He said this when he joined officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry at a validation workshop on Ghana’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Strategy.

 The meeting brought producers, processors and exporters together with customs and government officials to discuss the implementation of Ghana’s AGOA Strategy, which aimed to help local companies take advantage of AGOA, a trade preference provided by the US to African countries allowing duty-free access to certain goods.

Ghana began developing the AGOA Strategy last year, following the renewal of AGOA for a 2015 to 2025 by the US Congress.An official statement issued by the US Embassy in Accra and copied the Ghana News Agency said the strategy built on Ghana’s National Export Strategy, which sought to double the country’s non-traditional export earnings to five billion dollars per year.

“The AGOA Strategy aims to enable Ghana to make maximum use of opportunities under AGOA, with an emphasis on intensifying export development and diversification, a key initiative of the Government of Ghana’s 10-point Integrated Industrial Transformation Agenda.

“It identifies Ghanaian industries with the greatest potential to benefit from AGOA.“These industries include apparel, fisheries, horticulture, tropical fruits, specialty vegetables, root crops, vegetable fats (palm oil and shea butter), cocoa, handicrafts, and jewelry,” it added.

The statement said successful implementation of the strategy would require collaboration between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its agencies, notably the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the Free Zones Board and Ghana Standards Authority.“Collaboration is also required with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority under the Ministry of Finance; Food and Drugs Authority; and the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

“The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre will play a key role in attracting foreign direct investment and implementing the strategy.Mr Jackson expressed the hope that after the validation event, companies would do more to take advantage of AGOA.He said Ghana would set forth additional policies that would enable the private sector to flourish.

 USAID works with the Ghana and the private sector to target key barriers to trade and investment and promote regional integration and trade competitiveness.It seeks to increase intra-regional African trade and exports to the United States and reduce the time it takes to import or export from ports to land-locked interiors on the continent.