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The President and Mrs. Bush travel to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia
From February 15 - 21, 2008
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President George W. Bush, joined by Mrs. Laura Bush, greets guests, students and their families during a welcome program Monday, Feb. 18, 2008, to the Maasai Girls School in Arusha, Tanzania.
© White House / photo by Eric Draper
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President and Mrs. Bush's second visit to Africa underscores a new approach to U.S. policy toward Africa, and builds on the U.S.'s dramatic increase in African development assistance.
The President is meeting with the leaders of Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia to discuss how the United States can continue to partner with African countries to support sustained democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes, and economic opportunity across the continent.
U.S. initiatives in Africa include improving education, reducing poverty, and fighting pandemic disease. For example, in Ghana, at the Accra Teacher Training Institute, students receive textbooks supplied through the U.S'.s Africa Education Initiative. In Mozambique, mosquito nets are provided to children by the President's Malaria Initiative. In Mali, President Tour is using a Millennium Challenge Compact to build his country's infrastructure, and to bring prosperity to Mali's people. In South Africa, HIV-positive pregnant mothers keep their babies HIV free with support from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The U.S. is also an active supporter of UNESCO's work to improve education in Africa. First Lady Laura Bush is the Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade, and has held and supported UNESCO's regional literacy conferences, including a September 2007 conference in Mali, to address literacy challenges specific to various regions. At the Mali Conference, organizers gathered regional experiences, disseminated effective practices, created cooperation among stakeholders, mobilized partners and resources, and promoted literacy.
Additionally, in October 2007, the U.S. worked to pass a resolution to strengthen UNESCO's Teacher Training Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA), in order to increase the number of qualified teachers in sub-Saharan Africa. The resolution was submitted to the 33rd UNESCO General Conference and co-sponsored by 23 African states, including Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal and Madagascar. It asks UNESCO's Director General to work with Member States and the appropriate agencies to strengthen TTISSA, by increasing the focus on literacy training, strengthening pre-service and in-service training, utilizing existing UNESCO Chairs in TTISSA countries more effectively, and consolidating and utilizing existing resources more effectively.
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Links
Trip to Africa 2008
President and Mrs. Bush Discuss Africa Policy, Trip to Africa Smithsonian National Museum of African Art Washington, D.C., February 14, 2008
Fact Sheet: U.S. Africa Policy: An Unparalleled Partnership Strengthening Democracy, Overcoming Poverty, and Saving Lives
Fact Sheet: United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty
Fact Sheet: United States Leading The Global Response To Crisis In Darfur
Millennium Challenge Corporation: Country Reports
U.S. Participation in the UNESCO Regional Literacy Conference Bamako, Mali, September, 2007
U.S. Participation in the UNESCO Regional Literacy Conference Bamako, Mali, September, 2007
The United States was instrumental in the introduction and adoption of two important resolutions at UNESCO’s 34th General Conference: the resolution on Holocaust Remembrance and the resolution on enhancing the Teacher Training Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA), November, 2007
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