News Search

Tanzania aims to achieve export-led economic growth rate that will be stimulated by an increase in export of goods and services, while it explores markets at global level based on competitiveness of its products in terms of quality, prices and delivery.Vision 2025 targets to increase the share of manufacturing sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 25 percent by 2025. This will require diversification of the economy by introducing new agricultural and manufactured products for exports.The purposed of diversifying of the economy is to move...

Impressive growth in exports from Ghana to the rest of the world has been witnessed over the past few years as more and more Ghanaians explore production in non-traditional sectors.Nowadays it is not only this West African country’s cocoa and minerals exports that are enjoying a boom. Handicrafts and agricultural produce such as pineapples and mangoes have picked up over the past five years.Finance and economic minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu recently indicated that the export sector as a whole has performed well, showing steady growth and...

Mozambican businesses are still not taking advantage of the facilities to enter the American market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), according to the US charge d'affaires in Maputo, Todd Chapman.AGOA, which was signed into American law in 2000, provides eligible African countries with more liberal terms of access to the US market than enjoyed by any other countries, except those with which the US has free trade agreements.Eight years have passed, and Mozambique is still only exporting two of its traditional exports,...

The "Doha Development Round" of world trade negotiations needs to produce an "early harvesting" of the gains for Africa promised in talks so far, argue an eminent panel of international leaders set up to monitor the delivery of promises to Africa by economically developed countries. An excerpt from "Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects - Report of the Africa Progress Panel 2008."There is a critical need for a rethinking of trade policy in the context of the urgent need to boost agricultural production around the world. Biofuel...

EPZ workers sew clothes for export. The zone is paying the price for the prolonged recession in the US through job cuts and capital migration to Asia.The flow of apparel from Kenya to the US under the AGOA facility dropped again last month as the economy of the world’s only superpower continues to falter.The exports have been on a rapid decline since last year as Asian and Chinese exports surged, but the latest drop is attributed to the effects of a recession in the US that has just started to bite. Already, Kenya’s Export Processing...

The Kenyan government has developed a noble target of creating 500,000 jobs as stipulated in the Vision 2030. The question that comes to mind is, how did it arrive at the magical 500,000 jobs and not one million?While it may be appropriate to set targets, I think the real question is whether we are creating these jobs and if not, what the Government can do to encourage faster growth in employment.Job creation is on the declineStatistics show that job creation is on the decline. This is why in this year's budget, I expect Finance Minister...

South African food and beverage producers will soon have an opportunity to establish a presence in North and South American markets with 864-million people in 48 countries.The Americas Food & Beverage Show and Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, which takes place from September 24 to 26, is a focal point for buyers from all over the southeast US, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The region has a per capita gross domestic product of more then $17500 a year.The show, known as IFE Americas, is also where orders are placed for cruise...

Commerce and industry sector in perspective: As one of Federal Government of Nigeria's critical ministries, overseeing the nation's import and export trade activities, and indeed, promoting the non-oil exports, the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry remains indispensable to the growth and development of the nation's economy.Even though the ministry has been, within one year in office of the present administration, pre-occupied with putting in place strategies, operational modalities and an action plan aimed at helping to ensure that...

The African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) is partnering with the U.S. based Organic Exchange to hold a regional organic cotton conference from 24th to 27th June 2008 in Kampala, Uganda. The conference will provide a valuable networking forum for stakeholders across the value chain from ‘farm to retail’ and all interested stakeholders are cordially invited to join us at this event. The organic fiber industry, both production and processing, is undergoing exponential growth and Africa is ideally suited to tap into the...

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that in 2008 the Global Cocoa Borlaug Fellows Program is being offered to four Fellows from DR-CAFTA countries, to two Fellows from Mexico (NAFTA), and to seven Fellows from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) countries. She also announce that USDA will expand the program to Southeast Asia, including three Fellows from Indonesia and the Philippines, and to the Andean region, including four Fellows from Ecuador and two from Peru.In commenting on the announcement, Ms....

