Mr Walter H. Kansteiner III, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, on Thursday said Ghana's certification to export textiles to the US under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) marked the beginning of the bond of lucrative relationship between both countries in the sector.

Mr Kansteiner said this when he presented Ghana's certificate to Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, at a brief ceremony in Accra.

The presentation was made after Mr Kansteiner accompanied by Mr Peter Watson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Ms Nancy Jo Powell, US Ambassador in Ghana to pay a courtesy call on President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu.

Mr Osei-Adjei said AGOA had been in existence for some time now but it had been difficult for Ghana to take advantage. He, therefore, urged entrepreneurs in the textile sector to utilise the opportunity to increase productivity and incomes and reduce poverty in the sector. Ghana is one of 11 African countries to achieve the textile certification under AGOA and the first in West Africa.

Under AGOA, 35 African countries, including Ghana, could enjoy duty-free and quota-free trade status on virtually all exports to the US. In the case of textiles, each country must undergo an additional certification process to guarantee that the textiles were made in Africa.

Mr Kansteiner and Mr Watson are leading a delegation of six private equity investment fund managers to Ghana, South Africa and Kenya to identify foreign direct investment opportunities.

They are Zephyr Management, Modern Africa Fund Managers, Emerging Markets Partnership, African Fund Emerging Markets, Millennium Fund and ERL Services.

At the ceremony, Mr Watson also launched an African Housing Initiative under which OPIC seeks to support housing projects in sub-Saharan Africa. The standardisation of loan terms, documents, underwriting guidelines and collection of market data for investors and risk-sharing entities, would be undertaken under the project.