The United States will host the fifteenth annual U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the AGOA Forum, on September 26, 2016, at the U.S. Department of State, in Washington, D.C. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the U.S. government's signature trade initiative with sub-Saharan Africa. The AGOA legislation mandates the annual AGOA Forum to foster close economic ties between the United States and its partners in sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s theme is “Maximizing AGOA Now while Preparing for the Future Beyond AGOA.”

The 2016 AGOA Forum will bring together African and American government officials, civil society, and private sector representatives to discuss current trade and investment relations and possibilities for future engagement. The AGOA Forum is timed to follow the President’s second U.S.-Africa Business Forum (USABF), which will take place in New York City on September 21.

As in past practice, the AGOA Forum will include a number of events on the margins of the ministerial. This year’s “side events,” incorporating private sector, civil society, and African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) stakeholders, will take place on September 22–23, 2016, at venues to be determined. Please contact the AGOA Civil Society Network for more information. This year, the U.S. Department of Labor will host a Ministerial Roundtable on the margins of the AGOA Forum in Washington on September 22–23, 2016. This Ministerial Roundtable will, for the first time, bring together a select group of trade and labor ministers from sub-Saharan Africa to support policy coordination.

Once finalized, the AGOA Forum program will be available at agoa.info/forum.