A United States (US) led trade mission to Ghana is exploring opportunities to support Ghanaian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) improve their exporting capabilities under the US government’s Global Diversity Export Initiative (GDEI).
The delegation, of diverse U.S. companies and organizations representing a wide array of sectors, ranging from the information and communication technology, to trade services, to cyber security, to energy, to consumer goods, to automotives is led by the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, USA, Madam Marisa Lago.
The delegation also includes leading African American-led business chambers of commerce in the US, as well as the Organization of Women in International Trade and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.
Speaking at the US-Ghana Business Expo in Accra on Thursday, Ms Lago, noted that the participation in the trade mission of the various business chambers underscored the U.S. Department of Commerce’s commitment to creating a more equitable and inclusive economy by helping businesses in underserved communities to prosper through increased international trade.
The Expo, themed ‘Leveraging US-Ghana Trade Relations for Growth and Prosperity,’ pooled prospective US investors and existing US businesses operating in Ghana.
SMEs play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries.
Madam Lago disclosed that the US government through its Department of Commerce established GDEI “to drive our support of businesses from historically underserved communities.”
Madam Lago said, “this trade mission advances another key priority of the Biden-Harris Administration: advancing equity across the U.S. government’s initiatives.
She intimated that Ghana was on this journey, as it seeks to train and better support its own cadre of SMEs to develop exporting capabilities.
The export skills-building resources available to Ghanaian SMEs through the Ghana Export Promotion Authority’s website are an excellent illustration of efforts to better enable companies to approach foreign markets, whether in Africa or beyond. And I certainly hope that the “beyond” includes the United States.
