Africa trade office opens in Maryland: one of the early spin-offs of the election of Barack Obama has been the opening of an Africa Trade Office in Maryland to promote US-Africa trade.

Jack B. Johnson, the Prince George's County executive, and Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, a member of the US Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, officially opened the Africa Trade Office (ATO) at a ribbon cutting-ceremony in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Funded by a $400,000 federal grant, the new office is designed to expand trade between Africa and smalland medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Maryland, particularly in Prince George's County (PGC) and surrounding jurisdictions. The ATO will offer a number of services, including specialised training programmes, workshops, seminars, one-on-one counselling, the evaluation of business needs, and business assistance support for access to capital.

"The establishment of this office will advance bilateral trade and commerce between Africa and county businesses, while adding more jobs and investment opportunities to our county," said Johnson, a long-time advocate of increasing trade between Africa and the United States.

Initially, the trade office will focus on nine countries including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Mote African countries will be added in 2009.

"Its proximity to the federal government makes it well positioned as a hub for international commerce," said Senator Cardin. "It is vital during these tough economic times that we do everything possible to expand markets for American goods and services."

According to the Foreign Trade Statistics Division of the US Census Bureau, between January and October 2008, the US imported $8.76bn worth of goods from Africa and exported $5.3bn. Situated south of Washington DC, the ATO will also focus on fostering a business and trade climate that will increase the number of partnership agreements between large US companies, US government agencies and NGOs. In addition, it will market international office and warehouse space to companies interested in a lower-cost market-entry option to the US market.

Efforts are also underway at the ATO to bypass Europe and increase direct shipping between Maryland's Baltimore port and other harbours in Africa, including Gambia's Banjul port and the Sekondi-Takoradi port in Ghana.

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Joseph Stoddard, CEO and founder of IMG, an SME specialising in the importation of marble and granite for the US construction industry, says the opening of the trade office is, for him, a dream come true. "I bring in stones from Brazil and India and now I will be able to bring in stones from Africa. I will have help in developing business relationships with Ethiopia, Cameroon and other countries outside of the ones I am trading with now," says Stoddard.

Remi Duyile, CEO of the Image Consulting Group, in Hyattsville PGC, added: "This is an historic moment for me, being a Nigerian-American who has been here for seven years. I am looking forward to making sure that our African and African-American brothers and sisters take advantage of this opportunity."