The American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, on Friday, 5th April 2019, hosted Heather Lanigan, USTDA Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa for a business breakfast meeting at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.
HE Stephanie S. Sullivan, United States Ambassador to Ghana, commended the leadership of AmCham Ghana for a vibrant chamber and the positive relationship between Ghana and the United States, adding that the United States shares Amcham Ghana’s goals to contribute positively to the overall economic stability in Ghana to help U.S businesses prosper and grow, to increase job opportunities and to encourage and promote Ghana’s private enterprise system.
Ambassador Sullivan gave a brief overview of the work of USTDA, noting the organization provides grants for project preparatory activities that cover economic, environmental and financial analysis for public or private sector infrastructure projects in middle or low-income countries around the world as part of USTDA’s core mission of facilitating the development of sustainable infrastructure projects and supporting the use of U.S. equipment and services. She urged members of the Chamber to take advantage of USTDA’s assistance and stated that the USTDA is not just a trade and development agency but an organization involved in transforming dreams into actions.
Mr. Joe Mensah, President of AmCham Ghana, highlighted the importance of infrastructure development and emphasized the need for Ghana to improve the business environment to attract more investments.
Heather Lanigan, USTDA Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa stated the USTDA works alongside U.S. private sector to support the development of infrastructure in emerging economies around the world in energy, transportation, ICT, telecommunications and in some countries agribusiness to spur economic growth in partner countries and also present great opportunities for U.S companies.
Ms. Lanigan indicated that USTDA funds project preparation activities such as large scale feasibility and technical studies; and pilot projects. In addition, USTDA provides training grants to U.S. companies as well as hosts events and activities -such as the Reverse Trade Missions among others – that bring together key stakeholders from the private and public sector around the world.
She highlighted the impressive rate of return on projects supported by USTDA and noted sub-Saharan Africa, which is the region with the highest potential for infrastructure growth and strong partnerships, as also the largest region for USTDA investments. Ms. Lanigan noted that USTDA has a large variety of projects in Ghana within the aviation and energy sectors and is willing to support the development of other projects in the country.
USTDA’s priority sectors, funding criteria, project preparatory tools (feasibility Studies, pilot projects, and training grants), convening tools (Reverse Trade Missions and Technical Assistance) as well as USTDA’s past and current projects in Ghana were presented by Clare Sierawski, Power Africa Country Manager, West Africa and Shannon Roe, Country Manager, West Africa Region.
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By By Albert Ludwig Botchway, AmCham Communications
