Africa has the resources. Africa has the capacity. Africa has the know-how. The questions Africa faces are similar to those confronting countries all over the world: Is there the political will, the sense of common purpose to address challenges? Are we all prepared together to make the hard choices that those challenges require?
We firmly believe – and I think you will sense, those of you who are here for all of the next three days, at the end of this summit, the end of these meetings, I believe you will have a clear sense of the fullness of the commitment of President Obama and the Obama Administration and the United States to the notion that Africa is a natural partner of the United States and vice versa. And we believe that the United States can be a vital catalyst in Africa’s continued transformation.
It’s exciting, the possibilities are endless, and we really look forward to working with you to fulfill the full measure of possibilities. So now I’d like to introduce a – reintroduce the person who opened this. He doesn’t need another introduction, but he’s been working on these things, the ties between the United States and Africa, for a long time within the Treasury Department, at the National Security Council, at Citibank, and he now serves as President Obama’s principal advisor on international trade, Ambassador Michael Froman.
JUBA, South Sudan, August 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Delegation of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) and its Secretariat led by Prof.Julia Sloth-Nielsen, arrived in the afternoon, a…
BERLIN, Germany, August 4, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — In view of the increasing number of Ebola cases and the danger that the disease will spread uncontrollably in West Africa, the Federal Foreign Office has provided a further 500,000 euros to help combat the virus.
The funding will be used to support the non governmental organisation Médecins Sans Frontières. Funding will also be increased for the work of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine as part of the German Partnership Programme for Excellence in Biological and Health Security. Since the beginning of the Ebola crisis, the Bernhard Nocht Institute, with the support of the Federal Foreign Office, has been working to improve diagnostics, laboratory infrastructure and the safe storage of samples.
