Since 2006, the USAID Trade Hub has implemented a methodology to collect data on road governance practices along primary trade corridors in West Africa. The West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) oversees the road governance initiative, which today involves eight countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The Government of Niger has eliminated seven checkpoints, winning the gratitude of truck drivers and the praise of the Borderless Alliance.

Global Shea Alliance participates at in-cosmetics, trains women in Ghana

The Global Shea Alliance, co-founded by the USAID Trade Hub in 2011, participated at the In-Cosmetics international trade show and the Union for Ethical Bio Trade conference in Paris, distributing more than 100 annual reports and membership directories to shea butter distributers, brands, and development agencies from around the world.

Border Information Center opens at the Port of Dakar

105 stakeholders in Senegal participated in the launch of West Africa’s fourth Border Information Center in Dakar. The new center is hosted by the Conseil Sénégalais des Chargeurs (COSEC).

At the second annual conference of the Borderless Alliance in Accra in February, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon.

More than 500 representatives of all points in the shea value chain participated in the Global Shea Alliance’s “Global Perspectives” conference, held in Abuja, Nigeria, in March, and set the course for the future of an industry whose global significance grows with every year. Alliance members set up working groups on sustainability on the critical issues of quality and sustainability, and elected a new president.

In the 1990s, international handcrafts buyers included Côte d’Ivoire on their itineraries when they came to West Africa. But the country’s long civil war in the 2000s decimated that economic activity. Thanks to collaboration between the Ministry of Trade, the Côte d’Ivoire Export Promotion Agency (APEX-CI) and the USAID Trade Hub – supported by the USAID Business Environments for Agile Markets – buyers are returning.

 

Featuring an interview with Paul Brenton, the World Bank’s Trade Practice Manager for Africa, and a review of the success of the USAID Trade Hub’s access to finance strategy, the USAID Trade Hub’s monthly newsletter, Tradewinds, was delivered to more than 12,000 subscribers. www.watradehub.com/tradewinds

The Port of Dakar has identified an office to host a Port Information Center in Senegal modeled on the USAID Trade Hub-supported Border Information Centers now operating at the Ghana-Togo, Burkina Faso-Ghana and Benin-Nigeria borders.