Remarks on MCC, AGOA and Doing Business with the USA
by U.S. Ambassador Jeanine Jackson
before the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Handicrafts,
January 15, 2008, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Our team from the Economic and Commercial Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou, my Deputy Chief of Mission and I are delighted to be present today at this day of reflection at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss trade and investment opportunities between Burkina Faso and the United States.   I am honored to share the podium at today’s opening ceremony with Minister of Commerce, Enterprise Promotion and Handicraft Sanou.  I would also like to express our gratitude to Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts Director General Tapsoba for hosting us, and to MCC National Coordinator Sirima for agreeing to talk about how an MCC compact could promote development in Burkina Faso.  Today’s event in Ouagadougou is actually the first of a total of 11 cities throughout Burkina Faso where our team, between January and March, will present MCC, AGOA, and doing business in the USA to businesspersons -- in close collaboration with our partners at the Ministry, Chamber and NGO APARE.          

Beside these overarching topics, there are a couple of other themes that I would like to touch upon briefly.  First, when we do these kinds of events, inevitably the audience raises questions about applying for visas.  Many of you may have heard that the cost of a U.S. business visa rose to $131 on January 1, up from $100.   The good news is that, because of the drop in value of the dollar, the cost of a visa in CFA has changed relatively little.  Last year, moreover, the Embassy started issuing visas valid for five years.   

The second point that I wanted to touch upon is that, while Burkina Faso has traditionally drawn heavily on suppliers in France and elsewhere in Europe, the euro’s rapid appreciation against the dollar has meant that U.S. products are more competitive than ever here.   While promoting our exports obviously helps U.S. producers, we also hope to help your country develop through trade with the United States by aiding your importers to purchase high-quality U.S. goods and services at an attractive cost.   In recent years, direct shipping lines started operating between the United States and West Africa that make stops in Abidjan, Tema, Lome, and Cotonou and have lowered the cost and decreased shipping times.   Many of the U.S. products that have been popular in the region have included computer, electronic, and telecommunications equipment, cosmetics, and used vehicles.  

With the start-up of MCC, with its anticipated investment of $350 million dollars over five years in road infrastructure, we expect that U.S. construction equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar would be attractive suppliers for local contractors winning bids funded by MCC.  In this regard, our Embassy, with our partners at the Chamber, Ministry, and APARE, will be jointly promoting three trade fairs in 2008, one for Burkinabe importers, and two for your exporters.   The first event is called CONEXPO, which features the latest equipment, products, services and technologies for the construction sector, and will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 11-15.  

The second fair will be the spring 2008 edition of the High Point Market, which takes place in High Point, North Carolina on April 7-13 and will exhibit interior decorating products including wood, leather, metals and textile products.   Our Embassy is convinced that, over the longer-term, the United States could be a promising market for Burkina Faso’s handicrafts industries.   We strongly encourage interested businesspersons to attend the High Point Market fair this year in order to scope out the competition and understand the market potential -- with the goal of starting to exhibit your products in 2009.   The USAID-sponsored West African Trade Hub, known as “WATH” and based in Accra, will be promoting the High Point fair and, if enough francophone businesspersons in the region express the intention of attending, will send a representative to accompany a multi-country delegation from the sub-region. 

The third trade event is called the MAGIC Marketplace, which will be held August 25-28 in Las Vegas, and which is the largest commercial event in the world for clothing and accessories.   In this regard, we are hopeful that the Commerce Ministry will soon complete its need work so that Burkina Faso can obtain a so-called AGOA textile visa  that, over the long-term, could allow your country to export specialty textile and clothing to the U.S. market.   For each of these three trade fairs, I would strongly encourage you to register on-line several weeks in advance in order to meet their registration deadlines, and to apply for a U.S. visa, if needed. 

Since we have presenters on MCC and AGOA, I will now close my remarks with only brief comments laying out the broader context and importance of these two programs.   While AGOA is only for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, both AGOA and MCC are intended to aid eligible countries in the developing world.  For both, a central goal is to reduce poverty by promoting sustainable economic growth.   While the respective criteria that each uses to select eligible countries is not identical, there is much overlap, and they share the same philosophy that countries which promote good governance and economic freedom are best positioned to grow through expanded trade and wise investment of development assistance. 

Again, many thanks for attending this day of reflection.