United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected in Accra to attend a regional forum of the nearly 40 sub-Saharan African countries receiving U.S. trade benefits under AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act approved by the U.S. Congress in 2000.

Rice is scheduled to visit Israel and the West Bank during a July 16-20 trip that will include a stop in Ghana, for talks on African trade, according to the State Department.

Administration officials say the measure, which lowered U.S. trade barriers to African goods, has helped to more than double the annual volume of American trade with the region and create thousands of jobs in Africa.

This will be Rice's first trip to Ghana.

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