Nigeria-American Chamber working with stakeholders to promote AGOA
Joyce Akpata, director-general of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), has said the chamber is working closely with relevant stakeholders to promote the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Akpata, who stated this at a two-day Agro-Commodity Export Master Class organised by the chamber in partnership with Multimix Export House recently, said AGOA offers the potential of boosting commodity export from Sub-Saharan Africa to the United States.
She said Nigeria is blessed with commodities for export and entrepreneurs can leverage their abundance to create jobs, increase foreign reserves and foster socio-economic growth and development.
The master class held between June 30 and July 7 in Lagos and it focused on export commodities such as sesame seeds, ginger, cashew nuts and products, shea nuts/butter as well as processed vegetable & food products.
It was designed for produce merchants, infant exporters, existing exporters, commodity brokers, foreign buyers, investors, financiers, government export facilitating and inspection agencies.
A statement by the chamber quoted Obiora Madu, CEO, Multimix Export House, as saying that the International market is ruthless, selective and fiercely competitive.
“Well-constructed corporate alliances help partners pool expertise, enter new markets, share financial risk and get products and services to market faster. In a world of globalisation and rapid change, the best route to business goals often involves a partnership,” Madu was quoted as saying.
The master class involved interaction with experienced stakeholders in the agricultural export chain as facilitators were drawn from among value chain practitioners.
Real life case studies, discussions and presentations for knowledge dissemination were used. It looked at critical areas in the export business such as managing international payment risks & documentation, sourcing finance for export trade, commodity sourcing and logistics, and AGOA opportunities, among others.
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