WASHINGTON, June 7, 2006 - Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today invited U.S. agribusiness firms to participate in a Trade and Investment Mission to the East Africa region in late fall 2006.

"To build on the success of AGOA, I'm pleased to announce that USDA will lead a trade and investment mission to East Africa this fall," said Johanns. "I'm confident this mission will help advance our goals to reduce trade barriers and increase trade between the United States and East Africa, creating new job opportunities for all our citizens."

Johanns announced the trade and investment mission in remarks to trade, finance and foreign affairs ministers attending the fifth African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum being held in Washington this week. AGOA encourages trade and investment in African nations that have implemented good economic and political reforms by extending duty-free access to the United States through 2015 for nearly all products produced and exported from Africa. In addition, AGOA provides a framework for U.S. technical assistance to eligible countries to enhance capacity and develop infrastructure needed to be more competitive in the global trading system.

AGOA has helped to boost two-way trade between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa to almost $61 billion in 2005, with U.S. imports from this region increasing by more than 110 percent from 2000 to 2004. U.S. imports of AGOA agricultural products increased by 3 percent to $272.1 million in 2005. U.S agricultural exports to AGOA-eligible countries reached $1.2 billion in 2005, nearly double 2001 exports of $619 million. The market access that AGOA has provided to African nations has led to the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs in Africa and has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment.

The goal of the mission is to promote U.S.-Africa agribusiness cooperation, trade and investment, particularly in the dry grocery products, food processing, beer and spirits, seafood, livestock genetics, and production inputs and equipment sectors. Mission participants will have the opportunity to form partnerships with African entrepreneurs from Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

While each country in the region is at a different stage of development, all are extremely interested in facilitating U.S. investment and involvement in the agricultural sector. Direct marketing or cooperation with local distributors will give U.S. agribusiness exposure in this region.

Last month, Johanns also announced plans to lead a USDA trade and investment mission to Kazakhstan July 23-28 to promote trade and investment in agricultural commodities, food products, agricultural machinery, agricultural inputs, livestock genetics and food processing equipment.

For businesses interested in participating on the East Africa Region Trade and Investment Mission, contact Darrell Upshaw with USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service at tel.: 202-690-1786 or e-mail to: darrell.upshaw@fas.usda.gov

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Release No. 0194.06
FAS PR 0066-06

Contact:
Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623
Linda Habenstreit (202) 720-9442