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The top-ranking US trade official said on Monday that issues of "reciprocity" will be raised at a US-Africa conference next week in Ethiopia that will consider renewal of the AGOA trade initiative. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is due to expire in 2015, gives duty-free treatment to Kenyan textiles and many other African exports to the United States. AGOA is said to be responsible for creating thousands of jobs in the Kenyan textile industry. But as a condition to AGOA's extension beyond 2015, American negotiators may press...

As policy makers get ready to attend the upcoming African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) forum hosted by the government of Ethiopia, previous calls to make AGOA effective with robust investments in infrastructure and energy are being answered in Washington DC. The U.S started its first trade agenda with AGOA in 2000. This act is now being accompanied with a more comprehensive, common sense development agenda, focused on addressing poverty issues in Africa. For many years, the development policy addressed the symptoms of African...

Even though total exports under African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) have increased by 300 %, the US government believes that the extension of the deadline beyond 2015, will create bigger opportunities for African businesses. AGOA is the US government’s signature trade initiative with sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, eligible countries exported nearly US$35 billion in products to the United States under AGOA and its related general system of preferences provisions. Total exports under AGOA have risen more than 300 percent since the...

The United States has said making the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) permanent was not realistic, but it was possible to extend the enforcement period. “It is not possible to make AGOA permanent,” but renewing it on regular basis would improve and encourage trade competitiveness and growth, said Ms Florizelle (Florie) Liser, the Assistant Unite States (US) Trade Representative for Africa, in the Office of the US Trade Representative. She said these in telephonic media briefing to preview the 2013 African Growth and...

President Barrack Obama of the United States recently launched a project dubbed 'Trade Africa' aimed at doubling intra-regional trade in the five partner states of the East African Community (EAC). The project will hopefully see EAC exports to the US go up by 40%, reduce by 15% the average time needed to import or export a container from the ports of Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to land-locked Burundi and Rwanda in the EAC's interior.This new partnership between the US and the EAC will also decrease by 30% the average time a truck takes to...

Next week, hundreds of delegates will converge in Addis Ababa. They will brainstorm and discuss the current state of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA). This is despite the US Congress still debating on the extension of the quota and duty-free status the AGOA offers to African exports to the US. The opportunity was enacted into law by the US congress in 2000, so as to offer incentives for eligible countries to open their economies and build free markets. In addition, it served to transform the US-African donor-recipient...

A half-day gathering of Africa-US joint briefing Session on AGOA was held on Friday. Ambassadors of African eligible countries and the African Union Mission to the USA and high ranking US officials representing Departments of State and Commerce and the office of the US Trade Representative for Africa took part in the session. The meeting during its opening session was updated on the preparations of the upcoming 12th AGOA meeting to convene in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia being the current Chair to host the plenum. In a keynote remark he made...

Transcript of foreign press center briefing with Florie Liser, Assistant USTR for Africa in the Office of the USTR; Cynthia Akuetteh, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, John Anderson, Acting Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance, US Dept Commerce. TOPIC: “PREVIEW OF THE 2013 AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (AGOA) FORUM” Wednesday, 31 July 2013, Washington Foreign Press Center, Washington, D.C.    MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center and to our...

The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Embassy and the African Union Trade and Industry Commission have announced (Monday, July 29) that preparations are now finalized to host the 2013 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum which will be held in two weeks time. According to the organizers registration of participants has now been concluded. The Ministry of Trade's Corporate Communication Directorate Director, Amakele Yimam, said "The Forum will be a good opportunity for Ethiopia to promote its...

"Sub-Saharan Africa is a region of extraordinary opportunity for growth and economic development," President Obama said in November 2012, with the launch of a US initiative to encourage American businesses to increase trade in African nations. The primary goal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is to help expand the volume and diversity of US trade with sub-Saharan Africa. “The economies of sub-Saharan Africa are among the world’s fastest-growing, and this economic expansion — partly a result of our long-standing...