Members of USDA, Congress and President Barack Obama joined African heads of state and government leaders this week for the first-ever African Leaders summit to determine ways that would enhance trade between the US and Africa.
At the summit, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced four new partners in the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative and up to $1 billion in export credit guarantees to enhance trade—part of Obama’s Doing Business in Africa campaign.
USDA said the Ghana Open Data Initiative, Sierra Leone, IBM and Kellogg Company will join over 100 GODAN partners who work to make agricultural and nutritional data available, accessible and useable for unrestricted use worldwide.
“At its core, this Summit is about fostering stronger ties between the United States and Africa,” Vilsack said. “USDA looks forward to further partnering with African nations through the GODAN initiative, and with the new trade opportunities that new financing guarantees will make possible.”
Launched in October 2013, GODAN supports efforts to make agriculturally and nutritionally relevant data available for public global use to encourage collaboration and solve global problems.
