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Gabon will be the first Central African country to host the AGOA Forum, which meets August 24-27 in Libreville, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department. The 2015 African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum will provide an opportunity to celebrate the recent reauthorization of AGOA, take stock of AGOA’s successes over the last 15 years and launch a dialogue on the future of U.S.-Africa trade, the State Department said. Senior officials from the U.S. will travel to Gabon to meet with officials from 39 AGOA member countries,...

Africa’s rise challenges the imagination. During the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies. During the next five years, the region’s GDP is expected to grow 30% faster than that of the rest of the world. And, during the next 35 years, the continent will account for more than half of the world’s population growth, according to the United Nations. These trends will give African countries a more prominent role on the world stage, and provide new opportunities for people to better...

An Africa-US forum in Gabon this week will celebrate the recent extension of the preferential trade programme -- the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act -- and initiate what an Obama administration official describes as "a strategic conversation" about US-Africa trade relations. President Barack Obama last month signed into law a 10-year extension of Agoa. A long-term renewal had been the top Agoa priority of African countries that have benefited from the 15-year-old programme. It allows almost all products from eligible sub-Saharan nations...

On August 24-27, 2015, Gabon and the United States will co-host the U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. AGOA is the centerpiece of the United States government's trade policy with sub-Saharan Africa. The 2015 Forum marks the 14th year that government officials, business leaders, and civil society from African countries and the United States will convene to promote trade, business, and investment opportunities that sustain economic development in...

On August 24-27, the United States and Gabon will co-host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Libreville, Gabon.  Recently reauthorized by the U.S. Congress for an additional ten years, AGOA has been the cornerstone of the U.S. government’s trade policy with sub-Saharan Africa since 2000. The theme of this year’s Forum is “AGOA at 15:  Charting a Course for a Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership.”  The 2015 Forum will celebrate the recent reauthorization and the important role of...

The United States is growing increasingly impatient with South Africa over its apparent foot-dragging allowing American meat products into the country. South Africa’s continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – which allows millions of dollars of South African exports into the lucrative US market duty-free — largely depends on it lifting health restrictions on US beef, pork and chicken imports. The US Congress earlier this year extended AGOA – which was due to expire in September – for another ten...

The extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) may have occurred over a month ago, but US poultry and pork exporters say they have yet to receive a break under the agreement. And at least one trade group has called for limits on the participation of South Africa, AGOA’s biggest beneficiary. The extension means that sub-Saharan African exporters will continue, at least until 30 September 2025, to be able to export to the US duty free. Also, the US has expanded low-duty access for the region’s exporters under the USA’s...

African countries have been urged to maximise investment opportunities offered by the 10-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) by the US Government. United States Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Ms Florizelle Liser, made the call yesterday in a tele-conference with journalists across Africa ahead of the ‘2015 AGOA Forum’ scheduled to hold in Libreville, Gabon, from August 24 to August 27, 2015. She reiterated the US Government’s commitment towards making AGOA more viable in the next decade....

The African Growth and Opportunities Act is much more than a simple trade agreement, top US officials said this week as they prepare to meet later this month in Gabon for a summit on the US-Africa agreement. AGOA was recently renewed for 10 years by the U.S. Congress. The act, which was originally signed in 2000, provides 39 sub-Saharan African nations with liberal access to the U.S. market. But, says Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, it also allows the U.S. to export many of its intangible...

McKinsey & Company says the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) -- US Trade Act which significantly enhances market access to America for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries - as well as ‘certain steps’ taken by the Government has contributed to the rising interest in the country as a potential sourcing destination for apparel. The authors reached this conclusion after visiting garment factories; interviewing players, including manufacturers and buyers; and analysing market data. They also conducted...

Ever more US interests are trying to use the new and improved African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to leverage policy concessions out of South Africa, seemingly undeterred by a “breakthrough” deal on chicken imports in June. An “out-of-cycle” review of South Africa’s Agoa eligibility kicked off in Washington last week with a public hearing last Friday and a second round of public submissions got published this last week. The US pharmaceutical, information and communication technology (ICT) and private security industries...

