CBP Working to Open Foreign Market Access in Africa, CBP Official Says

CBP is working with several African countries to improve their ports and customs agencies and to increase trade with the U.S., said Tasha Reid Hippolyte, director of CBP’s Africa, Middle East and Central Asia Division, speaking during the agency’s Trade Symposium in Chicago on July 24.

CBP's goal, together with the president’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, is to drive more investment and trade into Africa and open up more markets for U.S. companies, Hippolyte said. CBP is specifically focused on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Niger and Tunisia. “There was a gaping hole” in Africa’s trade enforcement, Hippolyte said. “We want to enhance their ability ... to develop policies, institutional structures, procedural systems to be able to deliver effective, transparent trade services.”

CBP’s project first focused on Ghana customs’ “inbound shipment points,” which are monitored by Ghanaian police and marred by “bribery and corruption,” Hippolyte said. CBP recently worked with Ghana to reduce the corrupt checkpoints by "30 percent," Hippolyte said. “It really gave momentum to the Ghanaians to see that they themselves could begin putting in those procedures.” Hippolyte said CBP is next focused on creating a specialized customs center in Ghana that will be the “first of its kind in Africa. It will help all those folks who have touch points as it relates to border security and trade enforcement.” Hippolyte said more information will be released when the center opens in “the next several months.”

Hippolyte also said Kenya is working on passing legislation that would create an agency similar to CBP. “We’re hoping for more investment and trade into Africa to help with the stability, but also to open up market access for U.S. companies,” Hippolyte said.

CBP’s goal is to expand these projects into more African countries and perhaps beyond, Hippolyte said. She said she hopes the project can be mimicked in the Northern Triangle countries of Central America, where CBP is also working to expand market access (see 1907230058). She also stressed that CBP wants feedback from U.S. companies on countries in Africa the agency should target for trade opportunities. “If we have those conversations going forward, I think we’ll have more of a robust plan of action,” she said.