Accra, March 30, GNA - The United States Government; through its Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting a two-day sub-regional forum on remittances and trade in West Africa. Dubbed: "The Accra Regional Forum on Remittances and Trade in West Africa"; the seminar, which is scheduled for March 30 to March31, 2006 would also include a technology fair showcasing international, cutting-edge money transfer technology.

The conference is being co-hosted by the Government of Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A statement from the Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy said more than 250 individuals representing the financial services sector, government, the international donor community, academia, business and trade associations would participate in the conference.

The conference would engage financial sector actors, policy makers and donors to discuss the issues and opportunities for increased remittances and trade into and within West Africa. The goal of the conference is to set the stage to begin concrete action for the private sector to access more of the estimated 4 billion dollars remittances and trade settlement market in the Sub-Region; encouraging more investment, more formal regional trade and more rapid economic growth in West Africa.

New research, supported by USAID and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID) would be presented at the conference on the subject of remittance flows to Ghana and remittance flows and trade settlements between Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. President John Agyekum Kufuor, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Pamela E. Bridgewater and Arie C.A. van der Wiel, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ghana, would address the opening session.