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Washington, DC — Many of you are aware that the Tenth
Corporate Council on Africa Biennial Business Summit held
last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was an enormous success.
Officially, one thousand four hundred eighty-seven (1,487)
participants registered for the event. The Summit took place
within the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis with
tight security. Addis Ababa is one of the most rapidly
developing cities in Africa with construction seemingly
everywhere. With a more liberal business environment, it can
become one of the great cities of Africa rivaling any city
on the continent. The Summit was co-hosted by the African
Union, with the Chairman of the African Union, Dr.
Dlamini-Zuma participating in the opening ceremony, along
with Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia
Hailemariam Desalegn and Chairman of the Corporate Council
on Africa Paul Hinks.
According to the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, the
conference was the largest US-led event ever held in
Ethiopia.
In my opinion, biased, of course, the program content, under
the leadership of Vice President of the Corporate Council on
Africa Ambassador Robert Perry was excellent. It was forward
thinking and covered most of the breadth of CCA program
sectors, including our newest sector, tourism. The programs
and the discussion therein helped set the course for the
organization for the next two years and perhaps beyond.
There is now a great amount of work to be done for our
members and the US-Africa relationship. It is clear from
this Summit that the Corporate Council on Africa has an
important role to play in the future and the expectations of
the Council and its members by African leaders and
businessmen are high. We will need to strengthen many parts
of the organization to be able to meet these expectations.
To do this, we need to have you involved and providing
information throughout the year regarding how we can better
serve you.
There were many important markers during this Summit. Here
are a few:
1. The Rockefeller Foundation chose the summit to announce
its new agriculture program, designed to reduce food waste
throughout Africa. They stated that this program would prove
to be as important as the Green Revolution of the 1970s,
which increased food production worldwide. A minimum of
thirty percent of crops are wasted before they ever get to
market, and the Rockefeller Foundation announced the steps
of a new program to eliminate waste in the fields.
4. USTDA signed a financing agreement with the Government of
Ethiopia during one of the workgroups in the conference.
5. CCA announced that the World Africa Tourism Conference,
to be convened under its new division, the Africa Travel
Association, will be in Rwanda in November 2016.
6. Our sister organizations of Canada, UK, Germany, Belgium,
Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, UAE, Switzerland, Greece,
Italy and the Netherlands met with CCA and selected African
business organizations to map out our partnerships over the
next two years as well. This will provide greater business
contacts for our members.
There were, of course, hundreds of potential business deals
being discussed during the summit in networking and social
time. The conference space, plus the several new hotels in
the area provided ample opportunity for private meetings. We
left optimistic that Ethiopia will continue to be more open
to US business in the future, while recognizing that there
still is much work to be done.
To those members of CCA who participated and sponsored we
are grateful. We had a record level of sponsorship and
number of sponsors, and we hope that you share our belief
that your faith in the Corporate Council was justified.
Conferences are not our final product. They are a means to
bring businesses together, many of whom would not meet
otherwise. For us, our conferences define our work for the
next two years. It is the time between events that we work
most for your interests.
Again, thank you for your continuing support and we look
forward to working with you throughout 2016.
Stephen Hayes is President and CEO of the Corporate Council
on Africa U.S. Trade
Representative Ron Kirk Participates in the 7th
Biennial U.S.- Africa Business
Summit Trade Plenary Offers Real
Solutions for Economic Growth in
Africa "Ambassador Kirk is a key
advocate for trade and development on the African
continent," said Stephen Hayes, president and CEO
of CCA. "In tough economic times, trade and
investment creates jobs both in Africa and the
United States." At the trade plenary, Ambassador
Kirk will join Deputy Chairman of the African
Union Erastus Mwencha; Ghana's
Minister of Trade and Industry Hanna Tetteh;
Tanzania's Minister of Trade Mary Nagu; and Senior
Fellow Rod Hunter of the Hudson Institute.
