[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6455 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6455
To promote, facilitate, and increase two-way trade and investment
between the United States and Africa.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 20, 2022
Mr. McCaul (for himself and Mrs. Murphy of Florida) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote, facilitate, and increase two-way trade and investment
between the United States and Africa.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Prosper Africa Act''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to promote, facilitate, and
increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and
African countries to strengthen commercial ties, promote economic
growth and job creation, and advance strategic partnerships.
SEC. 3. PROSPER AFRICA INITIATIVE.
(a) Establishment.--The President shall establish an initiative to
be known as the ``Prosper Africa Initiative'' (in this Act referred to
as the ``Initiative'').
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of the Initiative shall be to
prioritize and coordinate United States Government programs,
activities, and diplomatic efforts aimed at increasing two-way trade
and investment between the United States and Africa, including to--
(1) identify, promote, and increase trade and investment
opportunities, facilitate business and investor engagement, and
support dissemination of data and market information to better
inform United States businesses and investors of trade and
investment opportunities across Africa;
(2) support efforts of the United States and African
private sectors to access, navigate, deepen, and compete in
African and global capital markets using a private sector-led
and sector-specific approach that includes energy, agriculture,
information and communications technology, healthcare,
financial services, arts and entertainment, and infrastructure;
(3) modernize, streamline, and improve access to resources
and services designed to promote increased trade and investment
opportunities for United States and African businesses and
investors;
(4) promote economic growth and job creation in the United
States and Africa, while advancing strategic partnerships; and
(5) identify policy, regulatory, and legal reforms needed
to reduce trade and investment barriers between the United
States and Africa and improve the business and investment
climate in the United States and Africa, including through the
reduction of the cost of accessing capital.
SEC. 4. LEADERSHIP AND COORDINATION OF INITIATIVE.
(a) Directorate.--The President shall establish a directorate to be
known as the ``Prosper Africa Directorate'' (in this Act referred to as
the ``Directorate'').
(b) Executive Director.--The President shall appoint an Executive
Director of the Directorate who shall be responsible for the
management, coordination, and information sharing functions of the
Prosper Africa Initiative established pursuant to section 3(a) and
other duties that support the purposes of the Initiative described in
section 3(b) as appropriate.
(c) Duties.--The Executive Director shall be responsible for--
(1) convening relevant Federal departments and agencies to
coordinate programs, assistance, communications, and
stakeholder engagement, and consulting with such departments
and agencies on the appropriate levels and allocation of
resources in support of achieving the strategic objectives of
the Initiative;
(2) planning and implementing information sharing and other
collaboration efforts among relevant Federal departments and
agencies, and the private sector as appropriate, related to
trade and investment opportunities, African capital markets,
and relevant transactions in Africa and support for monitoring,
evaluation, and transaction facilitation;
(3) engaging with United States and African private sector
partners, civil society organizations, nongovernmental
organizations and the African diaspora community, as
appropriate, to solicit input and feedback on the Initiative's
activities, as well as any technical, policy, financial, and
political obstacles private sector partners encounter in
accessing or expanding in African markets or gaining access to
capital for those purposes; and
(4) establishing measurable goals and objectives for the
purposes of carrying out the Initiative.
(d) Leadership Committee.--
(1) In general.--The President shall establish an
interagency leadership committee (in this subsection referred
to as the ``committee'') to provide strategic guidance for
administering the objectives of the Initiative and serve as the
United States interagency strategic development and
coordination body for efforts of relevant Federal departments
and agencies.
(2) Membership.--The committee shall include
representatives from relevant Federal departments and agencies,
as determined appropriate by the President.
(3) Chairperson.--The Executive Director of the Directorate
shall serve as chairperson of the committee.
(4) Meetings.--The committee shall meet not less than four
times each year at the call of the Executive Director of the
Directorate (or the Director's designee).
(e) Staffing and Field Presence.--Subject to the availability of
appropriations--
(1) the Directorate shall be supported by at least 6 full-
time employees of the Federal Government, which should include
personnel detailed to the Directorate from relevant Federal
departments and agencies, who are stationed in Africa and whose
sole duties are to support the purposes of--
(A) the Initiative described in section 3(b); or
(B) the provisions of the Better Utilization of
Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 (Public
Law 116-283) with respect to Africa and in compliance
with the requirements of the Championing American
Business Through Diplomacy Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-
94; 22 U.S.C. 9901 et seq.); and
(2) relevant Federal departments and agencies should detail
personnel to the Directorate at the Directorate's offices in
the United States.
