R 251659Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4372
USDOC WASHDC
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE WASHINGTON DC
USDA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 001042 
 
 
ACCRA FOR USAID WA KNIGHT 
DAKAR FOR FAS, FCS 
USDA FOR OCRA SIMMERING 
DEPT OF STATE PASS TO USTR FOR AGAMA 
DEPT OF STATE FOR AF/W AND AF/EPS 
DEPT OF STATE PASS TO USAID AND USTDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECON EFIN AGOA UV
SUBJECT: WAEMU WANTS THE TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENT (TIFA) TO 
PLAY A BIGGER ROLE 
 
¶1. Summary:  West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) 
commerce ministers met November 11-12 in Ouagadougou to discuss the 
U.S.-WAEMU Trade and Investment Agreement (TIFA).  Member States 
adopted a work plan that would enhance WAEMU members' ability to 
benefit from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferences 
and to improve U.S.-WAEMU economic engagement on bilateral, regional 
and multilateral trade issues.  The TIFA work plan provides a 
framework in which trade, investment, intellectual property and 
other issues can be addressed and resolved promptly and provides a 
valuable tool to better understand and address trade capacity needs 
in West Africa. Economic and political sections, as well as agency 
representatives from Commerce, Agriculture, USAID, Peace Corps, and 
MCC in U.S. Missions in WAEMU member countries may find the TIFA 
framework and work plan useful in helping advance their trade, 
development and investment objectives. End Summary 
 
¶2. West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Member States' 
Commerce Ministers met in Ouagadougou from November 11-12 to discuss 
the U.S.-WAEMU Trade and Investment Agreement (TIFA) originally 
signed in 2002.  The objectives of the meeting were to identify 
concrete measures, in the form of a work plan that could be adopted, 
to enhance WAEMU members' ability to benefit from African Growth and 
Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferences and to improve the trade and 
investment relationship with the United States.  Laurie-Ann Agama, 
Special Trade Representative for the Africa Region, Robert Hanson, 
Regional Agriculture Attache and Tom Herlehy, Chief of Party of the 
USAID-funded West African Trade Hub represented the United States at 
the meeting.  At the conclusion of two days of expert discussions 
with WAEMU member countries, an Action Plan was adopted at by the 
ministers on November 13, at a session co-chaired by Ambassador 
Jackson.  A translation of this action plan is included below. 
 
¶3. During the discussions, experts from respective ministries of 
commerce and agriculture from each of the eight member countries 
raised a number of constraints that prevented them from taking 
advantage of AGOA preferences.   These include a lack of economies 
of scale to meet export orders, lack of export financing, lack of 
investment, lack and high cost of freight, difficulty obtaining 
business visas, difficulties working in English and challenges 
meeting U.S. sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) requirements.  Cote 
d'Ivoire highlighted that it remains ineligible for AGOA preferences 
and requested that its status be reconsidered.  The U.S. delegation 
presented a draft work plan - developed with interagency input - 
which discussed broad measures and initiatives intended to 
revitalize economic growth, investment and trade among WAEMU member 
countries and the United States.  This draft plan was modified based 
on input from WAEMU member country experts, and presented to the 
Minister's meeting on November 13. 
 
¶4.  Ambassador Jackson co-chaired the Ministers meeting together 
with the Minister of Commerce from Cote d'Ivoire.  The WAEMU 
Commissioner presided over the agenda.   While the expert-level 
discussions did not focus on cotton issues, (neither on U.S. 
domestic support nor the cotton development initiative in the WTO 
trade negotiations), during the November 13th Ministers meeting, 
Ministers of Commerce and Trade from Senegal and Burkina Faso 
objected quite vehemently that there was not enough language on 
cotton in the Special Report.  Specifically, the Senegalese and 
Burkina Ministers requested that the Special Report include U.S. 
commitments on reducing domestic support and increasing development 
support for African farmers. Ambassador Jackson pointed out that the 
United States understands cotton is an important issue and is 
working on a solution through the DOHA development round.  Since 
cotton was not a major point of the experts discussions, the WAEMU 
Commissioner quickly concluded the debate by proposing that the U.S. 
delegation work with his staff to develop suitable language.  The 
text beginning in Para six is a translation of the final agreed-upon 
Special Report. 
 