International car manufacturers that base operations in South Africa are benefiting from the US's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows certain categories of exports from Africa to enter the US market duty free.Motor vehicle exports from South Africa to the US surged 226 percent in the first three months of the year. Figures from the US state department show that the country bought $375 million (R2.8 billion) worth of motor vehicles from South Africa between January and March, compared with $115 million a year earlier.Nico...

Despite misgivings in some quarters, a recent report on the progress of Namibia's Export Processing zone, EPZ, found that the EPZ regime has had a positive impact on the local economy.Besides the obvious new jobs, the Offshore Development Company (ODC) reports that the impact of the regime has been in the form of inflows of productive capital and technology, transfer of productive skills and the diversification of the economy, amongst others.The generous set of incentives offered under the EPZ has enhanced the attractiveness of Namibia as an...

The spacious entrance area of the Kaduna Trade Fair Complex was crowded as traders displayed their wares to attract buyers. Assorted imported fabrics, mainly guinea brocade known as shadda and other plain fabrics for men, wrist watches, pen, shoes, etc, were among the items on display. I remarked to a friend, Hauwa, as we were about to enter the hall that the traders were part of the problem we were about to discuss. I then looked at the fabric most of us were wearing and since they were not locally made, I told her that perhaps we were also...

President John Kufuor on Monday joined UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Kemal Dervis, and UK Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander in calling on big business to help in the fight against global poverty.More than 80 CEOs from the world's largest companies attended the Business Call to Action event in London at which new core business initiatives to help reduce poverty in the developing world will be showcased. The Business Call to Action event will...

A new study laments that Tanzania has failed to successfully make the most of multiple preferential trade openings for the past decade.Two economic experts, Josephat Kweka, and George Kabelwa did that study, whose findings blame the lack of national capacity in areas of modern technology as one of the key limiting factor that makes country`s products of inferior quality.They cite the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for which Tanzania qualified since 2002 to export apparels, among other products, to the vast US market duty and...

Kenya is unlikely to lose many trade opportunities if tariff cuts proposed by the World Trade Organisation are implemented. The cuts will increase competition for the country’s exports that will lose some preferential treatment in the European Union and America, among other markets. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a body that helps formulate economic policies, says Kenya will equally gain access to other markets that will open up for its goods.Speaking during a media briefing at the Norfolk hotel, Dr Mary Mbithi from the IEA,...

Trade between Mauritius and the United States was valued at $237 million in 2007, with U.S. imports of $188 million and U.S. exports of $50 million. The leading U.S. exports to Mauritius were wheat, diamonds, aircraft, and jewelry. U.S. imports from Mauritius are primarily apparel, diamonds, seafood, perfumes, and sugar. In 2007, U.S. imports from Mauritius under AGOA, including its GSP provisions, were valued at $120 million. To further develop trade, officials from the U.S. and Mauritian met yesterday to discuss implementing the United...

Kenya’s Export Processing Zone (EPZs) based firms are looking elsewhere as demand from the American market gets subdued by an economic slowdown linked to the mortgage sector.Latest industry reports indicate that these industrialists are using opportunities offered by the new interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that East African Community member states signed with Europe last November to access the European market.“Some of our members are now diversifying into the European Union market to make up for loss in the US,” Mr...

Togo has been declared an AGOA beneficiary country under US Federal Register No. 77, Vol. 73 of 21 April 2008. This brings the number of AGOA beneficiaries currently eligible for duty-free market access to the US to 40. Togo, located between Nigeria in the East and Ghana in the West, last year imported approximately US$ 285 million worth of goods from the United States, while exporting only US$ 5 million. There is hope that AGOA will substantially increase Togo's access to the US market and lead to a more balanced trade performance.Togo's...

