Tag Archives: AGOA Forum

Fighting Cholera in Haiti / Fresh Water Funds for Jordan / A Boost For African Farmers

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The U.S. is moving to speed aid to help Haiti fight a deadly cholera outbreak. Jordan is getting fresh water aid. In Africa, they’re turning to an age-old construction technique.  The U.S. enforces new fuel rules for trucks and buses. With just weeks remaining before its election, Sudan has its work cut out for it. And, finally, a photo gallery on a program to share agricultural techniques with African farmers.

U.S. Cholera Aid for Haiti
In response to the outbreak of cholera in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince issued a disaster declaration to speed U.S. funding and medical assistance to the country in recent days. Cholera has killed 259 people and infected more than 3,000 others in Haiti. At right, women cover their mouths and noses as they wait for their children to be treated for cholera symptoms.


A Grant for Jordan’s Water
The Obama administration is investing $275 million through the Millennium Challenge Corporation to help provide nearly two million Jordanians with reliable access to clean water and to address water scarcity.

Building Earthen Structures
Two American professors are sharing knowledge with Saudis on how to build, maintain and restore earthen structures, using natural resources such as soil, through a U.S. Embassy speakers program. Earthen construction may be more practical than modern construction techniques because of its durability and because it has a milder environmental impact.

Big Rigs Face New Fuel Rules
For the first time in U.S. history, the government is imposing fuel efficiency standards for trucks and buses, starting with vehicles that hit the market in 2013. The U.S. Department of Transportation says the new rules will save 500 million barrels of oil for vehicles of the model years 2014 through 2018, and 250 tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the life-time of the trucks.

In Sudan, the Vote Approaches
Authorities in Sudan face a tight deadline to complete preparations for a crucial set of votes in January that will decide on independence for Southern Sudan and Abyei, says General Scott Gration, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan. He called on the parties to come to a new round of talks in Ethiopia in late October “with an attitude of compromise.”

An African Delegation Learns about U.S. Agriculture
Recently, the U.S. welcomed African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) ministers and delegates to the Ninth AGOA Forum, in Kansas City Missouri, where the visitors got the chance to observe American agricultural practices first-hand. Find out more about their trip in this photo gallery. At left, delegates participate in a lively discussion with American farmer Tom Waters on chicken farming and feed strategy.

AGOA’s Promise Feeds Spirits as Well as Bodies

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State Department intern Kirsten L. Salyer works in the Office of Policy Planning and writes for the America.gov blog Obama Today. She is a student at Northwestern University majoring in journalism and international studies.

Clinton looking to her left, smiling

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the ninth annual AGOA Forum

“It was like eating good food, that speech,” Sylvia Chabad of Zambia said of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s keynote address at the ninth annual U.S.–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum, or AGOA Forum.

Chabad, who works as a caterer, spoke to me as we waited in a hallway with other members of the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program before a discussion on “Integrating Africa’s Women into the Global Economy.” The hope and promise of sustainable democracy and opportunity were what they wanted and needed to hear, the women told me.

When I signed up to volunteer at the forum, I expected the focus to be heavily on trade relations and economic negotiations between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. But while economic growth, productivity and investment outlined the structure of conversation, the themes of democracy, governance, human rights and civil inclusion emerged as the underlying topics of discussion.

Clinton told the forum that increasing productivity and attracting investment are tied to improving food security, fighting poverty and increasing women’s rights. Economic growth is not enough without ensuring political stability and good governance, she said.

But more than the statistics in Clinton’s speech (Africa’s economy is expected to grow at a rate of 4.5 percent in 2011) or the high-level partnership dialogue between African ministers and U.S. government officials, the 34 women entrepreneurs attending the forum stood out to me as proof of the continent’s potential.

Here were individuals seizing the opportunities lauded in the panelists’ discussions and the secretary’s remarks, and working to take action in their communities. Their examples reminded me of one of the basic lessons of democracy: the power of a country is the power of its people.