Update on the preparations for the 19th AGOA Forum in Abidjan

The 18th United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, or the AGOA Forum, will be held from August 3-6, 2019 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The date was officially announced by the Ivorian Government last March. This annual event, which is one of the most important in terms of USA-Africa cooperation, will bring together all the actors involved in the implementation of AGOA in the US and eligible countries of sub-Saharan Africa.

Since the announcement at the previous summit in Washington, Côte d’Ivoire started preparations. We now know the final structure of the task force set up for the smooth running of this event.

The organizing committee setup is composed of a Technical Committee and a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, or the decision-making body, is chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.

The Technical Committee is responsible for implementing the strategic decisions taken by the Steering Committee. Mr. Guy M’Bengue, Director General of the Export Promotion Agency of Côte d’Ivoire APEX-CI, was appointed to the Chairmanship of this Committee. He played a crucial role in the eligibility of Ivory Coast to AGOA in 2002 and 2011, and now has the task of organizing the forum.
The AGOA Forum is the culmination of a long journey made over the past twenty years by Côte d’Ivoire. The main highlights of the program will be:

• The Meeting of Trade Experts of the eligible countries, the African Union, and regional trade organizations (Saturday, August 3)
• The Private Sector Forum (Forum B to B)
• The ministerial consultative meeting bringing together African Union and US Experts, the sub-regional organizations, and the Ministers of the eligible African country (August 5)
• The Ministerial Forum (August 5) with the participation of the Ministers in charge of Trade of the eligible countries.

We look forward to hearing about the outcomes of this forum and its inevitable success.

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