Dr Kofi Apraku leaves Accra tomorrow 15 January for Mauritius at the head of a 14-member delegation to attend the second African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.

The weeklong Forum is to be attended by other government and private sector officials. A Statement signed by Mr Daniel Ampim Adu said the conference, which would be attended by 45 Ministers of Trade around the world, would be co-chaired by

Dr. Apraku with US Deputy Minister for Commerce. "There is an increasing importance of the US as a destination for Ghana's non-traditional export. In the year 2000, export trade figure was $35million, $42 million in 2001, $ 50 million in 2002," the statement said.

The statement said in 2002, six separate business delegations visited Ghana out of which negotiations led to the establishment of the Berlin Textiles at Adjabeng in Accra, financing the construction of Textile/Garment factories at the Ghana Free Zone under PSI among other things.

The main objective of the forum is to assess progress and examine problems encountered by the beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries in the implementation of the AGOA programme.

It would also offer participating countries the opportunities to focus attention on their developmental concerns and discuss how to improve upon standard of living and reduce poverty using AGOA as the vehicle.