(f) Deal Teams.--
(1) In general.--The Prosper Africa Initiative established
pursuant to section 3(a) shall be supported by designated
embassy staff holding positions related to United States
commercial and economic interests at United States embassies
located in Africa, to the extent practicable. Such designated
embassy staff at a United States embassy located in Africa
shall be referred to as a ``deal team'' for purposes of this
subsection.
(2) Duties.--Each deal team shall prioritize efforts to
identify commercial opportunities, advocate for improvements in
the business and investment climate, engage and consult with
private sector partners, and report on such activities, in
compliance with the applicable requirements of the Championing
American Business Through Diplomacy Act of 2019 (Public Law
116-94; 22 U.S.C. 9901 et seq.).
SEC. 5. INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND TRADE CAPACITY BUILDING ASSISTANCE.
(a) In General.--The President, acting through the Executive
Director of the Directorate, shall develop and implement policies that
promote, facilitate, and increase two-way trade and investment between
the United States and Africa, including by providing support for--
(1) activities to advance trade capacity building
assistance, as authorized by the African Growth and Opportunity
Act and Millennium Challenge Modernization Act (Public Law 115-
167) and the amendments made by that Act, and other applicable
statutes;
(2) identification and development of investment
opportunities for the United States private sector in partner
countries and efforts to facilitate and promote trade and
investment opportunities in the United States and Africa;
(3) analysis of market systems, trends, prospects and
opportunities for value-addition, including risk assessments
and constraints analyses of key sectors and United States
strategic competitiveness, and other reporting on commercial
opportunities and investment climate in Africa;
(4) outreach and engagement with small and medium-sized
enterprises in Africa or doing business with African partners,
including women-led and diaspora-owned businesses;
(5) efforts to leverage resources and expertise to lower
non-tariff barriers to trade and investment in Africa, such as
African enterprise access to capital, and to generally promote
a conducive business climate for private sector investment;
(6) technical assistance to the African Union and regional
economic communities to implement the African Continental Free
Trade Area and support regional economic integration; and
(7) development of local African capital markets and
Africa's access to lower cost, longer-term capital on global
capital markets, including improving African investment
readiness, increasing the availability of market-based risk
mitigation tools and improving the reliability and availability
of investment data, to promote the larger-scale, standardized,
transparent investment flows asked for by investors.
(b) Priority.--In providing assistance to carry out the activities
described in subsection (a), the President should consider United
States strategic interests when allocating such assistance and give
priority for activities in countries that--
(1) have demonstrated support for economic policies that
promote the development of private enterprise, including
foreign direct investment, and taken steps to improve a
business enabling environment that could benefit the United
States private sector and economy if such assistance is
provided; or
(2) are designated by the President--
(A) as an eligible sub-Saharan African country
under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C.
3703);
(B) as meeting the threshold requirements to enter
into an agreement with the United States under section
609 of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C.
7708; relating to Millennium Challenge Compact); or
(C) as a beneficiary developing country under
section 502 or 506A of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2462 or 2466a) and has ratified and taken steps to
implement the African Continental Free Trade Area.
SEC. 6. ADVISORY COUNCIL.
(a) Establishment.--The President shall establish an advisory
council--
(1) to advise the President, and others as appropriate, on
the extent to which the Directorate and relevant Federal
departments and agencies are meeting their objectives under
this Act, and provide suggestions for improvements with respect
to meeting those objectives, including implementation
challenges and opportunities; and
(2) to support efforts to identify, promote, and facilitate
opportunities to expand commercial ties between the United
States and Africa.
(b) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The advisory council shall be composed
of--
(A) not less than 12 members appointed by the
President, in consultation with the Executive Director
of the Directorate and Congress, from among individuals
with significant experience investing and operating in
Africa, including representatives of United States and
African diaspora-owned, women-owned, and small and
medium-sized enterprises; and
(B) the co-chairs or two appropriate designees of
the President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in
Africa, as established by Executive Order 13734.
