News Search

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...

A Nakuru based textile manufacturer has lost more than Sh10 million worth of export earnings to the recent outbreak of political violence.Bedi Investments, an exporter of apparel and garments said it had failed to supply its US-based buyers for more than two weeks. The company said its production processes had been paralysed by delay in arrival of raw material following the blockade of its supply route.The company supplies garments worth Sh32.5 million a month to the United States under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa). It...

Producers of natural and organic foods will be sponsored to attend a global trade show in the United States. The sponsorship to be managed by ECA Hub - a trade initiative of the United States Development Agency (USAID) aims to help African businesses to take advantage of trade opportunities in the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). These include duty-free treatment and unlimited access to the United States market. The natural products trade show offers Kenyan participants the opportunity meet US based partners that...

Producers of natural and organic foods will be sponsored to attend a global trade show in the United States.The sponsorship to be managed by ECA Hub —a trade initiative of the United States Development Agency (USaid) aims to help African businesses to take advantage of trade opportunities in the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). These include duty-free treatment and unlimited access to the United States market.The natural products trade show offers Kenyan participants the opportunity meet US based partners that they...

Plummeting confidence in Kenya’s economy could enhance Tanzania’s and Uganda’s comparative attractiveness to foreign investors, the head of Corporate Council on Africa suggested last week.“Those who have been looking at Kenya may now look more seriously at other countries in the region,” Council president Stephen Hayes said in an interview. He cited Tanzania and Uganda as the likely alternate destinations for Americans seeking opportunities in East Africa.Post-election violence is likely to delay decisions to invest in Kenya by 12...

At a recent forum held in Washington by the progressive Economic Policy Institute, labour and human rights activists criticised what they consider a lack of adequate protections for workers contained in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a unilateral U.S. trade deal aimed at increasing commerce between the United States and Sub-Saharan African countries.Passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000, AGOA allows certain goods from Sub-Saharan African countries -- notably petroleum products and apparel -- to enter the United States duty-free...

Anyone looking into the economic future of Africa is likely to be both inspired and confounded. Side by side with stories of increasing political stability, sturdy growth in gross domestic product, and entrepreneurial successes are tales of child soldiers, unchecked disease, and 4,000% inflation.For that reason, many global enterprises have historically approached the African continent with caution, finding it too difficult to separate the hope from the hopelessness. But as technology enables global markets to become more seamlessly...

Governments and the civil society organisations from Africa have resolved to push for better trade legislation under the AGOA trade initiative in 2008.At a meeting a fortnight ago, the AGOA Action Committee laid out strategies aimed at revitalizing the push for new African trade legislation. The committee includes government representatives, NGOs, local and international trade associations from sub-Sahara Africa.The meeting, which was convened by Ms. Rosa Whitaker, was aimed at reviewing the congressional agenda for Africa in 2008 and to...

The strict procedures in obtaining the United States Visa discourage Nigeria's business men from exporting to the US, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Engineer Charles C. Ugwuh has said.In his key note address at the 5th session of the Trade and Investment Framework (TIFA) council meeting and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), workshop in Abuja, the Minister said the idea of booking online appointment for interviews at the U S Embassy as a condition for the procurement of visa needs to be changed because it has frustrated many...

Representatives from a broad spectrum of African governments, NGOs, domestic and international trade associations and private sector companies gathered Wednesday under the umbrella of the AGOA Action Committee, to plan a revitalised push for new African trade legislation in 2008.Participants included Ambassadors from AGOA beneficiary countries, the African Union, and advocacy groups including Constituency for Africa, Oxfam, World Vision, GoodWorks International and Reach the Children.The Committee, co-chaired by former Congressman Jack Kemp...

President John Agyekum Kufuor has called on the United States (US) to assist Ghana to develop its commercial and industrial base to take full advantage of the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA).The US, he said, should stretch out and help to empower the country to enjoy the benefits of the Initiative.Ghana qualifies to export 6,500 different commodities to the US market under AGOA but does not have the base to produce to meet the American market standards.President Kufuor was interacting with a US Congressional delegation led by Senator...

