Announcement of the United States Trade and Investment Mission to Africa

The President today announced that Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige and Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block will lead a U.S. trade and investment mission to Africa January 8-22, 1982, in support of the administration's commitment to advance U.S. economic relations with developing countries.

The mission will include the chief executive officers of 30 U.S. firms interested in doing business in Africa. Other government members of the mission will be Lionel H. Olmer, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade; Robert Hormats, Assistant Secretary of State; William H. Draper III, President and Chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank; Craig A. Nalen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and Elise dupont, Assistant Administrator, Bureau of Private Enterprise, Agency for International Development.

The mission will visit Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Morocco. Participants will meet with government officials and business executives in the four countries.

United States exports to Africa now account for 4 percent of total U.S. exports, and U.S. investment in Africa is 3.2 percent of total U.S. foreign investment.