Africa-Press – Angola. Twenty-three tons of food products were, this Thursday, exported, for the first time, from Angola to the United States of America (USA), by the Angolan food processing company Food Care, under the scope of the American Food Law. Growth and Opportunities for Africa (AGOA).
The products include 23-kilogram bags of bombo meal, cornmeal, boxes of cassava, cooked kisaca, mushrooms and peanut butter.
Speaking to the press, the Minister Counselor of the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) and São Tomé and Príncipe, Mea Arnold, made it known that the initiative, in addition to representing the advantages of AGOA, is the result of the partnership between the company Food Care and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
AGOA gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 agricultural products.
According to Mea Arnold, the US government, through USAID, is helping countries in the Southern African region take advantage of AGOA through a regional program worth $31 million for African companies, such as Food Care, both from a financial point of view and technical assistance and business support to access the American market.
Mea Arnold stated that trade between Angola and the United States of America is historic and significant, with exports from one to the other based on crude oil, diamonds and gas, as opposed to agricultural production, which is why the promotion of economic diversification , through trade, as being promising.
In turn, the head of the production area of the Angolan company Food Care, Eunice Pedro, stressed that all agricultural products were properly sanitized using procedures related to food safety.
In turn, and at the end of the presentation of products to be exported, the head of the investment promotion and attraction department of the Investment and Export Promotion Agency (AIPEX), Bruno Baptista said that the agency is proud of the first export of food products to the American market and expects other companies to follow the same example as Food Care.
He reiterated that AIPEX will continue to support national companies to internationalize their businesses, promoting national exports and finding markets to sell their products, concluding that all companies can count on the agency’s support to reduce bureaucracy in any and all processes that have to to do with public administration.
The founder of the Angolan company Food Care, Marlene José, gave a brief history of her organization, which began its activities at national level in 2019 and only in 2021 came into contact with information about exporting national agricultural products across borders.
From 2022 onwards, he said that he received several training courses on the issue of exporting products to other markets, having knowledge of the practices, recommendations and rigor of how to process food for other international markets, especially the North American one.
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