Hon. K.T. Hammond Dialogues With U.S. Chamber Of Commerce

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. K.T. Hammond while on an official visit to Washington, D.C, visited the offices of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) to hold discussions with its President & CEO, Ms. Florizelle (Florie) Liser on Monday, 22nd April, 2024 to familiarize himself with the organization and its work.

From the CCA, the Hon Minister traveled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for a dialogue on U.S.-Ghana trade and investment matters with Dr. Guevera Yao, Vice President, U.S.-Africa Business Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Rick Wade, Senior Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Outreach also at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED

1. CORPORATE COUNCIL ON AFRICA

The Hon. Minister said the purpose of his visit was to get to know more about CCA and what it does. In response, Ms. Florie Liser said CCA is a 30-year old Business Association whose members are both U.S and African companies, including SMEs and multinationals, and primarily advocates for U.S trade, investments and business with Africa as its only priority, adding that CCA members are companies trying to grow their businesses in Africa.

CCA has longstanding relationships with governments and has hosted several heads of state, over the years, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Ms. Liser also said CCA hosts an annual Business Summit, its signature U.S-Africa Business Summit, which is taking place this year in Dallas, Texas to which a number of Heads of State have been invited, including Ghana. She indicated that they have received word that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will not be able to honor the invitation but that it had been passed on to the Vice President, but they don't yet have any official communication as to whether or not the Vice President would attend.

Ms. Liser also shared that this year, CCA decided to collaborate with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on a special 20th anniversary celebration on the margins of the summit in Dallas where they will be hosting former President George H.W. Bush, who established MCC, and as Ghana was one of the first countries to have a compact from MCC, CCA thought it would be a good opportunity for Ghana to be represented at the highest level at the dinner with former President Bush.

Ms. Liser asked the Hon. Minister to weigh in to see if the President could reconsider his decision to not attend, as there will be key people from all of the major U.S government agencies, including State Department, Department of Commerce, US Trade and Development

Agency, U.S Development Finance Corporation, EXIMBANK, etc. who would be at the summit and would like to talk to African governments and private sector leaders about how the U.S and African countries can enhance their economic relations.

AGOA RENEWAL

On AGOA and its renewal (extension), Ms. Liser said she was invited last week to speak to Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, (which is the trade committee at the U.S. House of Representatives), about AGOA and her view was that it should have been renewed as early as last year because trade is already declining due to the uncertainty over its renewal. The Hon. Minister agreed saying he was already getting some pressure from the textile and garment dealers who are very concerned about the impact the possible expiry of AGOA could have on their businesses.

Ms. Liser said about 3 years ago Ghana doubled its exports of apparel under AGOA due to the establishment of the Tema textiles enclave, highlighting the importance of AGOA to Ghana.

As to what could be holding up the renewal of AGOA, Ms. Liser said she thinks it's political as all trade bills in the USA have to be generated from the House and not the Senate. She said President Biden has already publicly stated his support for the renewal of AGOA but the House was not acting on it with urgency due to political reasons.

2. U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

In his introductory remarks, Mr. Rick Wade said one of his main interests was to focus on getting the diaspora, specifically African-American businesses to invest in Ghana, for which he along with Dr. Guevera Yao were working on an initiative named "Advance with Africa", a roadshow where they move around the country to outreach to the 2.6 million black-owned businesses in the U.S. He said the relationship with Ghana has tremendous opportunities historically, and he's very interested in how that relationship could be expanded to bring more small and mid-size businesses to Ghana. He assured the Hon. Minister that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to work with him to strengthen business ties. He mentioned however that there were a number of challenges that were being brought to the attention of the Chamber by their member companies doing business in Ghana, which Dr. Guevera Yao would address.

On what his priorities are and how the Chamber can be supportive of his agenda, the Hon. Minister talked about the President's prioritization of industrialization saying his Ministry has decided to concentrate on the development of industry as the key to developing Ghana: specifically industries that would feed into our local production, citing the 1D1F initiative aimed at giving each of the 261 districts a factory which calls for private companies to set up projects in the districts. He said so far there are about 324 companies in various parts of the country.

He also talked about the 10-Point Industrial Development Agenda as an all-encompassing agenda to include various sectors such as pharmacy development, component manufacturing

and vehicle assembly, targeted at making Ghana a hub in West Africa for vehicle assembly. He added that government is also encouraging garment manufacturers to come to Ghana and set up big manufacturing facilities, citing Dignity DTRT as an example of a garment manufacturer which has established a state-of-the art garment factory and has a linkage with an American company that is importing its garments.

He also expressed concern about the expiry of AGOA and what the Chamber could do to help push for its renewal.

Concerning what Ghana is doing to attract investors, the Hon. Minister touched on the legal framework and incentives that Ghana has put together to enhance the conduciveness of the investment climate.

Dr. Guevera Yao touched on the importance the Biden administration places on the diaspora as a group capable of transforming Africa, saying the administration has set up the President's Council on African Diaspora Engagement (PAC-ADE) tasked with giving the President advice on how to engage the diaspora to do more in Africa.

ISSUES WITH GHANAIAN MARKETPLACE

Dr. Guevera Yao said despite Ghana's unique position as an attractive market, a few issues had been raised by some of their member companies in Ghana which is a big cause for concern. He said one company, Dow Chemical, has closed its business and left Ghana due to harassment by the Ghana Revenue Authority and what they described as unfair tax assessments leading unsustainable tax obligations.

Among the issues raised were payment arrears for the supply of goods and services to the government and its agencies. Of particular mention was American Tower Corporation which is allegedly owed about $10 million by the government. Also mentioned as having the same issue was Zipline, which is allegedly having trouble getting paid by government.

Also the U.S Development Finance Corporation was mentioned as having problems to do with payment plan visibility. Other companies including Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Google, Twitter, have all downsized their operations and only have the very minimum of operations remaining in the country.

Other issues outlined included:

• Lack of 5G network. A 5g Network is critical for certain technologies like AI which needs high speed data only available through a 5 g network. U.S companies have a unique capability in deploying 5g networks and see this as an opportunity for them in Ghana and are seeking the Chamber's assistance on that, but the bidding process for the 5g network tender is allegedly not transparent and U.S companies reportedly lack clear guidance and confidence in the process. They want transparency in the process, said Dr. Guevera Yao.
• Import/Export Restriction Bill. Bill has restrictions on 22 products. For example sugar is very broad in description and needs to be clarified.

The Hon. Minister expressed his appreciation to the Chamber for bringing these issues to his attention and has requested a comprehensive write-up outlining these issues so he can take a closer look at them.

On the issue of 5G network, the Hon. Minister assured the meeting that he would inquire from his colleague Minister in charge of communication as to what the situation is