¶5. Economic and political sections, as well as agency 
representatives from Commerce, Agriculture, USAID, Peace Corps, and 
MCC in U.S. Missions in WAEMU member countries may find the TIFA 
framework and work plan outlined below useful in helping advance 
their trade, development and investment objectives.  The TIFA 
provides a formal mechanism for regular consultations on specific 
trade and investment matters, negotiating agreements where 
appropriate, and identifying strategies to increase trade and 
investment flows.  The TIFA helps strengthen economic engagement 
between WAEMU countries and the United States on bilateral, regional 
and multilateral trade issues, could enhance the commercial 
potential of West Africa and help to fulfill the promise of the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in the region.  The TIFA 
provides a framework in which trade, investment, intellectual 
property, and other issues can be addressed and resolved promptly 
and provides a valuable opportunity to better understand and address 
trade capacity needs in West Africa. 
 
¶6. Begin Unofficial Translation of UEMOA TIFA Special Report 
November 10-12, 2008: 
 
An American Delegation was invited by the WAEMU Commission to 
participate in the preparatory meeting for the WAEMU member States 
Commerce Ministerial Meeting. The meeting was held on November 
10-12, 2008 in Ouagadougou. The American Delegation was composed of: 
 
- Mrs. Laurie Ann C. AGAMA, Director for African Affairs, Office of 
the U.S. Trade Representative; 
- Mr. Robert HANSON, Agricultural Attach, U.S. Embassy Dakar; 
- Mr. Tom HERLEHY, Team Leader of the West Africa Trade Hub, Accra 
Ghana. 
 
The purpose of the meeting was to propose a set of measures in a 
work plan for activating the United States/WAEMU Trade and 
Investment Agreement (TIFA). 
 
During the meeting, the American Delegation made a presentation on 
the facilitations and opportunities offered by the African Growth 
and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and on its achievements. The Delegation 
also introduced the main areas of the work plan that would activate 
the TIFA. 
 
Following these presentations, the WAEMU delegation raised  concerns 
related to: 
 
- Supply capacity; 
- Companies' access to credits; 
- Development of joint ventures; 
- High freight costs; 
- Business visas; 
- Market development; 
- Eligibility for AGOA ; 
- Language barriers ; 
- Compliance with standards and SPS measures. 
 
The following WAEMU member recommendations were made based on the 
discussions with the American Delegation: 
 
- Advocacy for maintaining and consolidating the achievements of 
AGOA despite the current international crisis; 
 
- Advocacy for Cote d'Ivoire to become eligible for AGOA given the 
progress made by this country in solving its political crisis. 
 
- Advocacy for the continuous support for the development of the 
cotton/textile sector in WAEMU member states. 
 
Based on discussions, the main issues included in the work plan are 
the following: 
 
¶1. Strengthening the cooperation between the United States and WAEMU 
in the World Trade Organization (WTO): 
- further collaboration in multilateral trade negotiations; 
- further cooperation on various cotton trade and development 
aspects, 
 
¶2. Development and implementation of an AGOA regional and national 
strategic plan in order to extend trade, ensure commercial promotion 
and diversify export products in the region; 
 
¶3. Strengthen capacity in regulations and technical standards, 
including sanitary and phytosanitary measures in order to comply 
with international standards, especially American norms; 
 
¶4. Establish mechanisms for improving the links between 
American-sponsored capacity building and development programs in 
WAEMU States and the Global Africa Agricultural Development Program 
; 
 
¶5. Identify and eliminate customs and non custom barriers in order 
to increase intraregional and international trade. 
 
¶6. Improve the investment and trade environment: 
 
a. Pursue the improvement of the business environment; 
 
b. Increase agricultural productivity through increased value-adding 
with the promotion of agri-processing; 
 
 
c. Facilitate the resolution of trade disputes; 
 
d. Encourage increased participation of small and medium enterprises 
in trade and investment and encourage participation in fairs and 
exhibits; 
 
e. Improve access to bank financing for the private sector in 
support of trade activities; 
 
f. Improve the protection and application of intellectual property 
rights; 
 
¶7. Strengthening institutional capacity for facilitating economic 
and regional integration: 
 
a. Develop trade infrastructure such as roads, railways, and 
energy; 
 
b. Take appropriate level measures for eliminating harassment on 
roads in order to facilitate trade; 
 
c. Improve port operations and customs procedures. 
 
¶8. Promotion of and compliance with international labor norms. 
 
Overall, the work plan aims at facilitating access of WAEMU 
commodities to the U.S. market and creates conditions for increased 
U.S. investment in the WAEMU region. 
For the implementation of this plan, the two parties will take the 
appropriate measures which will encourage and facilitate trade in 
goods and services, and ensure favorable conditions for long-term 
investment, and the development and diversification of traded goods 
among their respective citizens and companies. 
USTR, other U.S. agencies, and the WAEMU Commission will take the 
necessary steps for the application of the work plan. END 
TRANSLATION. 
 
 
JACKSON