2007 Press Releases
Press Release
Transnational Automotive Group - Cameroon wins the U.S. Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence
Yaounde, November 6, 2007
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on November 6, 2007, will present the Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to two American companies for outstanding corporate citizenship, innovation and exemplary international business practices. The two award winners this year are Transnational Automotive Group in Cameroon (TAuG-C), in the category of Small to Medium-Size Enterprises (SME), and General Electric in Indonesia, in the category of Multinational Enterprises (MNE). Secretary Rice will present the award in a ceremony from Washington transmitted live via digital videoconference to Yaounde and Jakarta. Henrietta H. Fore, Under Secretary of State for Management, will moderate the three-way ceremony. In attendance will be Congressional staff, the Diplomatic Corps, and leaders from the business, NGO and academic communities.
In Washington, Chairman and CEO of Transnational Automotive Group, Inc., Dr. Ralph J. Thomson will accept the award for TAuG-C, while TAuG President, African Operations S. Lal Karsanbhai and General Manager Bokwe Mofor will represent the company during the simultaneous digital video broadcast of the ceremony, at the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde. Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brackett Denniston will accept the ACE award in Washington for GE, and GE Southeast Asia President Stuart L. Dean will accept the honors for GE in Jakarta. Ambassador Janet E. Garvey will preside over the Yaounde ceremony at the U.S. Embassy.
The Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE), established by the State Department in 1999, recognizes the important role U.S. businesses play abroad as good corporate citizens. The Award sends a strong signal of the Department's commitment to further exemplary practices worldwide and amplifies the Department’s total economic engagement and transformational diplomacy efforts.
U.S. companies are nominated by Chiefs of Mission worldwide. The winners are chosen by the Interagency Principals’ ACE Selection Committee, chaired by the Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs. The two winning companies for 2007 were selected from a field of 62 nominees all over the world.
TAu-G launched its Yaounde urban bus line service “Le Bus” on September 25, 2006, followed by its inter-urban Yaounde-Douala line, “Le Car,” in December 2006.
For further information, please contact the Information Section of the U.S. Embassy, Yaounde, Tel 22-20-15-00, x4162 or x4273.