Mozambique-US trade growing

Trade between Mozambique
and the United States has risen
over 60% – from US$120
million in 2007 to US$318
million in 2011, according
to the US ambassador to
Mozambique, Leslie Rowe.
Speaking at the opening
of a meeting between the
Mozambican Ministry of
Industry and Trade and an
American delegation led
by the Deputy US Trade
Representative, Demetrios
Marantis, Rowe added that
US direct investment in
Mozambique had also been
growing significantly.
The US was Mozambique’s
main foreign investor for the
first three quarters of 2011.
“Since the mid-1990s, the
US Mission here, through
our agencies such as the US
Agency for International
Development (USAID) and
the Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC), has
provided a wide range of
technical assistance to
Mozambique, both to the
government and to the private
sector,” she said, giving as
an example the US support
for Mozambique in ratifying
the SADC (Southern African
Development Community)
Trade Protocol in 2010.
The US visit was part of
a review of the Trade and
Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA) between
Mozambique and the US that
was signed in June 2005.
In addition to revising TIFA,
the meeting also reviewed the
effect of the African Growth
and Opportunity Act (Agoa).