Zambia: Regional integration important for trade, says CCA
The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) has said regional integration is an important tool that can be used to further integrate goods and services and increase trade in the Africa Growth and opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.
CCA vice-president in charge of business development Timothy McCoy said for the American private sector, regional integration was important because it could be used as a foundation to determine the level of goods being traded in the region and internationally.
"A number of companies have taken keen interest in the progress of regional integration because if those regions further integrate that will make it easier for those companies' goods and services to flow across borders," he said.
Mr McCoy said the council was working closely with Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and other regional groupings that would be serving as panelists at the summit in Lusaka next month.
"Speakers will be speaking further on how we can make Africa a more business-friendly place," Mr McCoy said.
The CCA is an American non-profit association of more than 160 companies that collectively work to encourage more American companies to do business in Africa.
Beginning with the very first AGOA Forum in 2001, CCA has played a central role in planning the AGOA Forum private sector session, which takes place on the margins of the ministerial meetings of the annual AGOA Forum.
This year, CCA has again been designated by the United States and the Zambian governments as US coordinator for the private sector/civil society session and the international trade exhibition, which will take place at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka next month.
AGOA is part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, and it provides beneficiary countries in sub-Saharan Africa that do not already have a free trade agreement with the United States liberal access to US markets.
It reinforces African reform efforts, provides improved access to US credit and technical expertise, and establishes a high-level dialogue on trade and investment in the form of the annual US-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum.
