Last August a trade delegation including members of the U.S. Congress and 25 U.S. companies traveled to Ghana's capital Accra to discuss investment opportunities. And another trade and investment exhibition in Ghana for U.S. businesses is already scheduled for September, where Ghanian and other west African businesses will showcase their products in order to attract U.S. investors and import partners, reported Ghanian daily The Accra Mail November 2001.

The Gold Coast is only one of many places U.S. and European investors are evaluating, with other

potential partners including the continent's economic powerhouse, South Africa, the tiny but stable Bulge of Africa state Senegal, mineral-rich Guinea and the petroleum-rich Gulf of Guinea states -- Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome-Principe and Gabon. Other states like Mozambique are also quickly gaining a reputation as reliable trade partners, though their location makes them more likely to focus on Asian rather than Western investors.

The Push for Infrastructure

The single greatest hindrance to trade in Africa is logistics and

especially transportation infrastructure. Most states lack a well-developed national transportation system and do not have a coherent and integrated inter-operability policy with neighboring states, interconnectivity between ports, railroads and airports and intermodal transportation capabilities.

That may be about to change. Some states like Ghana and Nigeria are working, with the stamp of approval from U.S. investors, on resolving some of these problems and modernizing their transportation and especially their port facilities.