South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry is not going to pander to any side when it comes to its intellectual property policy, director-general Lionel October said on Thursday. The American Chamber of Commerce in SA (AmCham) has urged the US trade representative to use its review of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to pressure SA’s government to change the draft policy in favour of US companies. AmCham represents 250 companies operating in SA, including several multinational pharmaceutical firms that were involved in...

Constantly changing trade requirements imposed by SA on US goods undermine beneficial opportunities for agricultural producers and consumers in both countries, says a US government official. Speaking at a conference on Thursday, US Deputy Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden cited the avian flu issue as the latest excuse undermining efforts to move forward. Last week sceptical US officials demanded further evidence that Pretoria was ready to lift disease-related bans on US poultry, beef and pork. This emerged at last Friday’s public...

South Africa’s eligibility for ongoing inclusion in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is being used as a bargaining chip in pressure by the pharmaceutical industry to get the country to backtrack on intellectual property (IP) law reforms aimed at promoting access to more affordable medicines. The Fix the Patent Laws coalition - Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)‚ Doctors Without Borders (MSF)‚ SECTION27 and the Stop Stock Outs Project - on Thursday expressed concern about this pressure bearing down‚ as evidenced by an...

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has kick-started processes to revamp the apparel industry to make it attractive to investors and a sustainable source of forex inflows. The renewed move is significantly based on the extension granted qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries to export to the United States without quotas and duties under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA law, which benefits 37 Sub-Saharan African countries, first came into effect in 2000 and expired on September 30, 2008. It was extended to September...

Sceptical US officials have demanded further evidence that Pretoria is ready to lift disease-related bans on US poultry, beef and pork. This was raised at Friday’s public hearing in the US on whether SA should continue to receive African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) trade privileges. To remain part of Agoa, SA would have to do more than "address US concerns", assistant Trade Representative Florie Liser told ambassador Mninwa Mahlangu after the South African delivered testimony prepared by the Department of Trade and Industry to an...

US Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Coons, D-Del., co-chairs of the U.S. Senate Chicken Caucus, released the following statement after Ambassador Michael Froman, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), promptly began an out-of-cycle review process to determine whether South Africa should remain eligible to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preference program in light of ongoing trade violations. “For several years, we have been working to ensure poultry farmers in Georgia, Delaware and across the...

Media release: The Governments of Gabon and the United States are pleased to announce the availability of media accreditation applications for the 2015 African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum of U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation to be held from August 24-27 in Libreville, Gabon. AGOA is the centerpiece of the United States’ trade policy with Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Forum brings together over 800 participants, including senior U.S. and African officials, as well as U.S. and African members of the private sector...

AGOA supports regional integration in Africa and removing SA would diminish the programme, Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies said on Tuesday. South Africa will get an opportunity to present a strong case for its continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) at the public hearing in Washington on Friday, he said at a briefing of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry. Agoa is a non-reciprocal prefer trial scheme, which applies only to US imports from eligible sub-Saharan African...

South Africa will be putting forward a strong argument in a public hearing in Washington DC on Friday that it should continue to be a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The public hearings are part of the out-of-cycle review of SA’s eligibility as a beneficiary, which was required in the new Agoa signed by US President Barack Obama last month. The review undertaken by the US Trade Representative has to take place within 30 days of the promulgation of the act. South African representatives will be making the...

South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies is a member of the central committee of the South African Communist Party (SACP), whose collective signature is on an article in the latest edition of African Communist. In it, we read that the US’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which helped SA run a $2bn trade surplus with the US last year, is a tool devised by newly confident "monopoly capital" to force neo-liberal policies down the throats of SA’s working class. The "imperialist" US, say Davies and his friends —...

Cotton farmers will be provided with certified seeds in a fresh bid by the government to increase production of the crop and boost the textile industry. Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Director-General Alfred Busolo said the objective is to enable the country take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) that allows local apparel access to America duty free. Some 750 tonnes of cotton seed will be provided to producers in growing zones this season. He was speaking Tuesday during a fibre conference at Utalii...

