Nigeria: Where Are Africa's Trade Soldiers?

11 May 2009
column

Lagos — Someone in the Obama Administration may be reading THISDAY. Readers will recall that, back in January, I predicted that once members of Obama's trade team were in place, they would utilise existing avenues of communication and continue the dialogue of their predecessors.

In late March, newly-confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Kirk met, on separate occasions, with Mozambican Minister Fernando and Nigerian Minister Udenwa to discuss implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, improvement of trade with the United States, and other trade-related issues. In April, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Liser, a long-time USTR Africa official, met separately with Rwandan Minister Nsanzabaganwa and Mauritanian Minister Boolell to discuss many of the same issues. All of these discussions were held under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) that each country has with the United States - a pre-Obama trade communication mechanism.

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