US embassy cable - 04ACCRA2402

UNCLAS ACCRA 002402 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR ASSISTANT SECRETARY NEWMAN, AF/RSA, AF/EPS FROM 
AMBASSADOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT, AGRICULTURE, ECOWAS 
SUBJECT:  OFFICIAL-INFORMAL 
 
REF: SECSTATE 246520 
 
Request for ESF Funding: The Problem 
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1. Despite the generous provisions of the Africa Growth and 
Opportunity Act (AGOA), West Africa is still unable to take 
advantage of the Act to export significant quantities and 
variety of fresh produce to the U.S. because of non- 
compliance with USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS) Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS) regulations that 
are designed to stop pests and diseases from entering the 
U.S. Before increased trade to the U.S. from Africa can 
occur, the fifteen member states of the Economic Community 
of West African States (ECOWAS) need to develop and apply 
uniform and appropriate SPS standards for the region. 
 
2. With support, ECOWAS could harmonize standards for the 
West Africa region.  The largely Francophone member states 
of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) 
Africa have already begun to develop improved and uniform 
SPS standards, but the remaining seven ECOWAS states, 
including Nigeria which is by far the largest economy in the 
region, are not part of this effort.  Only ECOWAS has the 
authority to harmonize standards across all of West Africa; 
however, it lacks capacity. 
 
3. ECOWAS has demonstrated that it can implement comparable 
Regional Agricultural Policy to the entire ECOWAS region, 
with help from the USAID-supported Permanent Interstate 
Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). ECOWAS 
has also developed two successful energy programs - West 
Africa Gas Pipeline and the West Africa Power Pool - that 
establish and implement cross-border policies and standards. 
 
Proposed Activity 
----------------- 
 
4.  The funds will be used for medium-term capacity building 
support  to ECOWAS in the area of Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Regulations.  Specifically, they will allow ECOWAS  to  hire 
and equip an expert in this area for a two-year period.  The 
incumbent would help ECOWAS develop and adopt an appropriate 
set of SPS regulations for the entire region.  The incumbent 
selected  should  also  be able to  provide  ECOWAS  with  a 
limited  level  of  support  in  coordinating  biotechnology 
issues,  another area of tremendous interest to ECOWAS  that 
they are developing with regional technical networks, but in 
which  they  lack technical capacity. This would  complement 
other  medium-term assistance that we plan to give to ECOWAS 
in  the area of biotechnology. Finally, the incumbent  would 
support and coordinate national-level agribusiness proposals 
that  include promoting exports to the U.S. and EU, such  as 
one  currently  being  contemplated by  Ghana  for  its  MCA 
compact. 
 
Mechanism 
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5.  A mechanism already exists in the form of a PIO Grant to 
the World Bank for making USAID funds available to ECOWAS to 
implement this program, given that ECOWAS is not  yet  in  a 
position  to  directly administer USAID funds.  Through  the 
West  Africa  Trade  Hub, funded by  the  Presidential  TADE 
Initiative, USAID is already providing support to WAEMU  and 
to  national governments in the area of SPS.  In addition an 
APHIS  specialist provided by USDA is located in  USAID/WARP 
with  a mandate to develop Pest Risk Assessments for various 
crops that could be exported from the region to the U.S. 
 
ESF Request 
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6.    ESF  Request: $400,000 is requested for this  two-year 
program.   This  amount includes salary for  the  expert,  a 
locally  hired  program assistant, related office  equipment 
and  resources to hold a limited number of workshops in  the 
non-WAEMU  countries to which the SPS standards need  to  be 
extended. 
YATES