South Africa's exports to the US continue to rise strongly, while those of Africa's major oil producer are disappointing.Data published on the US Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa.info) website show local exports to the US were worth $6.8 billion (R47.6 billion) in the first nine months of the year, up nearly 23 percent on the same period last year.Nigeria was the continent's biggest exporter, selling goods worth $22 billion to the US, but this represented growth of less than 1 percent. Energy-related products were worth $21.9...

The US is likely to overtake Japan as South Africa’s biggest customer this year.Department of trade and industry data show that South Africa exported R34-billion worth of goods to the US this year to August, slightly more than the R33.8-billion exported to Japan.Craig Allen, the US Commercial Service’s senior commercial officer in Johannesburg, said this was thanks to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a US government incentive that gives 99.6percent of exports from this country exemption from US import duties.Though South...

Botswana has been urged to refocus its energy on microeconomics in a bid to shore up the declining rate of industrialisation in the country.At a breakfast panel discussion organised by the Department of Industrial Affairs at Fairground Holding's Pavilion Hall in Gaborone on Tuesday, experts raised concerns about the country's focus on larger components of the economy."We have done everything in our power for macro-economic policies and received accolades but ignored micro-economic variables," said Monnane Monnane, a Research Fellow with the...

Rwanda is eyeing large investments from the world's most powerful economy-the United States of America - in spite of the high investment risks European and American entrepreneurs associate with Africa.The commerce ministry (Minicom) is taking no chance here. At a high-level, the ministry has engaged the U.S. in meetings, under the terms of the June 2006 U.S. - Rwanda .Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). The first meeting was held here in Kigali last year in October. A delegation of seven officials comprised of Rwanda Investment...

Ivory Coast aims to rejoin a preferential trade scheme with the United States in early 2008 as it moves towards holding elections, boosting trade and ending child labour, the head of its export promotion agency said.The world's No. 1 cocoa producer, which was split in two by a 2002/2003 civil war, was excluded amid political turmoil in 2005 from the U.S. African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA).AGOA, which was launched in 2000 and runs until 2015, allows nearly 40 African states to export some goods free of duties and quotas into the U.S....

The president of Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba, said today that the US government should fully open up the American market to African apparel, and should exempt both agricultural products and apparel from restrictive importation rules.Speaking at the US-Africa Business Summit, he gave a shopping list of what Africa wanted from America in order to boost trade and investment here.Pohamba told his audience of American and African business leaders that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) was a fine and beautiful thing, but was...

Cape Town - Trade and industry minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told delegates to the US-Africa Business Summit on Thursday that there was not sufficient diversity of products traded into the American market.He said that at the US/South African bilateral meetings to discuss the working of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that two things always stand out in sharp relief."One is that volumes of trade have increased," he said. "The other is that there isn't sufficient diversity of products going into the American market."He pointed out...

Opening a U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, the country's deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka proposed that American business should co-operate in an "African Skills Revolution Partnership". She welcomed delegates at the opening of the summit, organized by the U.S. Corporate Council on Africa, on Thursday night.Greetings and best wishes to all participants. Thank you for choosing South Africa as your meeting place. Welcome to the City of Cape Town and thank you for choosing the Cape Town Convention Centre as the...

African economies should increase their share of global trade to three per cent to enable them to generate $70 billion additional export revenues.A U.S. trade official Florizelle Liser told the fourth Africa World Business Congress here on Monday that the amount would be equivalent to three times the current annual aid to the region.Ms Liser, an assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, told African countries could use the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) to increase their exports duty- and quota-free to the huge American...

High freight charges on flower exports have cast a gloomy future on Uganda's once promising sector.Investors in the industry contend that high freight charges, power crisis, high production costs and storms have dealt a blow to the flower industry.Freight charges have gone up to $2 (Shs3,411) per kg from $1.30 (Shs2,217) prior to the surge in 2005.Mr Clive Drew, the managing director of Uganda's Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program, said the costs have hindered flower investors from setting up new investments while some of them have...

