MODERATOR: Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub. I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us. Today, we are very pleased to be joined by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton and the U.S. Department of State’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Joy Basu. AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu will give a readout of the 2024 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum, also known as the AGOA Forum. Convening under the theme “Beyond 2025: Reimagining AGOA for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Tomorrow,” the AGOA Forum brought together senior government officials from across the U.S. Government and AGOA-eligible countries, as well as representatives from key regional economic organizations, labor, civil society, and the private sector. Throughout the forum, discussions focused on how to modernize AGOA and make this partnership more effective, inclusive, and tailored to the realities of a 21st century U.S.-Africa economic partnership.
We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu, then we will turn to your questions. We will try to get to as many of them as we can during this meeting.
With that, I will turn it over to AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu for opening remarks.
Source: https://www.state.gov/digital-press-briefing-on-outcomes-of-the-agoa-forum-2024/