Ghana is the eighth largest exporter to the US market in the Sub-Saharan Africa under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It exported $50 million worth of exports in 2002.

According to the United States International Trade Commission rating for 2002, Nigeria and Gabon occupied the first two places due to their oil exports, followed by South Africa, Lesotho, and Madagascar. The rest are Mauritius, Kenya, Malawi and Swaziland.

Currently, Ghana exports a few of non-traditional commodities, mainly garments, agro-based products and handicrafts out of the total of 6,400 products that qualify under AGOA.

According to the Co-ordinator of AGOA, Dr Gordon Asare-Kyeremateng, this feat was achieved because many Ghanaians, who hitherto, exported to the European market, took advantage of the AGOA initiative and re-channelled their exports to the US market.

He said a new target of $62.5 million has been set for AGOA exports, adding that the secretariat is taking concrete measures to ensure the achievement of the target.

He said one major setback of the initiative has been inadequate financing. However, he said, the secretariat is negotiating with some banks and financial institutions to provide aid to support the AGOA initiative, adding that a number of banks have expressed interest to support the programme.

Dr Asare-Kyeremateng consequently commended the Standard Chartered Bank and the Metropolitan and Allied Bank for declaring a special support package for producers under AGOA. He also expressed the hope that when the venture fund being set up by the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) becomes operational, AGOA will enjoy a further boost, especially for the start-ups.

He further disclosed that the secretariat is embarking on a comprehensive capacity building and training exercise in April, starting with the Western and Central regions and said, experts have been selected to interact with producers in these regions to help them to solve some of the problems and difficulties they are confronted with.

The AGOA co-ordinator advised entrepreneurs and manufacturers to register with the AGOA Secretariat and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that the initiative offers. He said as a result of Ghana?s recent participation in an AGOA fair in Mauritius, about five big companies have agreed to establish subsidiaries in Ghana under the AGOA initiative and expressed the hope that some of these factors will, in the long run, help the country to record a much higher returns on AGOA.

As part of the efforts to increase Ghana?s exports to the US market, he said, the Corporate Council on Africa, a firm based in the USA, has invited three regions in the country to participate in an exhibition in New York in June this year. Dr Asare-Kyeremateng noted that this will help Ghana to further expose its potential to the world in order to increase exports.