Trade Workshop Highlights Business Linkages
African Growth and Opportunity Act Promotes Exports

October 25, 2005
No. 49/05  

Addis Ababa (U.S. Embassy) – The U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is opening doors across Africa to increased trade with the United States.  In order to help eligible countries to maximize AGOA benefits, The United States is sponsoring the East and Central Africa Regional AGOA Sectoral Workshop in Addis Ababa on October 25 and 26, 2005.

The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia will host the workshop in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the East and Central Africa Global Competitiveness Hub based in Nairobi, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“It is exciting that Addis has the chance to host this important event,” said U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Vicki Huddleston, “and to showcase how Ethiopia, along with so many other countries in Africa, is benefiting from AGOA.”

The program is designed to help producers in AGOA-eligible sectors learn how to break into the U.S. market.  It will bring together producers of hand-loomed and hand-woven textiles, interior decorating and handicraft items, and leather goods from East and Central Africa with buyers and experts from the U.S., creating an opportunity to offer insights into exporting under AGOA, to share the experiences of other African exporters, to enhance one-to-one buyer/seller dialogue, and to facilitate networking. Fifty-six producers from the 12 AGOA-eligible countries in the region will participate in the workshop.

The participating nations are:  Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Uganda. 

AGOA is the cornerstone of President Bush's trade and investment policy for sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA's objectives include promoting free markets, expanding U.S.-African trade and investment, stimulating economic growth, and facilitating regional and sub-Saharan Africa's integration into the global economy.  The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recently released an AGOA Competitiveness Report (available at www.agoa.gov) that describes some of the export sectors with the greatest potential in AGOA-eligible countries and offers suggestions on addressing trade barriers that are preventing the full development of these sectors.

Speaking recently in Washington, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Florizelle Liser observed that, “as a direct result of AGOA, many African businesses that had never previously considered the U.S. market are now attending trade shows in the United States -- and getting orders. Everything from Congolese honey wine to Senegalese seafood to Rwandan baskets is finding its way to eager customers in markets all across the United States.”

AGOA has seen many success stories from East and Central Africa in 2005.  For example:

· In August, Ethiopian companies that participated in the Apparel Sourcing Association Pavilion (ASAP) global sourcing trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada, negotiated orders that may reach $10 million.
· A Rwandan company is part of holiday-season window displays at the prestigious Macy’s Department Store in New York, and its products are currently available online through Macy’s as a result of attending the SOURCES Trade Fair in New York in May. 
· A Kenyan knitted goods company continues to grow as its sales to the United States expand.

On July 18, 2005, at the AGOA Forum in Dakar, Senegal, President Bush announced the African Global Competitiveness Initiative, with a five-year funding target of $200 million. This new initiative greatly expands the trade-capacity building efforts under way through the USAID’s Regional Trade Hubs, which are located in Accra, Ghana; Gaborone, Botswana; and Nairobi, Kenya.  A fourth Hub will soon be established in Dakar.

As Lloyd O. Pierson, USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Africa said at the Dakar Forum: “We are not talking just exports to the United States, although that is important.  We are also talking about what we can do to do a better job of economic development within the continent – on a country basis, on a regional basis, and on a continent-wide basis.”

The East and Central Africa Regional AGOA Sectoral Workshop will be the first of a series of regional workshops across the African continent that will facilitate improvement in design, production, and marketing as well as promote increased trade and investment under AGOA. 

For more information, contact The ECA Trade Hub in Nairobi at 254-20-2733250, visit www.ecatradehub.com/addis2005, or e-mail addis2005@ecatradehub.com.

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