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"The issue of extending AGOA is not in question," Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) said today in a Brookings event on the new landscape for innovation and business in Africa. As the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit begins in Washington, DC this week, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative has pulled together a high-level forum of leaders of entrepreneurs and leaders in business, government, civil society and the media to explore priorities for U.S.-Africa policy; business strategies for economic growth and development; innovation; governance; and...

Good morning Excellencies, Secretary Kerry, ladies and gentlemen. I’m happy to be here with you today to launch these important discussions on the US African Growth and Opportunity Act. I’ll make just two points before turning to our keynote speakers today. The first is to remind ourselves that African countries have enormous potential to expand trade in order to drive growth, reduce poverty and deliver jobs. Countries must now find the right approaches to take advantage of opportunities to greatly expand trade within Africa and...

  As African leaders descend on Washington this week for the United States-Africa Leaders Summit, their trade ministers will, on the sidelines, be pushing hard for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Despite South African government’s publicly stated expectations that US President Barack Obama will support a 15-year extension of the programme, experts believe achieving this will be no easy feat. South Africa’s push in particular, is expected to receive a “tenuous” audience in Washington, as it...

US Trade Representative Michael Froman on Tuesday called for a new “compact” to boost trade and investment with sub-Saharan African nations, as President Barack Obama prepares to meet with 50 African leaders next week and Congress looks at renewing a 14-year-old program for the region.   "It’s an important moment — for Africa, for the United States and for our continuing efforts to further development through trade and investment," Froman said in a speech at the National Press Club hosted by the Brookings...

The United States will announce nearly $1 billion in business deals, increase funding for peacekeeping and commit billions of dollars to expanding food and power programs in Africa during a summit this week, U.S. and development officials say. US officials said the Aug. 4 to 6 summit in Washington of nearly 50 African leaders hopes to showcase U.S. interest in the fast-growing region through a series of government-private partnership deals to boost trade and investment. The spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra...

  On September 30, 2015, the African Growth and Opportunity Act will expire. The act provides duty free access to the United States, and if it lapses could threaten 62,395 jobs in South Africa alone. African trade ministers will have bad memories of September deadlines. In 2012, a vital component of AGOA that facilitates the export of textile goods was renewed with days to spare. At that point, orders for African textiles goods had already dropped by 35 percent. The problem then, as now, was uncertainty - investors and clients are...

  South Africa on Friday said continued support for Africa’s development and funding for HIV prevention programmes should dominate discussions in America next week, as the continent's leaders will participate in the first US-Africa Leaders' Summit to be hosted by Barack Obama in Washington. President Jacob Zuma will leave for Washington DC on Friday to join 47 other African Heads of State and Government, who have been invited to attend the summit on 5 August. The White House said the summit will also build on the progress made...

Next week about 48 African leaders will descend on Washington, DC for the first ever US-Africa Leaders Summit. African leaders are expected to arrive with a long list of items to address with President Barack Obama, with the need to expeditiously reauthorise the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) near the top of the list. Originally enacted in 2000, AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access for certain exports to the U.S. market. The purpose of AGOA is to expand U.S. trade and investment with...

South Africa is pushing the US to keep open preferential access for exports ranging from cars to oranges in the face of opposition from American farmers and investors. African leaders meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Aug. 5-6 are seeking to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a preferential trade accord that expires next year. South Africa will lobby to remain a beneficiary as it seeks a 15-year extension of AGOA, as the law is known, Trade Minister Rob Davies said on July 28. South Africa more than doubled...

  Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies must find himself in an ideological quandary over South Africa's economic relationship with the United States (US), which he will be visiting next week, along with President Jacob Zuma, for President Barack Obama's first US-Africa summit.  As a dedicated communist, he probably regards North America as the arch-enemy, ideologically speaking. Yet in many ways trade with the US is achieving far more of his government's development goals than trade with any other country - including, for...

