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As the EU-Southern African Development Community’s (Sadc’s) economic partnership agreement takes effect on Monday, the Obama administration has raised concerns that US companies have been left at a competitive disadvantage because of this country’s unwillingness to negotiate an equivalent trade deal with the US. In a briefing on Thursday, Laird Treiber, economic counsellor at the US embassy in Pretoria, characterised the disadvantage "significant", affecting "maybe a couple of hundred" products. US Trade Representative Michael Froman...

Angolan entrepreneurs should continue to make efforts to take greater advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), said last Thursday in Luanda the ambassador of the United States of America (USA) to Angola, Helen La Lime. The diplomat, who was speaking at a press conference held in the framework of Angola's participation in the Second Business Summit USA/Africa, which happened last September 26, in Washington, said that Angola has not yet taken full advantage of the relations it has established through AGOA. She said so far...

With the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum ending in Washington this week and the European Parliament approving further trade agreements with six African states earlier this month, the apparent race for African trade continues to intensify. This is no great surprise given the GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is expected to grow 30 percent faster than the rest of the world over the next five years. By 2030, the region will have a quarter of both the world’s workforce and consumers. However, if we are serious about wanting...

The United States government has asked the South African government to challenge an attempt by South African poultry and pork producers to once again block US imports of those products into South Africa. Health restrictions which had blocked the import of US poultry, pork and beef for many years were only lifted earlier this year after protracted negotiations between the two governments. The SA Poultry Association (SAPA) and SA Pork Producers Organisation (SAPPO) have gone to court seeking orders which would block the imports again. SAPA...

The United States government has asked the government to challenge an attempt by South African poultry and pork producers to once again block US imports of those products. Health restrictions that had blocked the import of US poultry, pork and beef for many years were lifted only earlier this year after protracted negotiations between the two governments. The SA Poultry Association (SAPA) and SA Pork Producers Organisation (SAPPO) have gone to court seeking orders to block the imports again. SAPA and SAPPO said lifting the health...

The US- Africa African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, which took place from September 22-26, 2016, in Washington DC, USA, was an opportunity for both African countries and the US to reflect on the gains made under AGOA to date. This was especially important as indications point to the current iteration of AGOA being the last one ahead of a new trade dispensation between the US and Africa from 2025 onwards, punctuated by reciprocal trading relations. Lesotho is one of the countries that has benefitted and continues to benefit...

The United States poultry industry has warned that South Africa could once again lose its trade free access for many exports to the market if South African poultry and pork producers get a court injunction to block US chicken imports. US Poultry and Egg Export Council (Usapeec) president James Sumner said that if the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and SA Pork Producers Organisation (Sappo) won their court case “it probably would – and should – trigger another out-of-cycle review under Agoa”. The African Growth and...

On 22-26 September, African and US ministers, trade officials, civil society, and business sector representatives gathered in Washington D.C. to discuss the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) at the 15th AGOA Forum. Held once a year, the event gives all stakeholders the opportunity to exchange on potential avenues for enhancing US-Africa economic ties. The AGOA is a unilateral scheme of preferences which was first established in 2000, and has constituted since then the cornerstone of trade relations between the...

The African Ministers of Trade tabled an Africa position in the 15th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, held on 26 September 2016 in Washington DC, United States. The position is on the report titled “Beyond Agoa: Looking to the future of the U.S. – Africa Trade and Investment” issued by the US on 22 September 2016, as required by Congress in line with the AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act of 2015. The Forum is an annual event that alternates between Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States; the 16th Forum will be...

America has been rather late coming to the pan-African party.  It was only 2014 – some 14 years after China and Europe, and 21 years after Japan – that it created a forum for showcasing its engagement with all of Africa, in the form of President Barack Obama’s US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington. But the United States (US) thinks it’s actually been doing just as much for Africa as the others, if not more, and for just as long – if not longer. After all, officials will tell you, it was in 2000 – the same...

Kenya is lobbying against the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) between US and 12 Asian states for fear of losing the current preferential access under African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The country joined other trade ministers from African countries at this year’s Agoa forum in Washington to urge the US to reconsider the move as it will make the goods coming from Africa uncompetitive in the market. Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo told the Business Daily that the preferences that Kenya enjoys will be...

America has been rather late coming to the pan-African party. It was only 2014 – some 14 years after China and Europe, and 21 years after Japan – that it created a forum for showcasing its engagement with all of Africa, in the form of President Barack Obama’s US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington. But the United States (US) thinks it’s actually been doing just as much for Africa as the others, if not more, and for just as long – if not longer. After all, officials will tell you, it was in 2000 – the same year...

Authority: Title I, Section 112(b)(3) of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA 2000), Public Law (Pub. L.) 106-200, as amended by Division B, Title XXI, section 3108 of the Trade Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107-210; Section 7(b)(2) of the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108-274; Division D, Title VI, section 6002 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA 2006), Pub.L. 109-432, and section 1 of The African Growth and Opportunity Amendments (Pub. L. 112-163), August 10, 2012; Presidential Proclamation 7350 of October 2, 2000...

Whether the next president of the United States is former first lady Hilary Clinton or business magnate Donald Trump, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) is set to remain in place until 2025. This is according to Delaware Senator Christopher Coons, the man who pushed for South Africa to be part of the renewal of Agoa. "I don't expect, after this election, either president to go back and sort of reach in Agoa and tear it up," Coons told a small group of South African journalists ahead of the first presidential debate between...

