U.S. Announces Additional Steps to Boost Trade with Africa

Excerpt from: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade | July 31 2015

The White House recently issued a fact sheet outlining the following initiatives the U.S. has completed or is planning to further deepen its trade relationship with Africa.

– The Department of Commerce doubled its presence in sub-Saharan Africa over the past year by opening new offices in Angola, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique while expanding its operations in Ghana and re-establishing a position at the African Development Bank.

– The DOC will launch this October with the Global Cold Chain Alliance an effort to develop a modern cold chain in Kenya, with plans to replicate it across the region.

– The Overseas Private Investment Corporation will lead an investor trip to West Africa in early 2016 to bring together investors in renewable energy and healthcare who are looking to expand their operations in the region. OPIC will also open two new offices in sub-Saharan Africa by the end of 2016.

– The U.S. Trade and Development Agency is working with African governments to improve procurement practices for infrastructure projects under its Global Procurement Initiative and will launch a GPI program specifically for Ethiopia.Depositphotos_JBOY24

– To connect African buyers with U.S. manufacturers and service providers, USTDA will host four reverse trade missions to the U.S. covering cold chain practices for agriculture, airport security and modernization, port security and modernization, and healthcare.

– USTDA will fund a feasibility study to assist the development of a new multi-commodity bulk port in Senegal.

– The Department of Transportation will continue to implement the Tomorrow’s Transportation Leaders initiative through a series of workshops and training courses on intermodal transportation planning, regional integration and logistics, safety oversight and facilitating border crossings.
{Photo Source: Depositphotos.com/JBOY24}

– The State Department is organizing a medical technologies trade mission to Nigeria and Cameroon that is planned for November.

– Following the recent enactment of legislation reauthorizing the African Growth and Opportunity Act for ten years, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin at the August 2015 AGOA Forum in Gabon a dialogue on more reciprocal post-AGOA trade relationships.

– The U.S. plans to work with Congress to expand the Trade Africa Initiative to include new partners, including Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia; to identify activities that will improve compliance with World Trade Organization rules on trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade; to foster an improved business climate; and to address capacity issues that have constrained trade.