The USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub Team comprising of Mrs.Kanini Mutoni and Mr. Fred Kongongo paid visit to COMESA/LLPI on 23rd October 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub works to boost trade and investment with and within East Africa.
The objective of the collaborative meeting was to discuss on the possible collaborative activities that are to be done by COMESA/LLPI and USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub.
During the Meeting Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija, the Executive Director of COMESA/LLPI, welcome the Team and appreciated their initiative to work with COMESA/LLPI. Prof. Mwinyhija briefly explained about the establishment, Mandates, Objectives, Member States, partner organizations, major accomplishments & challenges, about the potential of the leather sector in the COMESA Region, the impact brought in the sector and future plans of COMESA/LLPI.
Mrs.Kanini Mutoni , the Team Leader of USAID Trade and Investment Hub, confirmed that the Hub is committed to work in the leather sector focusing on investment and trade, particularly on export and inter-regional trade. She said also that the Hub wants to work with LLPI and requested to be invited to participate in the forthcoming Consultative Meeting.
The Executive Director added that COMESA/LLPI activities and plans are aligned to that of USAID and its close contact with globally renowned institutions, its signing of MoU with them, and membership with International Council of Tanners (ICT), IULTCS will enhance the LLPI-USAID mutual efforts to develop the leather sector in the Region in particular and Africa in general. The Executive Director iterated that LLPI currently works on: SMEs' skill development, particularly Women owned SMEs; Regional Design Studio for footwear and leather goods; ISO Standards Compliance; Benchmarking programme, All Africa Leather Fair (AALF) participation of Member States, Skills development of the leather industry incubators in the Region, Strengthen its ICT unit, establishment of Revolving Fund to assist SMEs with Equipment.
After fruitful discussion, the collaborative meeting ended up with the agreement that COMESA/LLPI and USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub to have a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed to formalize the commitments forwarded. From COMESA/LLPI, Mr. Zewdu Kebede, Programmes Coordinator and Mrs. Tigist Hailegiorgis, Administrator, Budget and Finance Head was part of the Collaborative Meeting.
The USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub is working to boost trade and investment with and within East Africa. The goal of the Hub is to deepen regional integration, increase the competitiveness of select regional agriculture value chains, promote two-way trade with the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and facilitate investment and technology that drives trade growth intra-regionally and to global markets. The main focus is on the East African Community countries - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and also provide AGOA-related support in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
