This is a transcript of remarks made in the US House of Representatives on the presentation of the AGOA III Bill.

SPEECH OF HON. JIM McDERMOTT OF WASHINGTON IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2003:

Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, partisan divisions are common in the Congress, but a few issues regularly escape those boundaries. International trade typically is one of them. Although the votes that gave President Bush Trade Promotion Authority confirm that even international trade can be an intensely polarizing issue, it frequently garners support across the political spectrum.

I first traveled to Africa in 1961 with Operation Crossroads to build a school in Ghana. Africa in the '60s underwent a vibrant surge of optimism as independence from colonial rule spread throughout the continent. My experience in Ghana changed my view of the world, and many Members of Congress have had experiences similar to mine. Many Members also believe, as I do, that when the United States opens its markets to poor countries, we extend an enormous opportunity to create jobs and raise living standards, and also provide greater value to American consumers. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed into law by President Clinton in 2000, underscores the common goals that Republicans and Democrats can share.

By any measure, AGOA is a resounding success. It is spurring economic growth and bolstering economic reforms. It is fostering stronger ties between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, and it is reaffirming Africans' conviction that they can compete in any market.

AGOA, which provides temporary benefits, requires periodic review by the Congress to assess its effectiveness. It was designed this way in part because policy makers, like myself, did not know the precise recipe to attract the type of investment in sub-Saharan Africa we were seeking. We made a few good guesses in this regard, but we probably missed the mark in other areas.

We guessed right when we decided that we should provide sub-Saharan Africa greater access to the U.S. textile and apparel market. Over the last three years, tens of thousands of jobs were created in this industry, thanks to AGOA benefits. Expiring next year, however, is the provision in AGOA that allows Africa's poorest countries to buy fabric outside the region--where it is inexpensive and high in quality--to create finished apparel products for export to the U.S.

Today, I join several of my colleagues, like Representatives Ed Royce, Amo Houghton and Charles Rangel, to introduce legislation to extend AGOA and spread its benefits to other sectors of sub-Saharan Africa's economy. The AGOA III Act, H.R. 3572, marks the beginning of another bi-partisan effort to develop a plan to improve U.S.-Africa trade.

When my colleagues and I set out to write this bill, we saw the need to address four key issues. First, the third-country fabric provision available to Africa's poorest countries through AGOA expires at the end of next year, at the very same time as worldwide quotas on apparel disappear due to the WTO's Multi Fiber agreement. Third-country fabric must be extended to allow sub-Saharan Africa to participate in a market dominated by the Asian giants. There will be robust debate about how long Congress should extend this provision. We suggest in the AGOA III Act that these benefits should last as long as four years.

Second, the United States needs to provide technical assistance to African farmers to enable them to export their products to America. To do this, the AGOA III Act places dozens of American agricultural experts throughout sub-Saharan Africa to work with farmers and their governments.

Third, the biggest barrier to investment in sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of infrastructure. But building roads, ports, energy grids, telecommunication and water systems solely to increase trade flows is simply not feasible. It is the ``chicken or the egg'' dilemma. We cannot increase trade flows without adequate infrastructure, yet why build infrastructure if trade capacity is not at a level that requires it? We must find ways to develop and maintain new infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa as trade capacity improves. One way we can do this is by fostering sustainable ecotourism in sub-Saharan Africa. This industry is expected to grow 30 percent over the next decade. We can help sub-Saharan Africa position itself to take advantage of this because the region enjoys an international comparative advantage with its extensive protected areas that host a variety of ecosystems and cultures. National parks and reserves in sub-Saharan Africa can become a basis for regional development, involving the communities living within and adjacent to them. The infrastructure used to support an ecotourism industry can also be used to increase trade flow. There are several initiatives in the AGOA III Act that seek to help sub-Saharan Africa develop its infrastructure, in part by helping build a viable ecotourism industry.

Fourth, we must address AIDS, which is not just a health crisis. AIDS is an economic catastrophe. In the 1990s, AIDS reduced Africa's per capita annual growth by nearly 1 percent. In the most heavily affected countries, 2 percentage points will be sliced off per capita growth in coming years. This means that after two decades, many economies in sub-Saharan Africa will be about 20-40 percent smaller than they would have been without AIDS. That is an enormous decline that no trade policy can overcome. In addition to fully funding international programs to combat the virus, we can provide tax incentives through AGOA to leverage private-sector contributions to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The AGOA III Act would provide a tax deduction to U.S. firms operating in AGOA-eligible countries when they make a cash donation to the Global Fund.

As I speak with African entrepreneurs, civil society, and the African diplomatic corps, the enthusiasm about AGOA and sub-Saharan Africa's economic possibilities remind me of the excitement of 1960s. But unless all of us work together as we did before--Democrats, Republicans, civil society, and the governments of sub-Saharan Africa--to build a consensus about extending and enhancing AGOA, I fear that this enthusiasm will go the way of our '60s optimism, as genocide, apartheid, civil war, and famine swept over Africa. We have a rare opportunity to ensure that Africa continues to share our markets. We must not let this moment pass us by. I hope that when the Congress convenes next year, addressing U.S.-African trade will be at the top of Congress's agenda.