On June 25, 2015, after what were years of advocacy, the House of Representatives and Senate voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize AGOA, sending the legislation to President Obama; guaranteeing the long-term extension of America's flagship program for sub Saharan Africa. Speaking in Kenya during his historic visit by a U.S. president to Kenya, President Obama also contextualized AGOA alongside his other programs such as Feed the Future, Power Africa and the Young Africans Leadership Institute (YALI). Now officially known as AGOA Extension...

In 1903, the United States and one of the world's oldest nations, Ethiopia, established a relationship. Emperor Menelik II described the day as "... beginnings of a relationship which will have some place in history", as quoted in a paper presented by Professor Negussay Ayele of Cornell University, to mark the 100th anniversary of that occasion. The historic relationship is, in this week, to witness a rare event with the first visit of a sitting president of the United States paying a visit to Ethiopia. President Barack Hussein Obama's...

International trade has rocketed into the headlines in 2015. Never has there been so many trade acronyms bounded around with such vigor. One such acronym has profound significant for both the U.S. and nearly the entire African continent. The reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) passed Congress on June 25 with President Obama signing it into law on June 29, to very little fanfare. Indeed, it seemed to be almost entirely overshadowed by the far more contentious votes on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and...

Barack Obama's first visit to Kenya as US president is not only significant because of his family roots. When the son of a Kenyan economist steps foot in east Africa this weekend, a core aim will be to boost American business across Africa. Oil, aid and security still dominate the US relationship with Africa, but American business is waking up to the chance to tap into world-beating growth rates. “Major American companies and funds are realising that the opportunities in Africa are significant — particularly given growth rates that are...

President Barack Obama celebrated the growth in American economic links with sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday evening, ahead of his upcoming trip to Ethiopia and Kenya. Speaking at a White House reception marking the signing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Obama said that despite its challenges, Africa is incredibly dynamic and resilient, with extraordinary opportunities for the U.S. He said the trade law would continue to encourage good governance, labor rights and human rights in Africa. Obama last month signed a 10-year...

THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House, everybody. AUDIENCE: Thank you! THE PRESIDENT: You all look good. We have some of America’s biggest champions for a strong partnership with Africa here today -- members of the diplomatic corps from our African partners; we've got some outstanding members of Congress, leaders of business, NGOs, members of the faith community. Ambassador Olhaye -- I want to start by saying that tonight our thoughts are with our friends from Djibouti as we mourn the passing of Ambassador Olhaye. He served here...

Kenyan Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises are missing out on the African Growth and Opportunity Act for lack of trade partners, failure to meet international standards and financial constraints, the US National Business League has said. NBS vice president Malcolm Beech yesterday said only 10 per cent of Kenya's SME's are benefiting from Agoa, despite the initiative targeting them. According to Beech, oil and gas have dominated 90 per cent of commodities traded under Agoa between Africa and the US in the last fifteen years. "Agoa has...

The Obama administration is launching a sweeping "out-of-cycle" review of South Africa’s trade practices and commitment to market principles which could result in the country losing some, or all, of its benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Among issues to be considered are complaints by US exporters that their products are being shut out of the South African market as a result of the South Africa-European Union trade, development and co-operation agreement. The scope of the review, to be announced by the office...

Kenya could start producing shoes for the United States market under the renewed quota-free and tax-free access to the multi-billion dollar footwear market. Abundance of skins and hides locally should enable Kenyan enterprises manufacture leather shoes for the US market, to enable the country expand the product offering beyond textiles under the African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa). "We have sufficient supply of leather here that would enable us compete with China on footwear," Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed said. He had...

Angola's exports to the United States of America tripled in the 2004/2014 period, reaching Usd 115.39 billion last year. This was disclosed Tuesday in Luanda by the minister of Commerce, Rosa Pacavira, while addressing the seminar on "How to export to the USA and the African Growth and Opportunity Act". According to the official, the increase in exports has partly resulted from the country's joining AGOA established by the US Government. Rosa Pacavira said that statistics from the US Trade Department indicate that between 1985 and 2003,...