On November 4, 2023, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves met with Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition of South Africa Ebrahim Patel at the 20th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. Deputy Secretary Graves expressed his deep appreciation for Minister Patel’s leadership as host of the highly successful AGOA Forum. During their meeting the two echoed the broad consensus among Forum participants that timely AGOA reauthorization, along with complementary commercial partnership efforts, will be critical to the success of the U.S.-Africa partnership. They agreed to further the U.S.-South Africa bilateral commercial relationship in areas such as digital services, clean energy technologies and their value chains, including critical minerals, two-way trade featuring the Diaspora firms with a focus on cosmetics and creative industries, and cooperation on standards.