US Has Important Interests in Cameroon And Equatorial Guinea
United States Senate (Washington, DC)
DOCUMENT
June 15, 2004
Posted to the web June 18, 2004
Washington, DC
U.S. Ambassador-designate Marquardt testifies before Senate
The United States has important interests to advance in both Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, the U.S. ambassador-designate to both of those countries, R. Niels Marquardt, told the United States Senate June 15.
In testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations, Marquardt said those interests include "promoting democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law; ensuring our energy security; fighting the war on terror; protecting American citizens and their property and investments; advancing American trade and investment interests; promoting sustainable development; protecting the tropical environment; and combating infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS."
Following is the text of Ambassador-designate Marquardt's testimony, as prepared for delivery:
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am deeply honored by the opportunity to appear before you as the President's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. I am very pleased to be joined here today by my wife Judi and our four daughters: Kaia, Kelsey, Torrin, and Yannika. My Foreign Service career has been a family enterprise from day one, and I am sure my family will also contribute importantly to our impact in this assignment as well.
We have important interests in these two countries, to protect and to advance. These include, but are not limited to: promoting democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law; ensuring our energy security; fighting the war on terror; protecting American citizens and their property and investments; advancing American trade and investment interests; promoting sustainable development; protecting the tropical environment; and combating infectious diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. All these issues are on our bilateral agenda with each of these two countries.
Cameroon
If confirmed as Ambassador, I will seek to expand cooperation and further improve our bilateral dialogue. Cameroon has been relatively stable. It boasts a large, well-educated population, a reasonably developed infrastructure on which both it and its neighbors depend, ample natural resources, a strong agricultural base, and considerable environmental treasures. I want to capitalize on these basic advantages to foster deeper cooperation across the board. If confirmed by the Senate, I will look aggressively in Cameroon for energetic new partners, in government and in civil society, to better realize this potential.
Presidential elections in October offer Cameroon a new opportunity to demonstrate overdue progress on the road to democracy. Our mission in Cameroon will continue to support a positive democratic process in October that is inclusive, pluralistic, and free of intimidation. If confirmed, my interest in democratization will be constant, not just focused on periodic elections.
The experience thus far during the construction phase of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline offers a strong example of the potential of Cameroon. As the project enters into the production phase, Cameroon has the prime opportunity to continue to build its capacities to protect the environment and the surrounding communities, and to utilize the revenues from the project for the benefit of its citizens. To improve the climate for business and investment, I will support greater transparency and commitment to reducing Cameroon's endemic corruption. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) offer further opportunities and incentives for economic engagement with Cameroon, each depending to differing degrees on continuing reforms by the Government of Cameroon.
The long-standing Peace Corps presence in Cameroon is one of the most important assets for promoting American values across Cameroon. All volunteers, for example, are involved in promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation, as are all other mission elements, including a recently added Centers for Disease Control (CDC) presence in the country. If confirmed, I will also seek opportunities to engage on environmental issues under the rubric of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership and using USAID's regional programs. In Cameroon, we also have effective, long-standing programs that will continue to influence Cameroonian military leaders, promote their understanding of our global security strategy, and develop new avenues for Cameroonian participation in furthering shared security objectives.
On the management front, if confirmed, I will be a strong steward of the resources entrusted to me. These include existing facilities and a new embassy building under construction in Yaounde, a small but effective Embassy Branch Office in Douala, one of America's newest and smallest embassies in Malabo, and our responsibilities for managing the suspended embassy operation in the neighboring Central African Republic.
Equatorial Guinea
With respect to Equatorial Guinea, I am equally committed to realizing the full potential of our relationship, and in promoting desired change. I do not underestimate the challenges involved in taking one of Africa's least developed and most repressive countries forward toward respecting human rights, combating trafficking in persons, embracing the rule of law, and investing in its people. However, the success of American investors in the country's growing energy sector has given the country choices and opportunities as never before -- and it has given the U.S. unprecedented influence, credibility, and, also, responsibilities there.
Both the Equatorial Guinean government and our private sector urgently wish to partner with our government to advance the rate of social, democratic, legal, and economic change there. If confirmed, I will do whatever I can to see that the door in Equatorial Guinea truly is open at the highest level to cooperate sincerely and effectively in advancing social, economic, democratic and legal changes. If confirmed, I also look forward to engaging energetically -- with those companies, with the limited civil society in the country, with all interested non-governmental and international organizations, and particularly with the global human rights community -- to promote the objectives I mentioned above, among others. If confirmed, I will do my utmost to assure that profits from the sale of Equatorial Guinea's oil benefit the people of Equatorial Guinea.
On a personal level, if confirmed by the Senate, I will be delighted to return to Africa. I began my career in federal service 27 years ago as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire and Rwanda. I am particularly delighted to return to a country with a robust Peace Corps presence. Judi and I served in the 1980's in Brazzaville, where I worked at the Embassy on some of the same issues now on our agenda in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. My career since then has taken me literally around the world, and I look forward to applying lessons learned in Thailand, France, Germany, and Washington to this assignment.
Most recently, my work has focused on human resource and management issues in response to Secretary Powell's call, with strong support from the Congress, to enhance our "diplomatic readiness." If confirmed as Chief of Mission, I will have no higher priority than to promote the well-being of Americans, including embassy staff in both countries. I will ensure a professional environment where the sky is the limit on their potential contributions on behalf of the American people. I look forward to applying my experience and knowledge to my new assignment, if confirmed.
R. Niels Marquardt of California is to be ambassador to Cameroon and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Marquardt currently serves as special coordinator for the Diplomatic Readiness Institute at the State Department. Earlier in his career, he served as economic officer at the American embassy in Bonn and as commercial officer at the American embassy in Paris. Marquardt earned his bachelor's degree from Lewis and Clark College, his first master's degree from the American Graduate School of International Management, and his second master's degree from the National War College.
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