Africa: Constituency for Africa to Host Lunch for African Trade And Finance Ministers

29 October 2001
Constituency for Africa (Washington, DC)
press release

Washington, D.C. — The Washington, D.C. based education and advocacy group, Constituency for Africa (CFA), will join with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Trade and Development Agency (TDA), and the Export-Import Bank (EXIM), to host a lunch in honor of the 200 African trade and finance ministers, who have come to Washington this week as part of the U.S. - Africa Economic Forum. The Economic Forum is an annual meeting of U.S. and African government officials as part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was lobbied by CFA and signed into law by former President, Bill Clinton in 2000.

The lunch will take place on Tuesday, October 30th, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., in the Holiday Inn on Capital Hill (415 New Jersey Avenue, NW). The Hon.

J.C. Watts (R-OK), who recently led a trade mission to west Africa, will be the keynote speaker for the lunch. Congressman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA), and Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA), are also expected to speak.

During the lunch, the Constituency for Africa will also announce the launch of a new program to link U.S. small business with opportunites in Africa.

CFA recently received a one-year grant of $500,000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to scale-up it's work in this area. Melvin Foote, CFA's President and CEO say's stregthening partnership and linking small business is good for both the U.S. and Africa.

Said Foote,"Opening up markets and increasing trade will benefit both the U.S. and Africa. New investment in Africa will help to create jobs and build wealth on the continent, while at the same time provide substantial opportunities and benefits for African-American and other small and medium-sized business in this country." Further said Foote, "CFA played a high-profiled role in gaining the passage of AGOA. Now that it has become the law, we have to move aggressively to ensure that African-American and other small business are also able to fully participate. This will require more education about Africa and business opportunities and assistance in making the links ."If it is only the big American corporations that end up doing business in Africa, then AGOA will have been a complete failure!"

Press is invited to attend this function. For more information contact the Constituency for Africa at (202) 371-0588.

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