The US House Committee on Ways and Means is currently considering the renewal and strengthening of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).  AGOA is the cornerstone of the U.S.-African commercial relationship, and the African Union (AU) has called for a 15 year extension of the Act, from 2015 to 2030.  Since its enactment in 2000, AGOA has significantly contributed to Africa’s economic growth, social stability, and the emergence of a growing African middle class.  AGOA’s renewal is an opportunity for the House to...

Thanks very much Chairman Wyden, Ranking Member Hatch, Members of the Committee, and thank you for inviting me here to today to testify about AGOA.  AGOA, as you’ve noted, has been the cornerstone of America’s economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa for the past fourteen years. And it has had some very important successes. U.S. imports from AGOA countries have grown from $8.2 billion in 2001 to $26.8 billion in 2013, a threefold increase. Non-oil AGOA trade has increased almost fourfold during the same period from $1.4 billion...

"AGOA has generated good will for the United States, and our friendly suggestion is that good will is worth building on." Erica J. Barks-Ruggles, US Consular General in Cape Town, says there has been lobbying by some powerful US industries to remove South Africa from AGOA. This was said  on Monday by South African Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies to urge the US Congress to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expires next year. AGOA is a preferential trade programme that was enacted...

The Obama administration on Tuesday pushed for Congress to renew a 14-year-old trade program giving African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets, warning that allowing the program to expire would disrupt trade flows between the two regions. US Trade Representative Michael Froman said the African Growth Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which expires on Sept. 30 next year had both benefited African countries and supported 120,000 U.S. jobs. Froman's remarks came just days before the White House is set to host 50 African leaders at a...

Conventional wisdom says Congress is dysfunctional. This week, however, the fashion industry was glad to see positive developments on the Hill regarding the future for trade with Africa. "AGOA  is an important development tool that has been proven to promote economic growth and jobs both in developing countries and in the United States," said House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) when announcing the subcommittee will hold a hearing on Tuesday, July 29, on the trade preference program."I am committed...

South Africa will use the upcoming US-Africa Leaders' Summit, which will also encompass the 2014 edition of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) Forum, to appeal for a 15-year extension of the nonreciprocal trade arrangement, as well as South Africa’s ongoing inclusion as a beneficiary. The inaugural summit arose following President Barack Obama’s visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania last year and will take place in Washington DC from August 4 to 6, under the theme ‘Investing in the Next Generation’. President Jacob...

  House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on trade with Africa and the African Growth and Opportunity Act.  The hearing will take place on July 29, 2014, in 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 2 P.M. In view of the limited time available, oral testimony at this hearing will be from the invited witnesses only.  However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for...

President Jacob Zuma will lead a South African delegation to the first United States-Africa Leaders' Summit taking place in Washington on 5 and 6 August, Communications Minister Faith Muthambi said on Thursday. Speaking to journalists in Pretoria following the Cabinet's latest fortnightly meeting, Muthambi said the summit was expected to provide a boost for Africa's regional integration initiatives, as well as for various African Union (AU) economic development programmes. The White House made the announcement that US President Barack...

Trade and investment will be an important topic at this year’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. However, while the fact that the annual U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, often called the AGOA Forum, is folded into the summit will ensure that the trade relationship is on the agenda, it also means that the trade forum is getting less individual attention than normal. With the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) legislation expiring at the end of next year and other major players such as China constantly...

University of Swaziland political science lecturer, Dr. Petros Qambukusa Magagula, once taught me in his International Relations 101 class how some dominant states would use the carrot and stick policy to mould the behaviour or conduct of smaller states. Even apartheid South Africa would use the same policy towards its neighbours who harboured ‘terrorists’ political groups like the now governing African National Congress (ANC) and other liberation movements. The post independence era in Africa is littered with examples of how dominant...

When President Obama spoke to African leaders gathered in Ethiopia last year, he painted a new vision for U.S. engagement in Africa. "Now we have an opportunity to unleash the next era of African growth together. As we work to renew AGOA in 2015 and continue integrating Africa into the global economy, we also want to make sure that the benefits of Africa's growth reach all parts of the society." The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA -- the U.S. trade preference program granting special duty-free access for 38 African nations --...