Last Quarter Events

West African Trade Hub (WATH)

• WATH and Aid to Artisans Ghana (ATAG): WATH and ATAG joined forces to sponsor four West Africans' participation in SOURCES™, a major US trade show for foreign producers selling to the US gift and accessory market. At the WATH-sponsored booth, more than sixty companies expressed strong interest in hand-woven fabrics and other hand-crafted products ATAG exhibited. Twenty-nine of those expressed interest in container loads. Several sample orders were placed at the show.

• WATH AGOA Resource Center (ARC) Training: On May 10 - 12, the West African Trade Hub, in collaboration with USAID, hosted 19 representatives from AGOA Resource Centers from 12 countries in Accra, Ghana for a computer-based training on how to access and use trade information for building exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Participants were trained in use of the updated databank for ARCs, as well as in how to use "Trade-Map", a market research tool developed by the International Trade Center (ITC) of Geneva. Participants learned about new information on AGOA, export trade patterns and trends, and market information resources and techniques.

• U.S. Global Sourcing Tradeshow Workshop: In June 2004, WATH conducted a two-day technical workshop for nine West and Central African apparel manufacturers in Accra, for companies registered to exhibit at the August 2004 ASAP Global Sourcing Tradeshow in the U.S. Industry professionals and customs officials from the U.S. and Ghana made presentations on a wide range of topics including requirements of the US apparel market, codes of conduct and workplace conditions, AGOA textile provisions and customs procedures, and global competitiveness in the apparel industry. The training was designed to improve the exhibitors' ability to speak with U.S. commercial buyers and discuss issues such as product quality, workplace conditions, processing and shipping methods
  

  WATH Resource showing a fabric sample

  
  
• WATH Gambia Consultation: WATH staffer Kofi Humado undertook a two-week assignment in April and May 2004 to The Gambia at the request of this country's Secretary of State for Trade, Industry and Employment. The purpose of the visit was to revitalize the AGOA resource center in this country, and to assess the opportunities to export seafood, textiles/industrial apparel, cashews and horticultural products into the U.S. under AGOA. The WATH staffer further studied the institutions and agencies involved in food safety, disease control and disease management to launch the Hub's work on sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) harmonization in West Africa.