A trade pact between the United States and sub-Sahara Africa seeks to grow ties for Africa, the United States and other markets, UPI quoted President Obama as saying Monday. The creation of Trade Africa was announced as Obama wraps up his three-country visit to Africa in Tanzania. Trade Africa will initially focus on the East African Community states -- Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda -- which represent a market with significant opportunity for U.S. exports and investment, the White House said in a fact sheet. Intra-EAC trade has doubled in the past five years, and the region's gross domestic product has risen to more than $80 billion, quadrupling in only 10 years. The five states of the EAC, with a population of more than 130 million people, have increasingly stable and pro-business regulations. They are home to promising local enterprises that are forming creative partnerships with multinational companies. And EAC countries are benefiting from the emergence of an educated, globalized middle class.
