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2021 Communique Miami, Florida, USA Presented to: 19thMinisterial Session of the AGOA Forum On The Civil Society Organization (CSO) Session of the 2021 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum took place October 6-8, 2021, under the theme: The Impact of COVID-19 on US Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation: The Way Forward. The CSO Session was held jointly with the 22nd Annual US-Africa Trade and Investment Conference/Trade Show at the Miami Airport Convention Center (MACC), in Miami, Florida. The CSO Session of the 19th AGOA Forum was a hybrid event that brought together members of the AGOA CSO Network from venues in Miami, Florida; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Lagos, Nigeria, and other AGOA eligible countries with virtual participation from the United States and Africa. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss solutions and provide input to areas critical to public and private sector stakeholders’ success on The Way Forward regarding the following issues:
Discussion Highlights: CSO Network Secretariat and its members published a policy white paper on The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on US-Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation - AGOA with recommendations and areas of concern for the Biden/Harris Administration and U.S. Congressional Leaders for action and implementation. To view the policy white paper visit www.agoacsonetwork.org/Publications. (Read more) |
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN
Dear President Biden:
The AGOA Civil Society Organization (CSO) Network would like to join the world in congratulating you and Vice President Kamala Harris on your historic victory in being elected the 46th President and the 49th Vice President of the United States (U.S.). Your election inspires hope for the kind of change that our country needs at this moment. We strongly believe that you have ascended to this global leadership position at a pivotal point in our nation’s history. And that you are uniquely positioned to drive home solutions that will change our approach to the COVID 19 pandemic, economic recession, civil and racial unrest, and development in Africa while restoring the United States’ standing in the world and ensuring our global prosperity.
Africa is strategically important to the United States because of its vast reserves of precious and strategic metals, crude oil, uncultivated arable land, and potential as a destination for U.S. investment, tourism, and cultural exchanges. A non-stop flight from Miami, Florida to Dakar, Senegal takes approximately 6 hours, 30 minutes, about the time it takes a non-stop flight from Miami to San Francisco (6 hours, 35 minutes); de-mystifying the existing mindset that Africa is too far from the United States. And Africa’s population is projected to reach 2.8 billion by 2060 from the current population of 1.26 billion. Currently, sixty-percent (60%) of Africa’s populace is below 35 years old with a growing middle class.
Strengthening trade and economic cooperation with Africa can only result in job creation on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, embed American economic interest, values, and goodwill in a region that is poised to take center stage of the world economy in the next two decades. Given Africa’s resources, its proximity to the United States, growing population and the existing cordial relationship between the American and African people, this is a deal that’s good for both America and Africa.
Since its enactment more than two decades ago, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been the cornerstone of U.S. economic engagement with the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and has helped to increase two-way trade between the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. (Read more)