Africa's lack of transport infrastructure is denying the world's poorest continent the full economic benefits of a preferential trade agreement with the United States, a top U.S. trade official said on Monday.Passed in 2000 and expected to end in 2015, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is designed to give 39 sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access on more than 1,500 selected items in the $14 trillion U.S. market.But decades of underdevelopment and investment in Africa's road, shipping and aviation sectors is impeding the...

South African Ambassador H.E. Welile Nhlapo today urged the United States GSP Committee to grant duty-free status to exports of electrolytic manganese metal powder, stating that GSP status is “important to South Africa’s ability to continue exporting to the U.S. market.” The U.S. Trade Representative is currently reviewing a petition submitted by Manganese Metal Company (MMC) for duty-free treatment of electrolytic manganese metal powder under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). A decision is expected in the coming...

At a meeting today with a delegation from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Deputy U.S. Trade Representative John K. Veroneau commended COMESA’s work in advancing economic integration in sub-Saharan Africa . “COMESA has made great strides in integrating the markets of its 19 member countries,” said Ambassador Veroneau. “During the ten-year tenure of outgoing COMESA Secretary-General Mwencha, COMESA has launched a free trade area , addressed regional customs and transportation bottlenecks, and laid the basis...

Five years after opening its arms to globalisation, Namibia is left nursing a R200-million hangover, polluted groundwater and thousands of angry workers after the showcase Malaysian textile plant Ramatex Berhad suddenly closed last month.Namibia rolled out the red carpet for Ramatex in 2002, building the company a tailor-made textile plant, granting it tax-exempt status and throwing in subsidised water and electricity to boot. It was an effort to attract foreign investors willing to take advantage of the United States's African Growth...

The closure of the Ramatex clothing and textile factory in Windhoek last week, marked the end of one of the most controversial investments in Namibia since independence.The way in which the closure occurred once again showed the disregard of the company for its workers as well as the host country.The company managed to mislead Namibia (in particular the government) time and again by providing false information to hide its true intentions of using the country merely as a temporary production location.While trade unions and government are...

An official of the National Investment Commission has disclosed that the new Investment Code prohibits discrimination against any investor in Liberia.The Executive Director of the National Investment Commission, Mr. Pete Norman made the disclosure when he spoke at a two-day workshop organized by the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with the United States Trade Representative Office in Washington DC, USAID and the West Africa Trade Hub.He said the New Investment Code removes elements of discretion and subjectivity in granting incentives...

Namibian apparel firm Ramatex has agreed to pay retrenched workers two months' wages in addition to medical aid and outstanding leave days.According to well-placed sources, the Malaysian textile giant caved in after Government threatened to confiscate passports and not to allow its top management to leave the country.More than 3 000 workers were left jobless after Ramatex shut down its only remaining division, Flamingo Garments, from one day to the next earlier this month.The company, which has had a troubled stay in Namibia, attributed the...

"FACILITATING EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION AND TRADE IN SUPPORT OF THE US - AFRICA TRADE RELATIONSHIP" is the theme of the upcoming AGOA transportation forum to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 13-16 April 2008.The purpose of this forum is to focus a wide range of public and private sector expertise on factors critical to the development of a safe and efficient transportation system for Africa, capable of supporting the region’s continued development and integration within the global economy. This Forum is being held under the umbrella...

The Nigeria Export Processing Zones authority, NEPZA has called on foreign investors to take advantage of the over 22 free zones in Nigeria and invest in the country, to enable them enjoy the facilities and the incentives provided by the zones.Managing director of NEPZA, Mr. Sina Agboluaje has stated that the advantages of the free zones in Nigeria would launch the investors into the global platform of business and landmark. The advantages he listed included the huge population of 140 million people, which is by far the largest consumer...

The U.S. has shown important leadership during Kenya's political crisis, and now it must go further to act as guarantor of the accord signed between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga on February 28. Kenya is an anchor for the region and for U.S. interests. Its stability is important enough for the U.S. to dedicate senior diplomatic attention to the newly brokered power-sharing deal and to level targeted sanctions against spoilers if necessary.Kenya's national trauma, which started after Kibaki's swearing in on December...

