Since 2012, Africa has been working at deepening regional trade and investment integration, culminating in the establishment of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in 2018, with almost two-thirds of countries on the continent ratifying the AfCFTA Agreement as of July 2021. On January 1st, 2021, Africa commenced trading under the AfCFTA to boost intra-African trade aiming to unlock the potential of the continent’s $3.4 trillion.
On the side of the U.S., it has been deepening trade relations with African countries; an example is the negotiations with Kenya for a U.S. Kenya Trade Agreement, which indicates the future trade relations between the U.S. and Africa. The coming into effect of the AfCFTA is expected to expand and deepen national, regional, and continent trade between the US and Africa.
The U.S shares a common goal with Africa to enhance the African Union’s efforts to increase continental trade and investment under the AfCFTA.
Based on these developments, the American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, collaborates with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Commercial Services are organizing the 2021 U.S.-Ghana Business Forum on the theme: Promoting U.S.-Ghana Partnership through Trade and Investment, coming on the back of Ghana’s hosting of the AfCFTA Secretariat and also after several months of trading through the AfCFTA.
The AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area in terms of the number of participating countries encompassing 1.3 billion people and about US$3.4 trillion in GDP. The AfCFTA presents a window for African countries and their trading partners to take advantage of the many trades and investment opportunities created. Trading partners who had hitherto focused on bilateral trade relations now can reach larger African markets through the AfCFTA.
The 2021 Forum aims to strengthen trade and investment, promote business partnerships, and opportunities between U.S. and Ghanaian Companies in key sectors including Technology and digitization, Energy and Mining, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Services, and Franchising. The forum will also review trading under the AfCFTA and assess how the United States, Ghanaian, and U.S. companies can take advantage of this opportunity.
The forum will be virtual to be held over two days. The forum will have several sessions including plenary with high-level government officials as speakers; panel discussions on sectors involving experts and senior U.S. and Ghanaian Officials and leaders from the business community. It will serve as a platform to explore new business opportunities and address regulatory challenges affecting trade and investment.
At the end of the conference, it is expected that U.S.-Ghana commercial partnership will be strengthened, focused on improving the investment climate in Ghana and the African continent. Participants will be brought up-to-date on the latest trends on trade and investment on the continent and will have the opportunity to network, share their experiences and identify specific investment opportunities for future transactions.
Specifically, participants in the U.S.-Ghana Business Forum will:
- Obtain insights into the evolving relations on trade and investment between the U.S., Ghana, and Africa.
- Benefit from the knowledge and experiences of the U.S. and Ghanaian private sector who have invested in the U.S. and Ghanaian economies.
- Obtain first-hand information about the trading performance after almost 9 months of trading under AfCFTA.
- Learn about and be able to take advantage of the trade and investment opportunities under the AfCFTA in existing and emerging sectors
- Be able to connect and network with like-minded businesses and policymakers in the U.S. and Ghana
Africa has experienced increased U.S trade and investment over the past decade due to improving economic and political climates on the continent. U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa -estimated to be over $43 billion in 2019-however, these are concentrated in a few African countries. U.S. trade and investment policies such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Prosper Africa Initiative, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Power Africa are focused on encouraging economic growth and development through trade and seek to facilitate U.S. firms’ access to opportunities for trade and investment in Africa. On the other hand, African countries have made a significant move to deepen trade on the continent. On January 1st, 2021, Africa commenced trading under the AfCFTA with the aim of boosting intra-African trade. The U.S shares a common goal with Africa to enhance the African Union’s efforts to increase continental trade and investment under the AfCFTA. This panel will explore the U.S. Africa Strategy and how it will play out in the context of the AfCFTA as well as identify key trade and investment priorities between the U.S. and Africa. It will discuss the investment and trade opportunities brought on by the AfCFTA and how U.S. and African businesses can better position themselves to take advantage of these opportunities.
Africa’s intraregional trade is gradually rising, however, it remains relatively low and dominated by food and manufactured goods. Information from UNCTAD indicates that digitalization and e-commerce have the potential to spur intra-African trade. In the wake of the AfCFTA, there is the need to address a number of challenges for the continent to leverage on digitalization and e-commerce to facilitate trade within the continent: inadequate access and high cost of information and communications technology (ICT) connectivity; cyber security; high level of informal trade; slow adoption of digital technologies by traditional businesses; low investment in digital infrastructure, services, skills and entrepreneurship among others. This panel will explore and discuss the opportunities for digitization and e-commerce in promoting intra-African trade as well as the legal framework and enabling environment to support digitization and e-commerce to flourish in the context of AfCFTA. Also, discussions will look at experiences of promoting digitization and e-commerce in Africa and the lessons that can be drawn for continent-wide up-scale. The role of international and domestic fintech will be explored by looking at what working arrangements can be developed to draw synergies and partnerships.