INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Letter From President O. Obasanjo to President G.

Published: Wed 16 Jun 2004 12:12 PM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
161212Z Jun 04
UNCLAS ABUJA 001068
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/W
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL
SUBJECT: LETTER FROM PRESIDENT O. OBASANJO TO PRESIDENT G.
BUSH
1. Following is the text of a letter from President Olusegun
Obasanjo to President George Bush. The original is being
sent by pouch.
2. Begin text:
His Excellency
President George Bush,
The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, DC
Dear President,
I write to thank you very much for your hospitality to the
African delegation to the Sea Island, G8 meeting on June 10,
2004. On behalf of my colleagues, I congratulate you on a
very successful, innovative and highly focused meeting of the
G8. Without doubt, the meeting was one more demonstration of
a new dawn in US-Africa relations and a further confirmation
of your commitment to the peace, stability, growth and
development of Nigeria and Africa in general. Along with
your colleagues in the G8, and with due cognizance of the
differences in your economic and political situations, we
African leaders were impressed by the openness of all of you
and valued your common commitment to the progress of the
continent.
Mr. President, the issues that we raised as priority areas
that were encapsulated in my address: Peace, Security and
Good Governance; Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Technology
and Trade; Health and Capacity Building especially on peace
and security front and project preparation and presentation;
and Infrastructure are at the core of our determination to
change the face of Africa, rebuild confidence among our
peoples, attract investors, and reposition our economies for
growth and development.
On behalf of my colleagues, I thank you very much for your
prompt and comforting response to our request for the renewal
of AGOA. I thank you for your positive disposition towards
granting AGOA VISA for Nigeria. These give us a lot of hope
even as we request that more effort should go into opening
market access, debt relief for all Africa but particularly
HIPC, and encouraging value addition to our raw materials.
We in Nigeria are happy to be a pilot case in the G8
Transparency Compact.
As I indicated in my opening and closing remarks, a
structured approach to our relationship is important as set
benchmarks that will enable us measure achievements,
recognize challenges and where necessary, review set goals.
Our NEPAD Secretariat has worked on a set of benchmarks
reflecting our regional priorities.
Again, Mr. President, thank you for your consideration,
encouragement, support and belief in us. We promise on our
part to stay the course of reforms and to encourage those
policies and programmes that strengthen wealth creation,
poverty eradication, and democratic consolidation. As you
rightly concluded, we need to work hard together to ensure
that our decisions do not constitute just a "bunch of hot
air" but concrete proposals to move forward.
Yours sincerely
/signature/
Olusegun Obasanjo
End text.
CAMPBELL
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