The Namibian government plans to stay the course with export processing zones (EPZ) despite one of the largest of the foreign investors, Malaysian textile company Ramatex, deciding last week to close down its operations--a move that will destroy 3,000 jobs.Ramatex came to Namibia in 2001. The one billion Namibian dollar project (about 127 million dollars) was the first large-scale industrialisation investment in the country, with an incentive package including subsidised water and electricity and a 99-year lease exemption for the 65 hectare...

With the textile industry currently losing millions of emalangeni as a result of the ongoing mass protest action by workers, investors will have even more to worry about as this is only the tip of an iceberg of challenges faced by the sector.Other challenges currently facing the apparel sector include high utility and transport costs as well as strong and consistent wage demands, a report compiled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) states.Despite local textile workers demanding among other things an increase in wages, the IMF says...

Ramatex has shut down, leaving the Windhoek factory's approximately 3,000 workers jobless.The controversial Malaysian textile company yesterday told the workforce at its only remaining division, Flamingo Garments, that they were now unemployed.When workers arrived at the factory to report for duty at around 07h30, they found themselves barred from the premises and a heavy Police presence Workers remained in the dark until around lunchtime, when after negotiations between union leaders, Ramatex management and the Namibian Police, they were...

Barely a fortnight after the visit of President George Bush of the United States of America (USA) to the country, a U.S Trade delegation including twelve companies is in the country to seek investment opportunities.The delegation led by Assistant Secretary of Commerce , Israel Hernandez, together with top Executives of the 12 companies is in to seek partners, agents and distributors in the area of design, telecommunications law, medicine devices, pharmaceuticals and packaging.The twelve companies are American Plastics Technologies, Crestcom...

In the intricate world of trade negotiations, little tops the complexity of rules of origin, writes Mathabo le RouxAfrican, Pacific and Caribbean (ACP) countries were offered duty free quota free access to European markets last year as part of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) the regions were negotiating with the European Union (EU).However, this preferential market access is subject to exporters meeting the rules of origin that form a key component of the new agreement.These rules set the requirements under which a product may be...

Ethiopian exports to the United States have doubled since 2005 under the AGOA trade pact the Horn of Africa nation joined seven years ago, the US embassy here said Thursday in a statement."Since the project's inauguration two years ago, Ethiopian exports under AGOA/General System of Preference (GSP) have increased by almost 100 percent to 8.9 million dollars (5.9 million euros) in 2007, much higher than the average national exports growth rate over the past five years," the US embassy said in the statement sent to AFP.Ethiopia is one of...

In a letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, fifteen textile and apparel trade groups from Africa and the Western Hemisphere urged Chairman Rangel to strike controversial trade sections of the New Partnership for Development Act (NPDA) that would cause devastation in the textile and apparel sectors in least developed and developing countries. In the letter sent last week, leading textile groups noted that the bill authored by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Washington) would “result in hundreds of thousands of job losses in...

When US President George Walker Bush and his wife, Laura, inspected a showcase of eight exporters of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) eligible products in Accra, little did any one expect that he was going to turn the formal function into a funfair.Hours before President Bush and his wife arrived on the mini fair grounds mounted at the premises of the Ghana International Trade Fair Company, a cross-section of chiefs and other highly reputed traditional leaders dressed in colourful apparel from their respective traditional areas...

SA’s decision not to sign an economic partnership agreement with the European Union (EU) is a major blow to the embattled clothing and textile industry.South African clothing and textile producers are now unable to benefit from less-restrictive rules that would have eased access of clothing and textile products into European markets, Eckart Naumann, an associate of the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (tralac) said at a conference of the think tank last month.The more relaxed rules of origin agreed to under November’s economic...