The technical committee on the American business law is expected to increase the zeal of Cameroonian businesses to trade with the U.S.The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) voted into law by the American congress in 2000 to boost trade between the African continent and the United States of American is once more in the news following the signing last 29 October, of a Prime Ministerial decree on the creation, organisation and functioning of a National Technical Committee to follow up its implementation in Cameroon.Initially programmed...

Africa stands today at a “turning point” in its history, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told an audience in Washington October 31.Addressing business executives, investors, diplomats and Africanists, Museveni said, “Africa is breaking old paradigms in order to integrate itself profitably into the global economy and to liberate itself from the charity of strangers. …“More and more people are talking about the emerging new Africa and that most African governments are now the product of democratic elections. They are talking about...

Appropriately titled "Africa: Entering the Door to Opportunities," The Corporate Council on Africa 2007 U.S.-Africa Business Summit will provide a forum for some of the world's top global business leaders to discuss trade and investment opportunities in Africa, best practices, and how best to increase trade and investment in ways that will help engender sustainable growth on the continent.Being held November 14-16, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (see link), the US-Africa Business Summit will include sector-specific plenary...

Batawana Regent Kgosi Kealetile Moremi says for Botswana to be competitive in both regional and international markets there has to be a significant increase in exports.Kgosi Moremi was speaking at the official opening of a one-day joint venture workshop organised by Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) held at Maun Lodge recently.She said the business community has to work for sustained competitiveness while the government ensures removal of all impediments to allow business growth.Kgosi Moremi said that in their pursuit...

U.S. imports from Rwanda for the first eight months of 2007 amount to $7 million indicating a 77% increase from the same period in 2006 and government wants that to double, figures from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative show.The figures released to coincide with ongoing bilateral negotiations on trade between the two countries also show that the imports from the U.S. into Rwanda rose by 21% for the same period amounting to $11.5 million. This means that there still remains a small trade imbalance in favour of the U.S.Rwanda Trade...

The poor quality and inadequate volumes of Uganda's exports have made it difficult for the country to exploit international markets, a top official in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, has said."There are markets for Uganda's exports granted through international arrangements such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, Cotonou agreement, Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) and regional arrangements.However, we have not done too well to exploit the markets due to poor quality and quantity of our exports," said Mr...

Malawi is wooing her development partners to assist rejuvenate the cotton industry to meet international standards, a senior official in the Ministry of Trade and Industry has said.Cotton production in the country started declining in the late 1980s after farmers started diverting their attention from the crop to others due to poor market.Speaking in an exclusive interview with Nyasa Times , on the sidelines of a training on Malawi Cotton Trade Development, currently underway at Nchalo in Chikwawa district, Director of Trade, Harrison...

The minister for Trade and Industry Mukhisa Kituyi has said the sale of Rivatex to Moi University and the re-opening of its operations by president Mwai Kibaki on Thursday will help revive the cotton industry and lead to capacity development in textile engineering in the country.The minister said the government acknowledged the efforts made by the university in taking over Rivatex with the aim of reviving it saying the move was a step towards vertically integrating the sector.Kituyi who was opening the national conference on value addition...

Local exporters have failed to take advantage of export opportunities created by the US-sponsored African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a senior US trade specialist has said.The US Agency for International Development (USAid) programme specialist, Mr Steve Ndele, said the exporters had failed to diversify from traditional commodities to fully use the provisions of the Act."The US Government enacted Agoa in May 2000 providing for preferential market access for over 6,000 products from Sub-Saharan Africa countries to the US market," said...

The Ugandan government has identified rapid growth of exports as key to lifting the country's flagging economic fortunes.And for the last two years it has devoted profound energy to catalysing the nation's export trade; free land has been doled out, tax breaks lavished on investors, cheap loans dangled, and a whole gamut of other incentives rolled out to get businesspeople to export and bring in more foreign exchange receipts.Those efforts, for now, appear to have been rewarded generously. Uganda's export earnings are currently edging...

