GRi Business, Economics & Finance 12 - 07 - 2002
African countries exported 8.2 billion
dollars of products under AGOA last year
African countries exported 8.2 billion
dollars of products under AGOA last year
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- African countries exported 8.2 billion dollars of products under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and attracted an estimated one billion dollars in investment last year. A statement in Accra on Thursday by the Office of the US Trade Representative said African exports to the US under AGOA increased by about 61.5 per cent.
It said the visiting Deputy US Trade Representative Mr Jon M. Huntsman Jnr attending the AGOA seminar for ECOWAS countries in Accra and Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku had signed two US Trade and Development Agency agreements.
Under the agreements, the US government would provide 542,000 dollars to support the development of three salt refineries in Ghana and a regional water distribution facility in the Volta Region. The statement said a US Agency for International Development for West Africa Regional Global Competitiveness Hub in Accra has been established.
It said the Hub one of the three to be established in Sub-Saharan Africa by the US government would provide trade capacity building programmes and facilitate business linkages between West African firms and the US.
In addition, a US funded study team to identify concrete ways to improve trade and investment between US and African companies in the apparel, textile, leather and agribusiness sectors have arrived in Ghana. The statement said a Ghanaian trade official has been awarded a scholarship to attend a comprehensive course on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.
This is in line with the US government's support for WTO University training in Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Nairobi and a one million- dollar US contribution to the WTO Technical Assistance Trust Fund.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,903.73 8,111.09
Pound Sterling 12,215.21 12,539.75
Swiss Franc 5,311.66 5,449.93
Canadian Dollar 5,205.27 5,341.06
Japanese Yen 67.32 69.07
S/African Rand 793.15 809.97
Euro 7,799.77 8,001.88
CFA Franc 11.89 12.20
Naira 66.76 68.51
Ecowas/WAUA 10,435.50 --------
GRi…/
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