Panelists will provide analysis of the African
Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the cornerstone
of U.S. trade and economic policy regarding
Africa. Panelists will also discuss the
reinvigoration of the Doha Development Round, which
carries the promise of unlocking markets for
African products and minimizing distortions in
global agricultural trade. Despite the current economic
climate, U.S. exports to Africa have increased
significantly. Mississippi has seen its
exports to Africa grow by more than 300
percent. Pennsylvania, South Dakota,
Connecticut and Nevada have seen their exports to
Africa double. As United States Trade
Representative (USTR), Ambassador Kirk is a member
of President Barack Obama's Cabinet and serves as
the president's principal trade advisor. He
also serves on the Board of Directors of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation. The office
of USTR is responsible for the development,
implementation and enforcement of U.S trade
policy. This responsibility includes the
oversight of ongoing trade negotiations within
AGOA, the Doha Development Agenda and the North
American Free Trade Agreement. Ambassador
Kirk is responsible for U.S. trade policy involving
agriculture; industry; services and investments;
intellectual property; environment; labor;
development and preference
programs. For more information on and to
register for the 7th Biennial U.S. &endash; Africa
Business Summit, visit: www.africacncl.org.
All working media must be credentialed to cover the
summit. Please open the following link: 09
Summit Media Credential Form and submit media form
to:
summit@africacncl.org. TravelTalkMEDIA and The
Corporate Council on Africa Announce Strategic
Partnership Sandy Dhuyvetter, executive producer and host of
TravelTalkRADIO and TV recalled that "my first
interview with Stephen Hayes [President and CEO
of CCA] was back in 2002. I quickly learned
that Stephen and I both share a keen interest in
the people and culture of Africa and that we have
both worked extensively on the continent. We look
forward to getting the good word about the CCA out
to audiences worldwide. We are delighted to be
actively participating in the Council's activities,
especially the upcoming U.S. - Africa Business
Summit in DC." "We are proud to have an organization like
TravelTalkMEDIA become a member and, just as
importantly, to serve as a strategic media
partner," added CCA President and CEO Stephen
Hayes. "Working more closely together will help us
to broadcast and distribute the CCA's messages and
the goodwill of its membership on a global basis.
We look forward to the participation of
TravelTalkMEDIA in the Summit." About The Corporate Council on Africa Established in 1993, The Corporate Council on
Africa is a nonpartisan membership organization of
nearly 180 U.S. companies dedicated to
strengthening the commercial relationship between
the U.S. and Africa. CCA members represent 85
percent of total U.S. private sector investments in
Africa. The organization is dedicated to bringing
together potential business partners and to
showcasing business opportunities on the continent.
More information about CCA is available at
www.africacncl.org. About the 7th Biennial 2009 U.S. &endash; Africa
Business Summit: Realizing the Investment Power of
Africa. This three-day event will be held at the
Walter E. Washington Convention Center in
Washington, D.C., September 29-October 1, 2009 and
is expected to attract more than 2,000 leaders from
the private and public sectors in the U.S. and
Africa. Participants will have the opportunity to
network with key African and U.S. private sector
and government representatives and attend more than
50 industry-specific sessions and workshops on
Africa's most promising economic sectors. For more
information on and to register for the 2009 7th
Biennial 2009 U.S. &endash; Africa Business Summit,
visit www.africacncl.org. About TravelTalkMEDIA From studios based in Southern California and
remote destinations around the world, Sandy
Dhuyvetter and the TravelTalkMEDIA team produce
radio and TV programming each week featuring
informative travel news and entertaining interviews
with the leading experts in the travel and tourism
industries. Audio and video segments are broadcast
on conventional radio and TV stations in the US and
around the world. A leader in the use of new media
and social media since its inception in 2001,
TravelTalkMEDIA has been broadcasting continuously
worldwide via the Internet. Archives of recent
broadcasts are available at
www.TravelTalkMEDIA.com CONTACT: Patrick Peartree +1 760 753 1114, patrick@TravelTalkRADIO.com CONTACT: Andrea Todd, +1 202 263 538, About The Corporate Council
on Africa Established in 1993, The
Corporate Council on Africa is a nonpartisan 501
(c) (3) membership organization of nearly 180 U.S.
companies dedicated to strengthening the commercial
relationship between the U.S. and Africa. CCA
members represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S.
private sector investments in Africa. The
organization is dedicated to bringing together
potential business partners and to showcase
business opportunities on the continent. |
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Washington,
D.C. The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA)
announced today that the United States Trade
Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, will
participate in a plenary session on trade at CCA's
7th Biennial U.S.&endash;Africa Business Summit:
Realizing the Investment Power of Africa,
Washington, D.C.