USDA accepting applications for trade mission to North Africa

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is recruiting interested U.S. exporters for its first 2020 trade mission, which will take place in Casablanca, Morocco, March 16 to 19. The mission will focus on boosting U.S. agricultural exports to all of North Africa and will include interested buyers not just from Morocco, but from Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia as well.

This will be the second USDA trade mission to Africa within six months, supporting the Administration’s Prosper Africa initiative to foster two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa. With North Africa’s growing demand for food and feed products, the region is fertile ground for U.S. agricultural export sales.

Morocco, in particular, is a promising market thanks to the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement and the country’s high-quality infrastructure and stable economy. Morocco is ranked by the World Bank as the second-easiest place in the Middle East and North Africa to do business and, in 2018, the country imported $595 million of U.S. agricultural and related products.

While in Casablanca, trade mission delegates will participate in business-to-business meetings with potential customers coordinated by local staff from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). FAS and industry trade experts will also guide participants through in-depth briefings and site visits to provide insights into exporting to the region.

The deadline to apply for the North Africa trade mission is Jan. 16. For additional information, visit https://www.fas.usda.gov/topics/trade-missions or email[email protected].

Additional USDA trade missions planned for 2020 include:

• Philippines, April 20-23;

• Spain and Portugal, June 8-11;

• United Kingdom, Sept. 14-17;

• Australia and New Zealand, Oct. 19-23;

• Peru, Nov. 2-5; and

• United Arab Emirates, Nov. 15-18.