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| Prof Darryl R.O. Prevost |
The Green Africa Tour, an initiative of the CADIA Institutes and Academies in the United States of America was established to help expose the prospects offered under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA.
The AGOA, an initiative of the US Government in 2000 is meant to step-up trade between the United States of America and the African continent.
According to Prof Darryl R.O. Prevost, President AAADAC Alumni Clubs and Executive Director CADIA Institutes and Academies, the Green Africa Tour represents the development of a mature and direct supply chain of fair trade and organic products from Africa.
Prof Prevost, who is currently in Banjul, The Gambia to promote the Green Africa initiative, told journalists on Friday that “while the demand for such products is on the increase, it is our firm’s responsibility to ensure that the poor on both sides of the Atlantic benefit.”
“Our intent is to facilitate the growth of natural capitalism versus the commercialism and consumerism practiced by corporate criminal conglomerates,” he stressed.
He noted that the Green Africa–North America–EU ACP Tours Campaign spans from 2011-2020, however, he said at present, only the middle class and wealthy in the United States can afford to purchase environmentally Responsible and socially Respectful (eR/sR) products on a regular basis.
“The eR/sR Market is principled to encourage Non-Toxicity, Fair Trade, Local Benefit, Sustainable Harvesting and Processing, and Energy Conservation. These principles are to cover most operations surrounding a prospective “green” or eR/sR product,” he said. “These are the products and investment opportunities that the Green Africa Tour would be promoting.”
He also outlined that the CADIA Institutes and Academies under the Green Africa initiative have ten targets: Agriculture, Tourism, Information Technology, Textiles and pearls, Carbon credit issues among other things.
They are also focusing on capacity building, trade shows, delegate trade missions and exhibitions in order to better bring to light the many opportunities offered by the AGOA.
He blames the United States Government for failing to adequately expose the opportunities thereof in the AGOA to its trade partners in Africa.
Prof Prevost adds that the initiative is also aimed at establishing direct, purchasing agreements and sustainable initiatives with North American manufactures, investors, retailers, and processors.
“We can improve both the infrastructure of African markets and the competitiveness of the eR/sR market in the west. This tour is also designed to attract investors in Africa’s eR/sR capital improvement market,” he said.
“North America’s eR/sR market’s growth into a mass market is dependent on a robust fair-trade and sustainable supply chain of which only Africa can provide. Additionally, by definition fair trade requires that these products encourage micro-business development, fair pay, and just working conditions for suppliers and their employees.” He concluded that “the fulfillment of this equation for raw materials and finished products alike provide mutual benefits without the past stigma of exploitation and colonialist pretenses”.
- Author: Modou S. Joof, news editor – The Voice Newspaper
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