I am honored to chair this hearing for the nominees to be ambassador to Rwanda, Djibouti, Malawi, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau, and the USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health. Today’s nominees bring to the table a vast array of experience specifically in Africa and around the world, and I look forward to hearing their vision for advancing U.S. interests and policy priorities.
Before we begin, I would like to reflect briefly on my recent trip to West Africa with Senator Isakson. Traveling in Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin over the past week, we witnessed first-hand the implementation of critical food security, global health, and development programs in addition to U.S. policy aimed at making critical improvements in governance, transparency and sustainable economic growth. At each stop, we met with elected officials, the U.S. ambassadors, embassy teams, Peace Corps volunteers and representatives from USAID. I am proud and grateful for their service and commitment to diplomacy, and impressed with the central role our ambassadors play around the world. As Senator Isakson frequently noted, Africa is “the continent of the 21st century for the United States” in terms of its vast array of potential opportunities and I look forward to, in the context of this nomination hearing, continuing that conversation. I am grateful to Senator Isakson and his staff, and the staff of this committee, for putting together a very, very meaningful trip for all of us to West Africa.
Our first nominee today is Donald W. Koran to be Ambassador to Rwanda, which has emerged from the shadows of the genocide of 1994 to make progress in the areas of economic reform and health. Today, Rwanda has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, and U.S. policy continues to encourage economic liberalization while focusing on needed improvements to democracy and governance, which are essential to its future.
Mr. Koran is a career foreign service officer currently serving as the Director of Africa Analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at State, and his previous relevant assignments include Division Chief for West and Southern African Affairs in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; Deputy Chief of Mission in Kigali, Rwanda; and desk officer for the DRC, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea.
Geeta Pasi is the nominee to be Ambassador to Djibouti, a key strategic ally in the region and home to the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa at Camp Lemonnier. Djibouti is a valuable partner when it comes to combating piracy and other sources of instability in Somalia and the Horn, and I look forward to hearing from Ms. Pasi on balancing U.S. strategic interests in Djibouti with a broader set of regional concerns, including promoting democracy, good governance, and human rights.
Ms. Pasi is a career member of the Foreign Service and currently serves as Director of the Office of East African Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs. Her other relevant experiences include posts as political-economic, and international relations officers in Ghana, in Cameroon, and at West African Affairs.
Ms. Jeanine Jackson is the nominee to be Ambassador to Malawi, which has made recent progress combating corruption and developing its largely agricultural-based economy, though many challenges still remain. In April, our country signed a $350 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact with Malawi, and I look forward to hearing about what steps are being taken to ensure the government does not pursue deeply-concerning new laws aimed at restricting human rights and media freedom.
Ms. Jackson is a career member of the Foreign Service currently serving as the Minister Counselor for Management at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. In addition to several posts coordinating diplomatic activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ms. Jackson previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso
Lewis A. Lukens is the nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Senegal, and, concurrently, Guinea-Bissau. He is a career member of the Foreign Service currently serving as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the State Department. Previously he served as Consul-General in Vancouver, Executive Secretary in Baghdad, and Senior Director for Administration at the National Security Council in addition to tours in Cote d’Ivoire, China, and Australia.
Senegal is a moderate and largely secular democracy, which has experienced economic growth over the past decade but still faces challenges alleviating poverty and disease. I look forward to hearing from Mr. Lukens about how the U.S. can continue to promote economic growth in Senegal – including through the MCC – while also combating drug trafficking in the region, in particular Guinea-Bissau.
Finally, we will hear from Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez, the nominee to be the Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID. Dr. Pablos-Mendez currently serves as Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he works to develop initiatives to address the Global Challenge of Health Systems, including the role of the private sector in health systems in the developing world. His work in global health spans two decades, including as a researcher and physician focusing on multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, the development of public-private partnerships to combat disease, and delivery mechanisms for HIV/AIDs treatments to mothers and families.
I look forward to hearing from him about his plans for integrating global health programs and transitioning authority for GHI, or Global Health Initiative, from State to USAID, as envisioned in the QDDR, or Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. This is a critical moment for USAID to demonstrate leadership over U.S. global health programs, and Dr. Pablos-Mendez will sit at the helm of this historic and important change. I look forward to hearing about plans for meeting the benchmarks in the QDDR, aimed at better integrating GHI, so that we can effectively promote global health. I am very pleased to welcome all of today’s distinguished nominees, and I look forward to your opening statements. But first I will turn it over to Senator Isakson for his opening statement and then to Senators Barrasso and Enzi, who have joined us to introduce Jeanine Jackson.
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