**2005 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum**

**Dakar, Senegal**

***Theme: "Expanding and Diversifying Trade to Promote Growth and
Competitiveness"***

**Policy Objective:** The purpose of the AGOA ministerial is to
institutionalize a dialogue between appropriate high-level officials in
order to foster closer economic ties between the United States and
sub-Saharan Africa and to provide opportunities for economic growth
through increased trade.

**Goal of the 2005 AGOA Ministerial:** The Forum's theme focuses on how
to encourage countries to diversify their exports by taking advantage of
the broad range of products eligible for preferential treatment under
AGOA. The Forum aims to: foster greater interest and investment in
sectors other than textiles and apparel; provide practical information
about how to meet U.S. export requirements and sell successfully into
U.S. markets; and encourage those countries that have yet to take
advantage of the Act's benefits to do so.

The proposed plenary and workshop sessions of the AGOA Ministerial are
designed to meet this goal by addressing:

1)  *Trade policy:* Sessions will address specific trade policy and
    technical issues related to the AGOA act, WTO negotiations and the
    apparel trade in the post-MFA environment.

2)  *Diversifying into new sectors:* Plenaries and workshops will
    discuss the role of private agribusinesses, potential market
    opportunities in specialty agriculture crops and handicrafts, and
    how to meet U.S. product requirements.

3)  *Enabling increased investment:* Plenaries and workshops will
    discuss financial sector, legal and economic reforms to increase
    private investment in export sectors and ways to finance
    infrastructure and energy sector investment.

4)  *Trade-related infrastructure:* Sessions will address how to reduce
    transportation costs that impede African exporters' ability to sell
    products competitively.

5)  *Trade promotion and market research:* Sessions will address how to
    develop effective trade and investment promotion programs and how to
    use market research to identify profitable opportunities.

6)  *U.S. support for trade capacity and investment:* Sessions will
    address how the Millennium Challenge Account, USAID and other U.S.
    government programs can assist governments, private businesses and
    other organizations to increase trade-related growth.

**2005 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum**

**Dakar, Senegal**

***Ministerial, private sector and civil society portions of the AGOA
Forum***

The AGOA Forum includes ministerial, private sector and civil society
conferences in order to encourage a full dialogue on the role of trade
in national economic growth. The events will be structured to encourage
participation by delegates across the three conferences.

**AGOA Ministerial Forum:** The Forum's theme focuses on how to
encourage countries to diversify their exports by taking advantage of
the broad range of products eligible for preferential treatment under
AGOA. The Forum aims to: foster greater interest and investment in
sectors other than textiles and apparel; provide practical information
about how to meet U.S. export requirements and sell successfully into
U.S. markets; and encourage those countries that have yet to take
advantage of the Act's benefits to do so. The Ministerial will primarily
target a government audience, but will include opportunities for
dialogue between public sector, private sector and civil society groups.

**AGOA Private Sector Forum:** The 2005 private sector forum will have
the theme "The U.S. Market and Africa's Economic Future -- Taking
Advantage of New Opportunities and Building New Partnerships". It will
be co-sponsored by the African Business Roundtable and the NEPAD
Business Group partnering as the African co chair and Rosa Whitaker of
The Whitaker Group and Steve Hayes of the Corporate Council on Africa as
the U.S. co chairs. The Forum is dedicated to ensuring that the promise
of AGOA becomes a reality and that participating companies and
entrepreneurs find new markets, new partners and increased profits. The
Forum will highlight the best projects and success stories in
agriculture using detailed case studies on how they became successful.
It will also outline the next big investment opportunities in
telecommunications, infrastructure development, housing, eco tourism,
and apparel and textiles as well as providing participants with a step
by step blueprint for market entry and success.

**AGOA Civil Society Forum:** The AGOA Civil Society Forum is being
organized by the AGOA Civil Society Network. It will address how civil
society can support their country's efforts to benefit from AGOA
including civil society organizations that operate in export sectors
(i.e. agriculture-related projects) as well as organizations that focus
on policy, legal, regulatory and social issues.