An African trade forum is scheduled to take place in Washington DC on December 8 and 9.

Sponsored by the Corporate Council on Africa and the US government, the forum will focus on expansion of trading opportunities for African exporters in America under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

It will specifically address under-supply of America's lucrative handicrafts market as well as the deepening of the textile, apparels and agricultural product market under the Act. The session will also focus on US government policies that impact negatively on Agoa and structural impediments to expansion of the pact to other sectors.

Organisers of the forum, the Agoa EU ACP Association, have invited 30 members of the East African Jua Kali Association, selected during the fifth East African Jua Kali Trade Fair held in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salam early this month.