(2) Terms; reappointment.--Each of the members of the
advisory council--
(A) shall serve a term of 2 years; and
(B) may be reappointed for one additional term.
(3) Deadline for appointment.--Each of the members of the
advisory council shall be appointed under paragraph (1) not
later than 90 days after the date on which the President
establishes the Advisory Committee under subsection (a).
(4) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Advisory Council shall be
filled in the manner in which the original appointment was
made.
(c) Chairperson.--
(1) In general.--The Executive Director of the Directorate
shall appoint a chairperson of the advisory committee from
among the members of the advisory committee appointed under
paragraph (1).
(2) Terms; reappointment.--The chairperson of the advisory
committee--
(A) shall serve a term of 2 years; and
(B) may not be reappointed.
(d) Prohibition on Compensation.--Members of the advisory council
may not receive pay, allowances, or benefits by reason of their service
on the advisory committee.
(e) Meetings.--The advisory council shall meet at the call of the
Executive Director.
SEC. 7. UNITED STATES-AFRICAN LEADERS SUMMIT.
The President shall seek to convene on a biennial basis a meeting
between the United States Government and heads of state of countries of
Africa, to be known as the ``United States-African Leaders Summit'',
for purposes of advancing shared priorities and strengthening
diplomatic, economic, and security partnerships in Africa.
SEC. 8. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PROMOTE TRADE AND INVESTMENT IN
AFRICA.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the President, in consultation with the heads of
the relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees and make publicly available a
single government-wide strategy, to be known as the ``Prosper Africa
Strategy'', that provides a detailed description of how the United
States intends to fulfill the policy objectives of this Act.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The strategy required by subsection
(a) shall--
(1) support and be aligned with other relevant strategies
of the United States Government;
(2) outline a plan to enhance coordination and information
sharing among relevant Federal departments and agencies on
investment climate and opportunities and provide support to
pending transactions, and
(3) include specific and measurable goals, benchmarks,
performance metrics, and timetables to carry out the purposes
of this Act, and training, monitoring, and evaluation plans to
ensure the accountability and effectiveness of all policies and
initiatives carried out under the strategy.
(c) Specific Implementation Plan.--The strategy required by
subsection (a) shall include a specific implementation plan, in
coordination with the recommendations and activities of the Economic
Diplomacy Action Group as required by section 708(c) of the Championing
American Business Through Diplomacy Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-94; 22
U.S.C. 9904) from each of the relevant Federal departments and agencies
that describes--
(1) the anticipated contributions of the department or
agency, including technical, financial, and in-kind
contributions, to implement the strategy;
(2) the efforts of the department or agency to ensure that
the policies and initiatives carried out pursuant to the
strategy are designed to achieve maximum impact and
effectiveness and progress made toward achieving the goals,
benchmarks, performance metrics, and timetables outlined in
subsection (b)(3); and
(3) recommendations on necessary resources, including
staffing, to expand efforts to promote trade and investment
between the United States and Africa.
SEC. 9. REPORT.
Not later than 180 days after the submission of the strategy
required by section 8(a), and annually thereafter until 2026, the
President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report, in coordination with the report required by the Championing
American Business Through Diplomacy Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-94; 22
U.S.C. 9901 et seq.), that--
(1) summarizes and evaluates the implementation of United
States diplomatic efforts and foreign assistance programs,
projects, and activities to advance the policy objectives set
forth in section 2;
(2) describes the nature and extent of coordination among
relevant Federal departments and agencies, including a summary
of activities and engagements of the Directorate and the
interagency leadership committee established pursuant to
section 4(d);
(3) provides data on goals identified for financial
commitments under the Initiative and any private capital
mobilized to support and finalize transactions, opportunities
identified by relevant Federal departments and agencies, and
transactions determined to be ineligible for United States
support or not being pursued for other reasons under the
Initiative; and
(4) describes the monitoring and evaluation tools,
mechanisms, and indicators to assess progress made on the
policy objectives set forth in section 2.
SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
(2) Private sector.--The term ``private sector'' means for-
profit businesses and not-for-profit entities.
SEC. 11. SUNSET.
The requirements of this Act shall terminate on the date that is 7
years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
<all>