Botswana - UPDATED National AGOA Strategy (2021)
The National AGOA Response Strategy provides a key guiding framework on strategic areas of interventions that would allow for Botswana to broaden and deepen its use of the AGOA preference program. This [updated] Strategy, therefore, seeks to ensure that the country remains on course to developing Botswana’s export and manufacturing sectors. As an update to the initial AGOA National Response Strategy that was launched in September 2017, there are various parts this updated strategy that represent substantive and material changes that are in line with the government’s policy focus and challenges faced by private sector.
To that end, the revision of Botswana’s AGOA National Response Strategy drew on extensive consultations with various parts of government – including state departments and implementing agencies –, as well as private sector associations, individual firms, parastatals, women’s groups and other stakeholders. The views solicited responded to the key result areas of the Strategy, as well as new areas that warrant focus in line with changes in the economy, and the needs of the private sector. As expected, a great portion of the original content of the Strategy remained relevant and spoke to the existing and on-going challenges facing the private sector in particular, and the economy in general. These included the need to enhance competitiveness and productivity, creating awareness of AGOA, improving logistics and reducing transport costs, among others. There were relative successes in implementing some aspects of the strategy, and less so in others.
As such, the Botswana AGOA National Response Strategy required further revision.
Overall, Botswana’s AGOA Utilization Strategy is partitioned into five key sections. The first Section is an introductory background of AGOA and its broader benefits. Section Two is a synthesis of Botswana’s economic and business environment, including the country’s export trends to the U.S. Section Three discusses cross-cutting issues that are affecting various industry sectors. Section 4 reflects on both the general implementation plan and the sector specific plans of the AGOA National Utilization Strategy. Section Five outlines the revised institutional structure, and Section 6 provides the conclusions.
Read related news articles
Namibia: Trade ministry and USAID TradeHub bring AGOA capacity building into focus
Last year, Namibia launched its AGOA Utilisation Strategy with the objective of diversifying and increasing its exports to the United States of America under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The strategy chiefly seeks to assist Namibia to develop its competitiveness in utilising the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that provides eligible countries with duty free access to the lucrative USA market. Now, Namibia...
06 June 2022
Botswana: Government acts as AGOA exports hit zero
Government is hoping its newly revitalised strategy for the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) reaps dividends after revelations that exports by local companies under the trade deal have been at zero since 2019 end. AGOA is a trade arrangement between the US and sub-Saharan African countries, including Botswana, which runs till 2025 and provides relaxed access to the American market. From a peak of P1.8 billion in AGOA exports by...
04 June 2021
Namibia launches AGOA strategy to increase tariff-free exports to the United States
Today, U.S. Ambassador Lisa Johnson joined Minister of Industrialisation and Trade Lucia Iipumbu to officially launch Namibia’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Utilization Strategy. The strategy seeks to increase Namibia’s exports under the AGOA program, which allows Namibia to export over 6,400 products tariff-free to the United States. This joint effort to develop the AGOA strategy is part of the United States’ efforts to...
11 May 2021
US and Botswana MITI launch revised AGOA Utilization Strategy to improve economic growth in Botswana
On April 29, the Embassy of the United States of America joined the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) and other stakeholders to launch the revised strategy (see link to download) at the Hilton Garden Inn in Gaborone. U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Botswana, Craig L. Cloud, joined Minister Mmusi Kgafela to formally launch the strategy. Also present were the USAID Representative to Botswana, Ms....
03 May 2021
Botswana: AGOA dream dims for local textile sector
Local textile and apparel producers appear to be giving up hope of exporting to the United States under the duty-free AGOA provisions, preferring instead to focus on the local and regional markets, BusinessWeek has established. AGOA is a trade arrangement between the US and sub-Saharan Africa running till 2025 and providing relaxed access to the American market. Textiles are Botswana’s primary export under AGOA. From a peak of P1.8...
30 August 2019
Uganda: Government working on new AGOA strategy
Uganda will, before the end of April, reportedly launch a national strategy that will identify key products that Uganda can leverage on to improve its exports to US. The strategy, whose formulation started in 2016, seeks to among others, identify five key products that can influence Uganda’s penetration into the US market. Ms Suzan Muhwezi, the head of Agoa Secretariat, said the strategy has already been tabled before...
15 April 2019
Botswana: Textile sector upbeat, despite AGOA export collapse
The country’s textile and apparel exports to the United States under AGOA, fell to just $3,000 (P32,100) in 2018, the first numbers showing the impact of the relocation to Lesotho of the last exporting firm. Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act’s duty and quota free provision, Botswana textile firms were shipping off P1.8 billion in stock to the US at the peak in 2008. Becky Geiger, an international trade specialist in the US...
22 March 2019
Sierra Leone to launch its AGOA response strategy
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an initiative of the United States Government, allows low-income countries to access the US market on very favourable trade terms. The implementation of the new AGOA Strategy will allow Sierra Leone to benefit from duty free access to US markets when exporting products produced in the country. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in collaboration with the International Growth...
11 February 2019
New Ethiopia AGOA strategy in full swing
The USAID Hub’s lead African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) strategy consultant is in Ethiopia this week to gather supply-side information and conduct a sector analysis for a new Ethiopia National AGOA Strategy. The Ethiopian government requested the Hub to provide technical assistance on the Strategy, which will set strategic actions and targets for significant growth in exports from Ethiopia to the United States by 2025. The Hub began...
17 January 2019
USAID supports Kenya’s AGOA strategy to double duty-free exports by 2023
Kenya’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives has launched the Kenya National African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Strategy and Action Plan (2018-2023) alongside Kenya’s National Export Development and Promotion Strategy. The new National AGOA Strategy outlines actions for priority sectors to increase the country’s exports to the U.S. by 10.4 percent annually. In 2017, Kenya exported goods worth $572 million to the...
31 July 2018
Kenya: New national export strategy seeks to grow exports to KSh 1.3t by 2022
The Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Hon. Peter Munya has lauded the 2nd Kenya Trade Week and Exposition forum at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). Speaking at the opening ceremony on Monday, the CS lauded the forum for bringing together both private and public sector players to chat ways of bridging Kenya’s imports and exports gap. He emphasised the importance of Buy Kenya, Build Kenya which aims...
31 July 2018