The expansion of export trade in Africa is leading to more jobs and prosperity. This is happening, in part, because of the networking program created by U.S. legislation passed seven years ago to replace aid with trade as the engine for economic growth on the continent, a State Department official says.

The Sixth Annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, held in Accra July 18-19, was "very positive and a success," says Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, because "it brought together the business sector, the NGO [nongovernmental organization] and the government sector all in one place and it was very much focused on practical steps to realize the total benefits of the AGOA legislation."

Frazer spoke with USINFO while returning to the United States July 20.

Thirty-nine sub-Saharan nations now are eligible for the duty and quota-free entry of 6,400 of their products into the U.S. market under AGOA. Although oil and gas account for more than 80 percent of those exports, the United States is expanding programs meant to build up agricultural capacity to diversity Africa's exports. In 2006, $394 million was devoted to such capacity-building programs.

In Accra, thousands of participants from NGOs like the Leon Sullivan Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation met with African entrepreneurs and U.S. businesses like the Coca-Cola Company and Caterpillar (a manufacturer of industrial vehicles) while interacting with 139 U.S. officials and trade experts in Accra to obtain tips on how to enter the U.S. market.

The forum also featured a business exhibition where dozens of Ghanaian firms advertised their wares and services to interested U.S. buyers and investors. The business fair was arranged in part by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which also operates a regional trade hub in Accra that offers advice and guidance on business opportunities in the United States.

Frazer said that, during her talks at the conference, "One of the things that was most striking was that [Ghanian} President [John] Kufuor indicated an interest in deepening our trade relationship by looking at the possibility of a free-trade agreement and we are certainly interested in this."