Doubts over the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to Ghana resurfaced at a media roundtable in Accra as part of the United States' trade and investment mission, which ended its three-day visit yesterday."There is a perception out there that the AGOA, through its strict and high standards and requirements, is intended to prevent commodities from Africa reaching the US, what do you say to this? " a curious journalist asked Ms Constance Jackson, Associate Administrator of the United States Department of Agriculture...

Ugandan garment exports to the US market under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act have dropped by over $3 million since 2005 despite the government having invested $10 million in the textile sector since 2002.Statistics from the Agoa secretariat in Kampala show that garment exports fell from $4.7 million in 2005 to $1.2 million in 2007.Exports to the US market have not grown as expected, says the report. Other exports under Agoa include vanilla, coffee, fish and base metals.The $10 million was irregularly loaned to private Sri Lankan company...

Although Botswana's macro economic environment looks good, the possibility of a recession in the US, regional power cuts and the 'fiscal surge' promised in the 2008 budget speech remain major challenges for the country's export-dependent economy, observers say.The US, apart from its AGOA II which allows duty-free treatment of mainly textiles exports from Botswana and other African countries, is the world's single largest diamond market, leading economic pundits to warn that a US recession - expected in the first quarter of 2008 - would have...

To reorient its economic policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and focus more on promoting American private sector involvement in Africa and to increase the role of trade and investment as vehicle for supporting African economic development, the US came up with the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA).The shift in economic policy was based on the realisation that aid, its exclusive policy for promoting development and advancing American interests, had been inadequate, given the need to establish real partnerships dictated by the...

President Bush’s trip to Tanzania and other four African nations from February 15 to 21 trip is going to be „very historic and significant“ because it will „solidify one of the strongest components“ of his legacy: Africa, said the first and former assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker.A statement issued yesterday by the American Embassy in Dar es Salaam quoted Whitaker, who is now president and chief executive officer of her own U.S. Africa trade consulting firm the Whitaker Group as saying that when one...

Unannounced power cuts throughout the country will certainly stifle economic growth over the next financial year, economic experts have said.Due to increasing demand of power, most consumers have had to buy fuel-operated generators as contingency measures for the ailing power system.But just this week diesel and petrol prices were hiked while demand for generators has also gone up, Dr Keith Jefferis of E-Consult noted at a budget speech review breakfast seminar.His main worry was that the ongoing expansion of Morupule Power Plant will only...

If a country wants to ensure meaningful market access to a foreign market it requires a reduction in all types of potential barriers to trade.Recently, there has been a renewed use of import controls by industrialised nations, such as antidumping , phytosanitary, labour and environmental controls, and rules of origin. It seems African countries are increasingly suffering the effect of especially phytosanitary controls and quality standards.This becomes an even greater problem if a country is dependent on one or two primary commodities for...

Ecobank Ghana Limited has extended an $80,000 credit to Kraft Export Consult, an exporter of artefacts, under the Improved Access to Credit for West Africa programme which was launched last year.The $300,000 programme, which was facilitated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and supported by ECOBANK Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of ECOBANK, is to support small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa to grow their businesses.Kraft Export Consult from Ghana is the first...

The US Ambassador to Namibia, Dennise Mathieu, announced that Namibia can export over 6,000 products to her country under AGOA.Mathieu made the announcement after her meeting with President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Wednesday afternoon at State House.Currently, Namibia exports, grapes, textiles and crafts to USA under AGOA.Mathieu also announced that Namibian beef will soon hit the America markets."We are busy trying to offer technical assistance so that Namibian beef would qualify for the America markets," said Mathieu.She also said two...

Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni used the opportunity of ushering in a new giant telecommunications company to woo more Arab investors in the country.He said Uganda has a lot of potential in the agricultural sector which needs to be utilized to enrich Uganda and also improve the food baskets of other countries world wide.“You can also look at other investment opportunities in the country, in other sectors such as Agro-processing. Uganda would like to liberate man kind from bad foods which they eat. We have got very good foods which are...