US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1068

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