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The United States government is keen on increasing trade between her and Ghana to the benefit of the two economies. The visiting US Trade Representative, Mr Ron Kirk, said while the US was devoted to expanding its markets across the world, particularly to developing economies with stable democracies such as Ghana, deepening trade and investment in the country would also create jobs and improve incomes in Ghana and other African countries. �The US government is committed to partnering with Africa to increase trade. Our two-way trade with Ghana increased by 56 per cent in 2011 over the previous year, but we recognise that US$2 billion volume of trade is negligible and there is more potential for improvement,� the visiting US Trade Representative and Cabinet Minister in the Obama Administration told a section of business journalists in Accra. He was in Ghana as part of efforts by the US government to deepen trade and political relations with Ghana and Africa. U.S. trade with Africa has grown in the past decade, increasing from less than US$7 billion in 2001 to more than US$21 billion last year. On June 14, US President Mr Barack Obama signed a Presidential Policy Directive unveiling a new US strategy, �US Strategy Toward sub-Saharan Africa�, that focuses on democracy, economic growth, peace and development for sub-Saharan Africa. For the next few years, the US will have four areas of attention, namely strengthen democratic institutions; spur economic growth, trade, and investment; advance peace and security; and promote opportunity and development. Although trade between the US and Ghana has increased over the last three years, the feat has been buoyed mainly by oil exports from Ghana, with Africa Growth and Opportunity (AGOA) eligible products, which directly affects the incomes of the ordinary Ghanaian, contributing only negligibly of a little over US$450,000 last year. The West Africa Trade Hub, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been implementing a number of projects since 2007 to work with export-ready small to medium Ghanaian companies to build their competitiveness and capacity to enable them to export to the United States. The WATH has also been working in West African countries to remove trade barriers in order to increase intra-West African trade, which is a necessary forum to build the competitive capacity of local companies to enhance their ability to produce and export to the US market. Mr Kirk commended Ghana for being on the right path to development, saying, �investors look for stability and good rule of law and Ghana is doing this � it is on the sweet path.� He was quick to add, however, that barriers to trade within West Africa was not good for business and economic growth and encouraged Ghana to continue to implement reforms to keep investor confidence in the country. Ambassador Kirk said America was only not looking at how her companies could invest on Ghana, but there were some giant Ghanaian firms that could also set up operations in the United States.