Today, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman led the U.S. delegation at the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Economic Cooperation Forum (AGOA Forum). This year’s AGOA Forum brought together government officials, civil society leaders, and business representatives from the United States and across Africa to discuss the current state of the US-Africa trade and investment relationship, highlight policies to maximize African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) utilization, and explore potential pathways to update the U.S.-Africa trade and investment...

African Trade Ministers have tabled the continent's position in the 15th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, says the Department of Trade and Industry. The position is on the report titled, "Beyond AGOA: Looking to the future of the US - Africa Trade and Investment," issued by the US on 22 September 2016, as required by Congress in line with the AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act of 2015. The Ministers said they consider the report as a start of a conversation on trade and investment relationship beyond AGOA. The African...

[As delivered] Thanks very much. Good morning esteemed Ministers and heads of delegations from our AGOA Partner Countries, Secretaries-General and Commissioners of the Regional Economic Communities, Honorable Members of Congress, U.S. Government colleagues. It’s great to see so many friends here from the private sector, civil society, from our YALI program, who we have worked so closely with over the last several years. As I have learned from all of you, ‘All protocol observed.’ As we open this final AGOA Forum of the Obama...

California’s Silicon Valley is nearly 10,000 miles from Kenya’s Silicon Savannah but they share a role as innovation hubs for their respective countries. Just as Silicon Valley has transformed business in the United States, Silicon Savannah entrepreneurs are now helping Kenya leapfrog development challenges and plug into the twenty-first-century global economy. Thousands of new apps – such as M-Pesa, a mobile-payment platform that has economically empowered women, rural populations, and small businesses, and M-Farm, a women-developed...

Uganda risks being phased out of African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) deal if it bans the importation of used clothes, Daily Monitor has learnt. African Growth and Opportunity Act is a United States Trade Act which allows market access to the US from selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, including Uganda. In a courtesy call to the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga recently, the US ambassador to Uganda, Ms Deborah R Malac, discouraged the move to ban used clothes on the grounds that it could jeopardise free trade between...

Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies has arrived in Washington DC for the 15th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. The AGOA Forum is an annual forum that takes place on an alternating basis between sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. The one-day forum will take place on Monday, 26 September. The 14th forum was hosted by Gabon in 2015. Under the theme, 'Maximising US-Africa Trade and Investment: AGOA and Beyond', the forum will focus on the implementation of AGOA utilisation strategies, as well as the US-sub-Saharan...

Kenya is aligning policies and labour laws to global best practices in production, EAC, Commerce and Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie has said. Ms Kandie said the move is aimed at reaping maximum benefits under the extended African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) trade agreements. Speaking at the Agoa Labour and Trade Ministerial meeting in Washington, DC, Ms Kandie said workers’ rights was key to successful implementation of trade agreements. Participants said while the Agoa pact does not specifically require affected...

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, made the assertion while leading the Nigerian delegation to the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act Ministerial Roundtable taking place at the Department of Labour Building Washington D.C, United States. Nigeria has urged the United States of America to demonstrate stronger commitment to improved economic ties with African nations through balanced trade relations. Nigeria argued that the sudden stoppage of import of the Nigerian crude oil by the United States was antithetical to the...

Today I had the honor of welcoming a distinguished group of leaders from 14 African nations to the 2016 African Growth and Opportunity Act Labor and Trade Ministerial. AGOA authorizes the president to designate countries as eligible to receive preferential trade benefits if they are determined, among other criteria, to have established, or are making continual progress toward establishing, the protection of internationally recognized worker rights and the elimination of certain child labor practices. The goal of programs like AGOA is not...

This week, the US is hosting African countries for the annual African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) forum under the theme "Maximising Agoa now while preparing for the future beyond Agoa". The act, a unilateral development programme offering African countries duty-free access for select exports to the US, is set to expire in 2025. The forum will discuss how African countries can maximise its benefits until the programme expires and consider economic engagement after that. SA should use this opportunity to explore how future trade and...

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesperson For Immediate Release NOTICE TO THE PRESS September 22, 2016 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum 2016 On September 26, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will deliver opening remarks for the 2016 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum.  Since 2000, AGOA has been the cornerstone of U.S. economic policy in Africa.   The annual AGOA Forum serves as the premier event that...

Kenya will push for a 500 per cent increase in exports to the American market during the upcoming African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum. State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said yesterday the country will be looking into ways to maximise the agreement's benefits - as out of the Sh300 billion potential, its exports are worth just about Sh50 billion. "Yes, we are making greater use of the agreement but there is still a lot that can be done to improve the trade balance," said Mr Esipisu. He said Industrialisation Cabinet...

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, has charged non-oil exporters to maximise the full potential of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), saying it will help the Federal Government in achieving its diversification goal and improve the economy. Speaking at an interactive session with non-oil exporters in Lagos, the NEPC Regional Coordinator, South West, Mr. Babatunde Faleke said the best to grow naira was to improve on the volume of non-oil exports in with AGOA offer more opportunity in term of profit. Faleke said: “AGOA is...

Most months, Mamoleboheng Mopooane’s paycheck passes through her hands like water. There are her children’s school fees and groceries, rent, winter jackets, and the open palms of unemployed relatives back home asking again and again if she can spare just a little something, anything, to help them get by. All of that is a lot to ask of the $100 she earns every month stitching seams into American bluejeans at a garment factory here, and most of the time, the days trail out long after the money is gone, a quietly ticking countdown to the...