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U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FACT SHEET
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202001-108
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2001Contact: USAID Press Office
"I'm also announcing today the launch of the Trade for African Development and Enterprise Program. With $15 million in initial funding, the trade program will establish regional hubs for global competitiveness that will help African businesses take advantage of AGOA, to sell more of their products on the global markets."
-President George W. Bush, October 29, 2001.Beginning in Fiscal Year 2002, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will inaugurate a new, multi-year trade capacity building initiative, TRade for African Development and Enterprise (TRADE). TRADE will promote regional integration and regional cooperation by strengthening the ability of African countries and businesses to develop their export trade. Regional Hubs for Global Competitiveness will be located at USAID's three regional missions in Mali, Kenya, and Botswana will provide the overall coordination of the initiative as it is implemented. Staff resident in the Hubs will also support country-based activities to facilitate national competitiveness in global markets.
Resources flowing through TRADE will:
- Promote U.S.-African business linkages;
- Enhance the competitiveness of African products and services;
- Expand the role that trade can play in African poverty reduction strategies;
- Improve the delivery of public services supporting trade;
- Build African capacity for trade policy formulation and implementation; and
- Strengthen the enabling environment for African businesses.
Good governance and sound macroeconomic environments will be fundamental for participation in TRADE. The Initiative seeks to mobilize a coalition of U.S. and host-country partners from both the government and the private sector to support specific trade capacity building needs. The regional Hubs will facilitate capacity building activities through linkages with African regional trade organizations and networks, in cooperation with African and U.S. educational and business networks, U.S. and African government agencies, and other donors.
African businesses are expected, with TRADE assistance, to be better able to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) market access opportunities. African country-partners in the program are likely to be able to engage more proactively in the development of the global, multilateral trading system as well as to benefit from the growth of regional trading arrangements.
Currently, sub-Saharan Africa's share of world trade stands at less than two percent, lower than for any other region of the world.
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