This morning, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis continued his official visit to Johannesburg, South Africa, speaking to a group of students, faculty, journalists, and other academics at the University of the Witwatersrand. The South African Institute for International Affairs, based at the historic university, hosted the event.
After short remarks outlining yesterday’s productive U.S.-South Africa Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), Ambassador Marantis gave the audience the latest state of play of U.S.-Africa trade and investment policy. A broad and lively discussion followed, covering renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), African regional economic integration, and the role of trade in Africa’s development.
Ambassador Kirk at the University of Witwatersrand
You can read Ambassador Marantis’s remarks as prepared for delivery here.
Later the same day, Ambassador Marantis met with the South African Supplier Diversity Council (SASDC). Modeled on the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council in the United States, the SASDC is a group of South African businesses working to find ways to integrate black owned and historically marginalized businesses into companies’ supply chains. The discussion focused on SASDC’s challenges given historical policies of discrimination and an increasingly globalized economy, as well as the opportunities of international trade and investment.
Tomorrow, Ambassador Marantis travels to Lusaka, Zambia, to participate in the annual AGOA Forum.
