CARANA News
Dakar: West Africa Trade Hub/Dakar Inauguration
| On Tuesday,
November 8th, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Assistant Administrator Lloyd O. Pierson inaugurated the West
Africa Trade Hub/Dakar office in Dakar, Senegal. The Dakar
hub is designed to promote improvements in Africa’s trade
capacity, boost international exports and help businesses
take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
– a law that provides trade preferences to countries that
are making progress in economic, legal and human rights reforms.
Assistant Administrator Pierson was joined at the inauguration
by US Charge d’Affaires, Robert Jackson, USAID/Washington’s
Bernadette Mitchell, USAID West Africa Regional Program Director
Dr. Jatinder Cheema, USAID/Senegal Mission Director Olivier
Carduner, and the Senegalese Minister of Commerce, Mamadou
Diop. Approximately 70 government and private sector representatives
arrived at the Trade Hub’s new office for the ceremony and
the reception that followed. WATH/Accra team members Vanessa
Adams, Leah Quin, and Abou Fall joined the WATH/Dakar team,
led by Chief of Party Alan Smith, Operations Manager Julie
Lankford and Office Manager Aminata Sene in an effort to make
the project launch a success. Eduardo Tugendhat and Joyjit
Debroy provided CARANA Home Office presence for the ceremony.
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WATH/Dakar
will serve as the second hub in the West Africa region and
has already begun to join forces with its neighboring Trade
Hub in Ghana (WATH/Accra) to help West African economies increase
their share of trade with the world. Strategically, the Dakar
Trade Hub builds upon and expands the work already underway
in the Accra, Ghana Trade Hub to improve regional trade capacity
and policies, provide information and training to AGOA Resource
Centers in 15 countries, and help national governments and
the private sector comply with AGOA visa and certification
requirements.
“The United States continues to demonstrate worldwide leadership
in expanding trade with Africa through the African Growth
and Opportunity Act,” Pierson said. “The new Trade Hub in
Dakar is a gateway to the global marketplace, as well as a
bridge to jobs and personal opportunity. With the rebounding
of the global economy and the continued growth of responsible
and representative governments, much of Africa is poised to
see more robust economic growth in the years ahead.”
Located in the Mamelles District, the Dakar Trade Hub will
include work in the fish and seafood sector, and will immediately
start preparing West African fish and seafood exporters to
exhibit in the 2006 International Boston Seafood Show. The
Hub will also identify other sectors within those countries
closest to it, including Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone
and The Gambia.
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For more details, visit www.watradehub.com
or africatradehubs.org |
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