26
Jun
Trade volume between the United States and the sub-Saharan Africa increased by 6 per cent to a record $25.4 billion in 2014, according to US. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets, Arun Kumar.
Kumar who spoke during a Telephonic Press Briefing monitored in Abuja said trade volume between the US and Nigeria as at 2013 stood at $18.2 billion.
Specifically, he said in 2013 U.S. goods exports to Nigeria were about $6.5 billion while it imported about $11.7 billion.
He also added that with a growth rate averaged about 7% over the last decade, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing regions in the world.
On the barriers to trading, Kumar said, “you know in Africa we find two or three major areas to focus on. One is creating regional integration. We believe that the more regional integration that occurs, the better it is going to be for all the countries in the region as well as for the U.S. trade with Africa.
“Second would be infrastructure, which is both hard and soft. Hard infrastructure really would be transportation, roads, rail and so forth; airports and so forth. The soft infrastructure is infrastructure of how goods move across boundaries, what kinds of customs processes do you have, can you have easy and standard customs procedures and other regulatory procedures across countries. So that whole area of logistics, which is both hard and soft, is a second area. And third is just having policies that reduce barriers to trade and barriers to investment.”
The assistant secretary also added that Nigeria is proactively supporting the presidential initiative under the Doing Business in Africa campaign.
Explaining the focus of the trade mission to Africa, Kumar said “there are really two areas of focus. One is with the trade mission participants and we from the U.S. Government. We should be increasing opportunities for U.S. exports in a number of sectors including the ones I mentioned, infrastructure, transportation, energy, agriculture. Second, while we’re in each country we do meet with government and business leaders and we talk to them about the various factors that can help increase trade and investment from the U.S. to those countries.”
Kumar further added, “Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing regions and home to six of the ten fastest growing economies. With economic growth predicted to reach 4.5% in 2015, the region is outpacing global average growth. Furthermore, our bilateral trade is also helping to bring new investment and technologies into Africa which ultimately will create new jobs, spur innovation and improve the lives of countless citizens throughout the continent. As President Obama has said previously, Africa is the world’s next major economic success story. U.S. companies recognize this and understand the importance of the region as a future economic leader and that is part of the reason that I am today accompanying a delegation of world-class companies from the United States.”
Source: http://www.worldstagegroup.com/worldstagenew/index.php?active=news&newscid=22989&catid=4