Last week’s US visit by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal to address the United Nations General Assembly and hold consultations with Africa’s western trading partners in New York and Washington highlighted his country’s push for trade liberalization. African Studies Professor Sulayman Nyang of Washington’s Howard University says he believes President Wade is trying to expand markets for African goods and remove protectionist tariffs and farm subsidies that raise the barriers that keep African goods off American and European...

One thing that governments around the world are good at is the creation of acronyms and initials.Prime examples relevant to SA are Asgisa (Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for SA), NIPF (National Industrial Policy Framework and Action Plan), Mers (Microeconomic Reform Strategy) and some with an international flavour like Nepad (New Partnership for Africa's Development) and Agoa (African Growth and Opportunity Act).Take a look at Agoa, signed into law in May 2000 and amended in 2002 and 2004. The latest amendment is known as the...

Limitations of duty- and quota-free imports of apparel articles assembled in beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries from regional and third-country fabric.September 24, 2007.AGENCY: Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).ACTION: Publishing the New 12-Month Cap on Duty- and Quota-Free Benefits.EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna Flaaten, International Trade Specialist, Office of Textiles and Apparel, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-3400 .SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Note:...

Trade is especially important to developing nations because it has the power to transform economies and reduce poverty, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Florizelle Liser told an African audience September 19.Speaking on a U.S. Department of State webcast, Liser said that Africa currently makes up about 2 percent of world trade. Increasing that share by just 1 percent would generate about $70 billion annually for the continent -- three times the amount of development assistance it currently receives. "So you can see ... the...

Monthly trade data published a few days ago reveals that Botswana’s US-bound exports are down sharply for the year to July 2007, compared with the same period the previous year. Whereas 2006 January-July data shows $176mn (the same as full year 2005) worth of goods went to the US, aggregate 2007 exports are down almost 40% to $110mn. In the period under review, trade under AGOA has remained stable at $17mn.Botswana is currently the 13th largest Sub-Saharan African exporter of goods to the US, narrowly behind Namibia in 12th position....

THE lifespan of the Ramatex textile factory in Namibia is slowly coming to an end because of squeezed profits.Recently, Ramatex shut the factory's main component, the textile department.This week, the company's General Manager, Boon Keong Ong, said the closure was because of financial troubles.Prime Minister Nahas Angula also confirmed this, saying they have "problems making profit".Angula said this was the reason why they were trying to ship out some of their machinery from Namibia to sell them elsewhere "to make up" for the losses.In July,...

Jim McDermott, US congressman and doctor, has added another title - knight.McDermott, D-Wash., was knighted by the King of Lesotho during an Aug. 22 ceremony at the Royal Palace in Maseru, his office said Friday."His Majesty Letsie III, by the Grace of God, Sovereign of the Kingdom of Lesotho, is pleased by these presents to appoint Jim McDermott Knight Commander of The Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe" reads the official citation.According to Lesotho government officials, Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe recognizes "distinguished...

Uganda has got to attract new investments into its weakened cotton-textile sub-sector if a revival of any kind is to be achieved in a sector that was once vibrant.Together with coffee and copper, cotton was part of the famed 3Cs - pillars of Uganda's economy before its collapse in the mid-seventies. At the time, Uganda was one of the best cotton producing countries on the continent.The textile industry at the time employed more than 500,000 people and earned the country more than US$100 million annually from export of lint cotton...

Whether they decide to return home or stay in exile, Liberians in the Diaspora will play an important role in the reconstruction of the war-devastated country they left behind. Over the years, as governments stopped providing the basic necessities Liberians in the Diaspora somehow managed to keep the country going, through remittances and sometimes, through small economic ventures. Schools and clinics mostly remained opened because those who went to work relied on funds they received regularly from relatives "abroad."Since coming to the helm...

