Prez Bush, Laura Interact with AGOA Exporters (page 49)

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
President George W. Bush yesterday toured an exhibition mounted by eight Ghanaian exporters of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA)-eligible products at the Accra International Trade Fair site as part of the his three-day official visit to Ghana.
Accompanying him were his wife, Laura, the US Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Pamela Bridgwater, and other US officials. The group, which inspected the items on display, also witnessed demonstrations of how the products were made, such as weaving, carving, sewing and nut cracking.
AGOA is a trade preference programme in Africa which waives duties on thousands of products exported to the US. It is credited with fostering the growth of the apparel sector in several African countries, including Ghana, with duty-free cost advantage up to 33 per cent.
It also waives duties on such non-traditional exports as hand-crafted home decor, chocolate, processed shea beauty products and woven textiles. Some of these items were displayed at the export showcase in Accra yesterday.
The showcase was organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Aid To Artisans Ghana (ATAG), which assists makers of handicrafts in Ghana to come out with good products for export.
The eight companies which mounted the exhibition were the Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), Delata Ghana Limited, Ele Agbe, Naasakle, Oak Brook Limited, African Cashew Alliance, Global Mamas and Premium Exim Company Limited, which comprises Fritete African Works and Tekura Enterprises.
The team was taken round the stands by Mrs Bridget Kyerematen Darko of ATAG.
Present were the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, the Minister for Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development (PSD) and President’s Special Initiatives (PSIs), Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, the Minister for Chieftancy, Mr S. K. Boafo, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Freddie Blay, and a former Minister of Trade, Industry, PSD and PSI, Mr Alan Kyerematen.
The eight entrepreneurs whose items were showcased at the ceremony have all received training, technical assistance and trade show sponsorship from the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) West Africa Trade Hub.
A press release from USAID in Accra indicated that the companies exported to major US buyers, namely, Pier 1, Target, Pierre Cardin, Ross Stores, Cost Plus World Market, the San Francisco Zoo, T.J. Maxx, Marshals, Ten Thousand Villages and Superior Uniforms Group.
It said in 2006, Ghana shipped a quarter of all exports to the US — US$45 million out of US$192 million — under AGOA.
The statement said Ghana now led West Africa in the export of textile and apparel to the US garment clusters which are groups of apparel factories which have created thousands of jobs and put Ghana on the industry map as a new source for manufactured clothing.
As part of the export products show, a mini-durbar of chiefs was organised by the Ministry of Chieftaincy, with three paramount chiefs and queens being invited from each of the 10 regions of the country. They were led by the President of the National of House of Chiefs, Odeneho Gyapong Ababio, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Sefwi Bekwai Traditional Area.
Also in attendance were some schoolchildren from the Garrison Junior High School and the Kotoka Basic Junior High School, both at the Burma Camp, who waved miniature US and Ghana flags and sang to entertain President Bush and his entourage.
President Bush, who attended the programme in a short-sleeved cream shirt, in contrast with the black suit he had worn during the morning session at the Castle, freely interacted with the entrepreneurs, the chiefs and schoolchildren.
At Ele Agbe’s stand, he tried his hands on a local method of extracting shea butter by pounding nuts in a mortar with a pestle.
The US President, who looked relaxed, moved freely among the people, danced and posed for a photograph with many people at the event.