U.S., Mozambique talk trade

U.S., Mozambique talk trade U.S. and Mozambican government officials met in Washington Wednesday to discuss ways to increase trade and investment between the two countries.
   The talks took place as part of the second high-level meeting under the U.S.-Mozambique Trade and Investment Framework Agreement signed in 2005. Officials discussed two-way U.S.-Mozambican trade, implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the World Trade Organization Doha negotiations, and trade capacity building activities. More than a dozen U.S. federal agencies participated in the discussions.
   'We know that expanded trade can make an important contribution to boosting growth and reducing poverty in Africa,' said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, in a statement. 'Moreover, economic growth in developing countries, like Mozambique, also benefits the American economy by expanding markets for American exporters.'
   The United States committed $224 million in trade capacity building assistance to Mozambique in fiscal year 2008, most of which was connected with Mozambique's compact with the Millennium Challenge Corp.
   Two-way goods trade between the United States and Mozambique nearly doubled in 2008, totaling $229 million, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
   U.S. exports to Mozambique reached $213 million in 2008, up 86 percent from the previous year, and included energy products, wheat, trucks and tractors. U.S. imports from Mozambique were valued at $16.8 million during 2008, up 214 percent over the previous year, and included titanium and tantalum ores, cashews and semiprecious stones. Substantially all Mozambican imports entered the United States duty-free in 2008, either under most-favored-nation zero-rate provision, AGOA, or the Generalized System of Preferences, the USTR said.
   Mozambique is one of 11 sub-Saharan African countries and regional organizations with which the United States has a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.