Tanzania`s exploitation of business opportunities offered by the American African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been minimal for what the business community cited as infrastructural problems, calling for the government in collaboration with the private sector, to address the hitches.AGOA is a programme designed by the United States government to help African countries access US markets duty free with a view to increasing the poor nations� exports to build capacity in the countries� poverty reduction efforts.Retired Tanzania...

While Uganda has been on a downward spiral, Kenya earned $353 million from exports under AGOA in 2006, writes Benon Oluka.Uganda has failed to exploit the opportunities provided by the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) initiative, according to an internal government assessment. A confidential report prepared in July for the Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Janat Mukwaya, offers a candid assessment of the country’s export performance under Agoa. “Exports to the US (Agoa) market have not had such a progressive growth trend...

The US bought $4.4 billion (R32 billion) worth of South African goods in the first half of the year, according to figures from the US International Trade Commission, an increase of about 20 percent over the first six months of last year. The figures were published on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa.info) website this week.The growth can be attributed largely to higher prices of platinum group metals (PGMs), a major component of local exports to the US, according to Peter Draper, a research fellow at the SA Institute of...

Both the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the fast-tracked Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) seem to reflect less a genuine desire in fairer trade for the true benefits of the African economies than securing access to relevant markets and mainly the exploitation of relevant natural resources in the interest of the European Union (EU) and the USA, said Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Dr Henning Melber."It is not in the interest for Africa to enter in the current EPA negotiations," maintained Melber.AGOA...

Botswana generated US$ 252 million (about P1.6 billion) from exports to the United States through the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) last year.Brett Johnson, the AGOA Trade and Business Manager in Botswana said this at a workshop of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) on joint ventures held at Thapama Lodge in Francistown last Thursday.He said from the total amount the textile and apparel sector generated made in its exports to the US US$28 million. AGOA also facilitated US$3.2 billion (about P19.9 billion) in...

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), with the support of leading U.S. corporations, African businesses, and global leaders from the private and public sectors, will host its 2007 U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, November 14-16, 2007.Hosted every two years, this is CCA's sixth Summit, but the first-ever to be held in Africa. More than 1,500 participants are expected to attend.As CCA's flagship event, the Summit provides a forum for some of the world's top global business leaders to discuss trade and investment...

High-ranking officials, including US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and representatives from African countries that are beneficiaries of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), descended on the Ghanaian capital Accra to attend the Sixth Agoa Forum on July 18-19.Agoa is a non-reciprocal preferential trade scheme whereby the US offers the 38 eligible countries (including all Southern Africa Customs Union member states) duty and quota-free access to its market. The scheme covers more than 6000 products.The forum is meant to celebrate...

Ghanaian crafters of wooden furniture and other home accessories wanted to increase sales so they could expand their small businesses.But they lacked the business know-how and funds to do that.Now, with help from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) West African Trade Hub (WATH) - a competitiveness assistance center - Ghana-based Premium Ex-Im Company is getting its products into thousands of homes in the United States by selling to the major U.S. retailers Target and Cost Plus World Market.WATH taught Premium's owners how...

(Opinion)By now Ugandans have understood their perennial President. Whenever he wants something very badly he makes a denial statement.In 1985 he made a statement broadcast on BBC that he did not want to be President of Uganda. What is being President of Uganda, he asked? It is not even equal to being Mayor of London, he said. Then he proceeded to become President a few months later.When he wants more aid, he says that he does not want aid but trade. Then the Americans took him seriously and Congress passed AGOA. But Uganda's trade with...

Trade between Kenya and the United States dipped in the past year even as sub-Saharan Africa’s exports to the world’s largest economy continued to grow.The decline saw Kenya lose its position among America’s top trading partners in Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius and Cameroon remain in the top league. US exports to Africa leaped by 14 per cent in South Africa, 38 per cent in Nigeria, 67 per cent in Angola and 96 per cent in Equatorial Guinea.“Exports to Kenya declined by 17 per cent, mainly...