US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI712

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000712 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF, AF/E, AF/EPS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EAID, EFIN, DJ 
SUBJECT: COMMERCE MINISTER'S REVIEW OF AGOA FORUM 
 
1. (U) Summary: Ambassador called on Minister of Commerce, 
Rifki Abdoulkader Bamakhrama, 26 July to discuss his 
impressions of the AGOA Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Bamakhrama 
was pleased with his experience in Dakar and said while it 
was a very intense schedule, it was very educational and 
useful. He noted that he had the chance to meet with several 
persons from the official U.S. delegation, including Cindy 
Courville, State, and Kevin Boyd from Commerce. Bamakhrama 
spoke also to Rosa Whittaker and Mark Newman, who expressed 
interest in a salt exportation project he proposed. He said 
his main goals for the forum, outside of learning about AGOA, 
were to seek support for a marketing study for salt 
exportation, implementation of an artisan village, and 
financial assistance for the 2006 COMESA Summit to be held in 
Djibouti. End Summary. 
 
2. (U) Ambassador, accompanied by Pol/Econ and Pol Assistant, 
met July 26 with Minister of Commerce Rifki Abdoulkader 
Bamakhrama to discuss the Minister's experience at the AGOA 
Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Bamakhrama said the Forum was 
well-organized, intense, and very useful. Aside from learning 
about AGOA, he was there to explore options for three 
upcoming projects in Djibouti: exportation of salt, creation 
of an artisan village to sell and promote Djiboutian crafts, 
and acquisition of financial assistance in support of the 
2006 COMESA summit to be held in Djibouti. He mentioned he 
met with Cindy Courville, Mark Newman of Limited Brands, Rosa 
Whittaker, and Kevin Boyd from the U.S. Department of 
Commerce. He stated that his meetings all went very well. He 
was impressed with his meeting with Cindy Courville, as she 
was already knowledgeable about the salt project Djibouti 
would like to pursue. On this point, he was informed the 
American market was very interested in the type of product 
Djibouti could offer - bath salts and medicinal salts. 
Bamakhrama said Courville mentioned companies such as Target 
would be very interested in salts from Djibouti. 
 
3. (U) Bamakhrama also spoke with a USAID representative 
concerning the project for the artisan village. He said this 
conversation also yielded positive results in that the 
representative would be coming to Djibouti in early August to 
examine the project and work on the concept with the Ministry 
of Commerce. During this conversation, Bamakhrama also asked 
the USAID representative for assistance in preparing the 
COMESA Summit, which will be held in Djibouti in November 
2006. Bamakhrama did not indicate that he received a response 
during that meeting. 
 
4. (U) Concerning his general impression of the Forum and its 
organization, Bamakhrama noted that it was well-planned, but 
offered two points of disappointment. He commented there was 
a room set aside at the Forum for meeting with American 
Businesses that could be potential partners. Requests for 
this room had to be scheduled in advance of the Forum, but, 
he said, there was no mention of this particular opportunity 
in the information given to them upon arrival. Bamakhrama 
also noted there were more sessions dedicated to Governments 
than for private sector and civil society, two areas of which 
he would have liked to attend more. He commented the days 
were also very long and intense with so many seminars to 
attend with each one telling participants theirs was better 
than others. 
 
5. (U) Commenting generally on AGOA for Djibouti, Bamakhrama 
said there were more opportunities in AGOA than just salt. 
For example, arts, crafts, volcanic geodes, and perlite - an 
important component for the petrochemical industry. He 
continued that for Djibouti to take advantage of AGOA and 
trade with the U.S., it wanted to diversify its exportable 
products, learn about U.S. procedures and taxes, and know the 
U.S. market well. He also said the Ministry would like to 
have a list of companies that would be interested in having 
our products. Bamakhrama added there were many things that 
Djibouti could do that are being done in other African 
countries, such as assembly of clothing items. He said the 
next step for Djibouti was to identify what can be exported, 
talk to partner businesses, and do a mission to the U.S. to 
really learn how to work with the U.S. market. 
 
6. (U) Ambassador thanked the Minister for his brief and 
indicated that the Embassy would like to assist him and 
Djibouti as much as it can to take advantage of opportunities 
offered by AGOA. She noted that she had already been in 
contact with a key State Department person on possible 
American links in the bath salt industry (AF/EPS Ada Adler) 
and would follow-up. She also noted continuing obstacles in 
Djibouti to full foreign business participation such as high 
salaries and the high cost of energy that must be overcome. 
These were obstacles the Minister believed Djibouti could 
overcome. He expressed appreciation in advance for assistance 
the Embassy can render. 
RAGSDALE