TIFA will help ease trade in West Africa
The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) that is being considered by the US Government with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will help goods move more easily and faster within the sub-region, Sam Ntum, a Senior International Trade Specialist of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, has told the B&FT.
Announced on March 29 by the acting United States Trade Representative (USTR), Demetrios Marantis, during a visit to Washington of President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and Prime Minister José Maria Neves of Cape Verde, the US believes the framework agreement can significantly contribute to economic growth and increase international competitiveness on both sides of the Atlantic.
"I think that President Obama would want to strengthen the relationship with ECOWAS, which covers a whole bloc of countries. So even though there are individual agreements with countries, having an agreement with a regional economic bloc will be stronger," Mr. Ntum said.
If concluded, the TIFA will create opportunities for US companies interested in doing business in West Africa, and will assist in addressing impediments to U.S. trade and investment in the region. It would also provide a forum for discussion of topics relevant to economic integration efforts in West Africa.
The TIFA, Mr. Ntum said, will work to make sure that the boundaries within ECOWAS countries are eliminated to allow for free movement of goods to stimulate the economies of these countries and increase the amount of trade.
Mr. Ntum cited the example of the East Africa Economic Community, which is one of the leading regional economic organisations in sub-Saharan Africa and has made great strides in recent years toward integrating the economies of its member states. It has established a free trade area and a customs union and is working toward a common market.
On July 16, 2008, the United States and the East African Community (EAC) signed a United States-EAC TIFA in Washington, DC. Trade ministers and other senior officials from the five EAC member-states — Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda — witnessed the signing.
Mr. Ntum was speaking on the sidelines of a US-Ghana Breakfast Meeting in honour of a trade mission to Accra from the state of Illinois.
Organised in collaboration with the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana (AMCHAM), the three-day visit which ends today seeks to build relationships with US business owners and state officials; understand the opportunities offered by US businesses; and enjoy pre-screened meetings with US manufacturers, exporters, and construction experts.
The meetings will be tackling major industry sectors like manufacturing, energy (renewable), pharmaceutical products, construction, housing, oil and gas, cosmetics, engineering and machinery, medical equipment, and imports and exports.
Some of the companies participating in the programme include Green Innovation & Technology Inc; Ethno Solutions; Bennu Group-Ability Engineering Technology Inc; MI-Jack Products Inc; Kofa International; Masterpiece Products Inc; Lodaat LLC; Natural Enrichment Industries; and Johnson Publishing Co. DBA Fashion Fair Cosmetics.
Read related news articles
Opinion: 'Continuing challenges for African trade'
The beneficial effects of trade on any economy are well known, and an upscaled trading ability for SA would go a long way to improving its economic position. Benefits would be particularly extensive if they were those flowing from innovative downstream facets of the economy which expanded value-add supply chains. Naturally enough, all this needs a growth-conducive context dependent on a variety of factors. Concrete steps must be...
28 November 2023
Protection likely for African countries that outgrow AGOA
The improved agreement of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), due to expire in 2025, is likely to have fewer requirements for graduation from the programme to avoid beneficiaries losing out on the lucrative commercial ties with the US, says a top Washington diplomat. The legislation, which was enacted in 2000 and allows Sub-Saharan African countries preferential access to US markets, requires that beneficiaries be graduated out of...
06 November 2023
Recalibrating US economic engagement with Africa
Nearly 23 years since the United States established the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, the continent it was created for no longer exists. In the last two decades, there have been three major shifts that have worked together to cultivate a new Africa—an Africa that requires a different approach to trade and economic investment. First, there are China’s development initiatives, which have resulted in roads, rails, bridges, and...
18 April 2023
Taking stock of America’s flagship trade programme for Africa
Pankaj Bedi strides through his factory on the edge of Nairobi, past clattering sewing machines, bustling workers and boxes of jeans. None of this would be here, he says, were it not for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The landmark trade policy was introduced by Bill Clinton in 2000, granting duty-free access for more than 6,000 products from sub-Saharan Africa. Two years later, Mr Bedi opened United Aryan, his clothing...
08 February 2023
US and Kenya to hold first round under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP)
The United States and Kenya will hold an in-person round of conceptual discussions under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in Washington, DC, from February 6-10, 2023. The United States delegation will be led by Assistant United States Trade Representative Connie Hamilton, and will include representatives from several other government agencies. United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and then-Kenyan...
04 February 2023
'AGOA shows US has successfully courted Africa' - Columnist
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen is in town this week. While news headlines have focused on the overlapping visits to the continent of Yellen, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and China’s Qin Gang, Yellen’s comparative advantage is marked. She’s a pre-eminent economist — the first to have led the Federal Reserve, the White House council of economic advisers and the treasury — and she’s here to leverage that experience to build US-Africa...
26 January 2023
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen touts deeper ties with South Africa to help boost trade
The US is seeking to deepen its economic integration with South Africa in pursuit of policies to diversify global supply chains, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. Closer ties with nations that share the US’s economic values will help promote so-called friendshoring, in which allies cooperate on manufacturing and sourcing raw materials, Yellen said at a meeting with South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on...
25 January 2023
US and AfCFTA members sign MOU on trade cooperation
On December 14, 2022, the United States and African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Trade and Investment between the United States and the African Continental Free Trade Area (MOU) see document alongside. The MOU was signed by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene during the 2022 U.S.-Africa...
15 December 2022
Op-Ed | Africa-US: Commercial ties will shape the partnership in the 21st century
In early August, with its release of its strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa, the Biden-Harris administration laid out a bold vision for a 21st-century US-Africa partnership. The strategy and the upcoming Africa Leaders Summit, which President Biden and his deputy Harris will host in December, comes at the right time. Africa’s economic transformation — spurred by its young and rapidly urbanising populations, digitalisation initiatives,...
01 December 2022
Biden’s Africa strategy seeks to revitalize ties with the continent
President Biden is delivering on his commitment to make Africa a priority for the United States. Most notable is his administration’s sharp uptick in U.S. diplomacy toward the region. With visits to Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal last November, Morocco and Algeria in March, and South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited the continent three times in just 10...
25 August 2022
US revamps Africa strategy as it sounds alarm on China, Russia
The US unveiled a new strategy to forge closer relations with Sub-Saharan Africa, while contending that China and Russia were motivated by narrow self-interests in their attempts to strengthen ties with the region. With one of the world’s fastest-growing populations, largest free-trade areas by geographical area and most diverse set of ecosystems, Africa has a critical role to play in addressing the world’s defining challenges, the White...
10 August 2022