Don Graves
The Deputy Secretary of Commerce of the United States Department of Commerce, Don Graves has confirmed the US commitment to being a strong, long-term, and stable partner for Africa.
He said the partnership is committed to Ghana and the continent in ways that are mutual, respectful, and allow people to succeed and grow economically.
“This is not about exploitation, this is about friends and partners who invest with and in each other because they know that the better off their friend is, the better off they will be,” he said.
He said through this partnership, the US aims to expand trade and investment between the two countries while creating jobs and sustainable growth.
He said this at the 3rd high-level forum between the US and Ghana government officials and businesses.
The forum was attended by the U.S private sector led by Scott Eisner, Senior Vice President U.S Chamber of Commerce.
The Theme for the forum ‘leveraging AfCFTA to promote US-Africa Commercial partnership ‘ falls within the drive by the AfCFTA Secretariat to engage the private sector, the African diaspora, and other strategic partners for the effective implementation of the agreement.
Mr. Graves continued that the US government will soon announce the fourth class of companies that make up the President’s Advisory Council on ‘Doing Business in Africa, also known as the PAC-DBIA.
“The Council provides analysis and recommendations to the President on ways to strengthen commercial engagement between the U.S. and Africa based on members’ firsthand, on-the-ground experience.
With a globe recovering from the shocks of the pandemic, rising inflation, tight supply chains along with food and energy insecurity, President Biden is committed to supporting agricultural investment, and increasing fertilizer and energy production to meet the challenges that we and our friends and partners are facing,” he revealed.
Adding that, “we see opportunities for further engagement in sectors of mutual priority including infrastructure, health care, healthcare systems, ICT (information and communications technologies), and climate resiliency, as well as workforce training and capacity building to stimulate the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Mr. Graves said the U.S. government is also developing a commercial engagement plan for Africa called “ACES” (for Africa Commercial Engagement Strategy) that will guide engagement with the U.S. and African private sectors, as well as African governments, on transportation, health, energy, and digital infrastructure.
This move, Mr. Graves maintained will include spearheading two-way learning activities designed to educate the American business community about infrastructure development opportunities in Africa.
The Deputy Chief of Missions at the US Embassy in Accra, Nicole Chulick said the US sees stronger intra-Africa trade as vital to Ghana and Africa’s economic growth.
” By some estimates, it can increase intra-African trade by 81% and lift some 60 million Africans out of extreme poverty. We share Ghana’s and the AfCFTA Secretariat’s vision of this agreement serving as a driver of cross-border trade, investment, innovation, and employment, particularly for women and youth.”
Adding that “reducing the cost of trading and the time needed to comply with import and export procedures at customs is critical to make exporting viable for small businesses and women and youth-owned businesses, the intended beneficiaries of the agreement,” she maintained.
Ms. Chulick said Regional value chains flourish when there are low tariffs, minimal other charges, and predictable customs processes and procedures.
She said these conditions allow companies to move components quickly and cheaply across multiple borders. These same conditions also attract foreign investment into vibrant trade areas.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ken Ofori Attah in an address said the US and Ghana have enjoyed a long-term friendship, reinforced by cultural, historic, and family tied from our first President Kwame Nkrumah who was greatly influenced by his time in Pennsylvania.
“The US is our largest bilateral donor country and 40 million dollars obligated in 2022. So we value the closeness between our two nations and I believe there is, even more, we can do together to bring prosperity and progress to both sides of the Atlantic.”
He said the past few years have been difficult for the two nations but ‘as a nation, we can support each other to bring resources together and leverage collective operation opportunities.’
The third high-level meeting is aimed at deepening the diplomatic and commercial partnerships between Ghana and the United States for a successful implementation of AfCFTA.
Discussions covered partnerships available in the digital /technological space and the modernization and strengthening of custom rules to facilitate trade within the AfCFTA to make US companies the premier partners for trade and investment in Ghana and on the continent.
Speakers shared their experiences, expertise, and insights on trade and investment opportunities in Ghana.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey