AGOA Forum 2005 Theme:
"Expanding and Diversifying Trade to Promote Growth and Competitiveness¨
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a key pillar of the Bush Administration's policy to spur economic development, alleviate poverty, and encourage trade in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the Forum is to foster interest and investment in a broad range of industrial sectors in AGOA countries, provide practical information about how to meet U.S. export requirements and sell successfully into U.S. markets; and encourage those countries that have yet to take advantage of the Actˇ¦s benefits to do so.
Format: The AGOA Forum consists of parallel meetings: a ministerial between the United States and the governments of the 37 AGOA-eligible countries, a meeting of the U.S. and African private sector and a meeting of civil society organizations from the U.S. and Africa. The three events will run concurrently. Registered participants in the private sector and civil society are welcome to attend most ministerial workshops. Ministerial participants are welcome to attend private sector workshops. The civil society events will be held in a separate building. On July 20, representatives of the private sector and civil society will present conclusions of their fora to the ministerial session.
Ministerial: The 2005 AGOA Ministerial will focus on how AGOA beneficiary countries can diversify their exports by taking advantage of the broad range of products eligible for preferential treatment under AGOA. The plenaries and workshops focus on:
- o Assessing the potential in key trading sectors such as agriculture, textiles and energy to help governments and businesses to understand how to attract investment, meet regulatory requirements and export competitively in those sectors.
- o Assessing how to improve the hard and soft infrastructure for trade. This includes transportation and other physical infrastructure as well as the investment climate, financial sector, trade promotion efforts.
- o Assessing how the WTO and African regional economic organizations can help to increase trade across Africa and with the U.S. and the world.
Opening Ceremony: USDA Secretary Johanns will speak for the United States. There will be a video message from President Bush. President Wade of Senegal will speak for Senegal.
Plenary sessions: There will be four plenary sessions hosted by USTR, USDA, Commerce and USAID.
Workshops: There will be thirteen workshops hosted by USTR, USDA, Commerce, Treasury, USAID, TDA, OPIC and Ex-im and State. Workshops will run concurrently and all but one will be open to registered participants from the ministerial, private sector and civil society fora.
Special Sessions: There will three special sessions hosted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and USDA. The MCC and USDA sessions will have restricted audiences.
Closing Ceremony: The U.S. head of delegation will speak the closing ceremony.
Ministerial Discussion Topics:
Trade
- AGOA: Reinforcing Trade and Economic Cooperation Between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa
- Building on Shared Interests in the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations
- The Effectiveness of Strategic Trade Promotion
- Promoting Small Business Exports
- Expanding African Regional Trade: Opportunities, Challenges, and Barriers
- Facilitating Trade Through Transport
- Understanding Customs Requirements for African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Trade
- Women Entrepreneurs ˇV Taking Advantage of AGOA
Investment and Finance
- Attracting New Investment
- Solutions to Infrastructure Finance
- Enhancing Private Sector Access to Credit
- Millennium Challenge Account
Industry sectors:
- Agriculture: Forging New Links in Public-Private Sector Cooperation
- Agriculture: How to Access the U.S. Market for High-Value Specialty Agricultural Products
- Agirculture: Phytosanitary Program
- Energy: Energy Development and the Search for Oil in Sub-Saharan Africa
- AGOA Apparel Trade in a Post-MFA Environment
- Environment: Bringing Together Profits, Development, and Conservation through Public-Private Partnerships
Health
- New Models, New Partnerships in Addressing HIV/AIDS: Reclaiming Hope Against the Impacts of AIDS
PDF version 
