Last Quarter Events

CET Publicity Drive Underway

ECOTrade project staff worked with CET national committees in 7 countries to attract media attention, and conduct public education activities surrounding the CET. Materials were prepared in Portuguese and distributed to the national CET coordinating committee in Cape Verde. Overall, over 55 articles have been published in the region on the CET adoption.

Sierra Leone continues to apply the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) rates contained in its CET implementation plan. This country has also begun a public info rmation campaign, by printing and distributing a poster on the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET). Ghana formally adopted the CET, changing duty rates on thousands of products. Nigeria is finalizing approval of its 2005 budget by the national assembly.

ECOGEE Regional Trade Newsletter Available

The monthly West African Regional Trade email newsletter was distributed to 500 people in the U.S. and West Africa from the U.S. government, the private sector and women's organizations. Please visit www.ecogee.org for copies of the project newsletter.

ECOGEE makes Small Grants to Women Entrepreneurs

Small grants were made to a female-headed business in The Gambia, and to West African Business Women's Network (WABNET) members in Senegal & Sierra Leone for capacity building.

Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs Receive ECOGEE Grants

A small grant of $6,600 was made to the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (WEAN). The grant will be used to conduct training for 60 women of the Amuwo Odofin Local Government to build entrepreneurial skills in accounting, strategizing, resource management and communication.

WEAN will also establish a center for wealth creation that will train women in technical skills, such as fishing net production, pottery, boat making, fish smoking, fish preservation, and coconut product processing. A $6,300 grant was made to the Fantsuam Foundation in BayanLoco, Kafanchan Nigeria to assist 25 rural women explore income generation skills and new markets for fish farming.

The grant will provide for a series of training sessions for women to learn new skills in fish farming and nutritional education. The grant will also help establish a women's fish farming cooperative and disseminate info rmation about fish farming through existing information channels to up to 4,000 women.

Market Information Systems Project Training reaches across the Region

The MISTOWA Project held a one-week international training workshop in Accra, Ghana on Market Information Systems (MIS). This workshop was attended by 50 participants from 16 countries including those from the USDA and those involved in market information systems in East Africa.

The Project organized an eight day trade mission to Ghana for 15 executive members of the agricultural input traders association (AGRODIA) from Burkina Faso to learn from successes of GAIDA, their Ghanaian counterpart. The mission was aimed at sharing best practices for marketing agricultural inputs in the region and creating trade linkages.

MISTOWA supported the Ghana Agricultural Producers and Traders Organization (GAPTO) to train 500 women traders in three markets in Ghana to use weighing scales for trade.

Producer & Trader Organizations Capacity Assessed

The Project undertook a survey of producer and Trader organizations in six countries - Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Nigeria - to make an inventory of their status and to identify their information and capacity building needs.

Baseline studies were executed in Banikoara, a project site in Northern Benin where MISTOWA collaborates with the Dutch government to strengthen producer and trader associations.

West Africa International Business Linkages (WAIBL) Program Brings Benefits to West African Businesses

The WAIBL project facilitated $6,635,950 in exports and imports between the U.S. and Ghana, Cameroon and Benin this past quarter, bringing the total value of transactions facilitated between the U.S. and West Africa to $213 million since the initiation of the project in 1998, 53 of which involved the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Regional Participation in the 5th Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit

The Corporate Council on Africa held its 5th biennial US-Africa Business Summit in Baltimore, MD June 21-24, 2005. The WAIBL project sponsored 25 West African companies working in the renewable energy, agribusiness, handicrafts, tourism, infrastructure, information technology and finance sectors to attend this conference. Sponsored companies represented Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia and Togo, and participated in the three WAIBL-sponsored workshops held at the Summit on "Renewable Energy Opportunities in West Africa", "Best Practices of Doing Business in the U.S." and "Marketing African Handicrafts in the U.S.". For more information on the summit, please visit the CCA website www.africacncl.org

Mangoes in the Spotlight

WAIBL staff facilitated meetings between U.S. buyers and West African suppliers of dried mangoes and mango juice at the Fancy Food show in New York City on July 10-11, 2005.

West African Trade Hub Supports Regional Participation in Top Apparel Trade Show

A volunteer expert visited apparel producers in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone who will attend the upcoming "ASAP" apparel trade show in Las Vegas in August 2005 to assess them for "worldwide responsible apparel production" certification. WATH hosted a pre-tradeshow workshop in Accra, Ghana for proposed participants to the ASAP apparel trade show in August 2005, covering best practices in apparel manufacturing, and in financial management, cost-saving and pricing. A Trade Hub consultant is also working with two Ghanaian companies to meet a $250,000 handicraft order with US buyer Target

Senegal Awarded AGOA Category 9 Certification

The U.S. awarded the Government of Senegal "Category 9" certification in June 2005, allowing this country to export textiles to the U.S. The West African Trade Hub provided technical assistance to the Government of Senegal since May 2004 related to obtaining this certification, and is providing similar assistance to the governments of The Gambia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Benin and Sierra Leone.

Upcoming Events

MISTOWA Stakeholders Meeting, August 22-26, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The detailed FY 2006 project work plan will be developed at this meeting.

The Second Annual Crop Outlook Conference and Trade Opportunities, September 16-19th, Accra, Ghana

This will be co-organized by MISTOWA and CILSS.

WAIBL U.S. - West Africa Renewable Energy Workshop, August 16, Bamako, Mali

The workshop will bring together U.S. and West African businesses involved in the renewable energy trade in an effort to create business deals. WAIBL project staff will lead a group of finance experts, NGOs, investors and equipment suppliers.

Upcoming "AGOA Days" Around The Region

These one-day events will increase the use of the AGOA Resource Centers and promote exports to the U.S. under AGOA. They are being held in cooperation with USAID Missions and U.S. Embassies in the following locations over the next few months:

• Lagos, Nigeria - August 18, 2005
• N'djamena, Chad - August 24, 2005
• Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso - September 22, 2005
• Niamey, Niger - September 29, 2005
• Dakar, Senegal - November 9, 2005
• Freetown, Sierra Leone - December 2, 2005

For more information, please contact Mr. Abou Fall at WATH (afall@watradehub.com).