USAID/Angola Strategic Update. Fiscal Year 1998-Fiscal Year 2001

摘要

U.S. national interests in Angola are the promotion of peace, democracy, human rights, national reconciliation and economic development. These five objectives constitute the agenda for the U.S. Government's relations with Angola, including the central role of USAID. These objectives are also crucial to our commercial interests of expanding U.S. investment opportunities in Angola. Africa's longest-running civil war, coupled with economic mismanagement, has left Angola ranked at or the near the bottom of the human development indices. The country's physical and social infrastructure is badly decayed and the government has yet to adopt policies to channel the country's enormous mineral revenues to address Angolans' needs. It has also failed to liberalize adequately the private sector, which was banned outright for much of Angola's post-colonial history. Although the ruling MPLA received 49.7 percent of the votes in the 1992 elections -- an election in which over 90 percent of eligible voters participated -- Angolans do not enjoy the protections guaranteed under the 1991 Constitution. Women in Angola are particularly alienated from the few democratic fora that exist and are denied economic opportunities. Through their superior technology and other competitive advantages, American companies have been major players in the Angolan oil industry. At present, seven percent of U.S. oil imports come from Angola and U.S. companies account for approximately two-thirds of Angola's current output of 720,000 barrels per day. It is projected that Angola's share of oil exports to the U.S. will rise to 15 percent by the year 2010 and American companies are well-positioned to participate in major new concession areas. Angola is the United State's third-largest trading partner and second-largest site of foreign investment in sub-Saharan Africa.