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Eligible countries are benefiting from preferential trade programs, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reports in a September 9 fact sheet. The fact sheet was issued on the eve of World Trade Organization talks September 10-14 in Cancun, Mexico.-----The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) The United States believes that a free and open trading system is critical to development, and has backed that belief with action. Through AGOA and other preferential trade programs, the...

Ugandan producers of coffee, vanilla, and honey are here to invade the 39 percent of households in the United States that buy organic and/or natural products, and claim a small share of the $36.4 billion organic foods market in the U.S.According to a group from Uganda interviewed by the Washington File September 8 at the offices of the Whitaker Group, a trade-consulting firm operated by former assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for Africa, Rosa Whitaker, their efforts to promote their organic foods stem in part from the African...

Although South Africa is eligible for special benefits under the 1999 US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), South Africa's clothing exports to the US were increasing more rapidly before AGOA than after AGOA, University of Cape Town Professor David Kaplan has said. Speaking at the Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) conference, the former Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) chief economist said South Africa's share of the US market has been declining post-AGOA, while the share of other African countries that are...

Xavier Carim (44) is the chief trade negotiator in the department of trade and industry. Although he is intimately involved with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks - which start in the Mexican resort city of Cancun this week - Carim is also overseeing the negotiation of free trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland; western European countries outside the EU; and the US. The department of trade and industry is also in preliminary discussions with China,...

Dr. Richard Nduhuura, the state minister for trade and industry, has said Lango sub-region would benefit from the strategic intervention fund under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) if farmers went into cotton growing.Nduhuura was last Saturday addressing the Lira branch executive of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Town View Hotel."Lango region is blessed with fertile vast land to boost productivity of various crops. I am optimistic that if the people of Lango embarked on cotton and other crops they would have...

Up to 12000 jobs could be cut this year as sales are expected to drop 10% due to cheap imports and the strong rand FACING its worst hour yet, mainly as a result of the rand's strong gains and cheap imports, the domestic textile sector plans to propose an emergency plan to government to help it recover .South African Textile Federation executive director Brian Brink said sales were expected to drop 10% to R12bn and more than 12 000 jobs in the sector could be cut this year.The industry's pleas are unlikely to be met with enthusiasm from...

Apparel exports under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for the first 6 months of 2003 showed a significant increase over the corresponding period of 2002, according to recently published data by the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA). AGOA-eligible apparel exports for the year to June 2003 amounted to $510 million, representing a 41% year-on-year increase. Apparel exports under AGOA represent 75% of total apparel exports from African countries having met the "apparel visa requirements" under the Act. Lesotho continues to...

Gaborone - Southern African countries accounted for more than 85 percent of the non-oil exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), US senate majority leader Bill Frist heard on Tuesday.Frist and five other senators were in Botswana as guests of the government to learn about progress in co-operation between the US and southern Africa in trade development.Their visit was a follow-up to the establishment, in June 2002, of the Southern African Global Competitiveness Hub in Gaborone, a response to President George W...

Cape Town - The clothing industry is in a cyclical downturn driven by the strength of the rand, according to Jack Kipling, the president of the Clothing Trade Council of SA (Clotrade).This followed four years of solid growth during which exports had risen at a compound rate of more than 35 percent a year while exports to the US had grown 151 percent in the past two years, Kipling said yesterday. However, exports were now down and imports up due to the rand's appreciation and the cyclical downturn in the sector.This downturn had to be seen in...

While South Africa has shunned the Asian low-wage path to development through textile and garment manufacture, Lesotho is embracing it wholeheartedly.It's becoming Africa's Singapore or Bangladesh, says Luigi Malvestio, the director of Taiwanese garment manufacturer Lesotho Fancy Garments Group in Maseru.Taiwanese investors - mostly in the rag trade - already employ between one-fifth and one-quarter of Lesotho's workforce.Malvestio told an UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) earlier this year that with the right government...

Kenya's exports to the United States under the AGOA trade scheme nearly doubled during the first five months of 2003 in comparison to the same period a year earlier.Signs of a boom in Kenya's sales to the US market are contained in a new set of figures published by the US International Trade Commission.From January to May of this year, Kenya shipped $76.4 million worth of goods to the US through Agoa and another preferential programme that eliminates Customs duties on products from eligible countries. The figure for the corresponding portion...

Southern African Customs Union (SACU) negotiators will have to tread carefully in their talks with the US on the issue of rules of origin as they apply to trade in clothing and textiles. SACU - SA, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia - and the United States are negotiating the removal of barriers to trade in goods and services. The talks began in May and resume this month. As tariffs and quota-based trade barriers have reduced in line with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) guidelines, rules of origin have become an important feature of...

The portfolio committee on trade and industry was reminded last week that trade negotiations were one of the trickiest aspects of any government's work, especially when it came to preventing any unintended consequences.Indeed, the officials involved often have to do more ducking and diving around major issues of international and domestic concern than many diplomats have to, and if they drop any of the curved balls thrown at them, they face an uproar back home.Xavier Carim, the chief director for trade negotiations in the department of trade...

The Special Adviser to the president on the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), Mrs. Sasore has said that Nigeria has started reaping the benefits of the United States duty-free export law.In a recent meeting with the organised private sector at the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), headquarters in Lagos, Mrs. Sosore said AGOA will foster better trade relations between the US and designated sub-saharan African counties of which Nigeria is one."Nigeria hasn't fully taken advantage of AGOA as a result of delays in enacting...

The current strength of the rand is good news for most businesses and consumers, but the clothing and textile industries are bearing the brunt of the stronger currency.The rand's volatility and its current strength against the US dollar is worrying exporters in the clothing industry.Chairman of the Export Council for the Clothing Industry in South Africa, Jack Kipling, said exports of clothing are expected to decline this year, and could lead to job losses."International buyers are able to exercise wide choice in sourcing product from...

What is SA's loss is our neighbours' gain. Taiwanese textile and clothing companies have established dozens of factories in Lesotho and, more recently, Swaziland to take advantage of favourable export deals between Africa and the US. What is interesting though is why they are avoiding SA, which is also one of the beneficiaries of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa) that provides duty-free access to clothing and textile imports from 35 African countries. The first Taiwanese investment drive into the region came in the 1980s when they...

The department of trade and industry (DTI) is to consult widely with local business, and within Nedlac, on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.DTI's chief negotiator in the trade talks, Xavier Carim, on Thursday told Parliament's trade and industry portfolio committee that government would spend the coming "few months" interacting with business, as the negotiations gather pace.It was hoped the final agreement, between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the US, would be in place by the end of next year,...

Mr Xavier Carim, South Africa' Chief Director for Trade negotiations, says the Southern African Custom Union (SACU) and the United States will find ways to manage 'sensitive issues' such as agricultural subsidies as negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) progresses.Briefing the media after the second round of the FTA's two-day long negotiations in Johannesburg yesterday, Mr Carim said the sensitive issues of agricultural subsidies, textile and clothing would be 'managed' come the 2004 deadline.'There are areas on Sacu's side where we...

An Inspector hired by the US-based retail chain The Gap is measuring up a garment at the Lesotho Fancy Garments Group.He has spent two months at the sprawling factory in the capital Maseru ensuring that standards are up to scratch to meet the requirements for The Gap's order."It's all been fine. No problems so far," says Jimmy Lasum.Apart from making garments for The Gap, Lesotho Fancy Garments Group is also manufacturing for US department stores, including JC Penney, Target, WalMart and Sears.The economy of tiny Lesotho with a population of...

The proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the United States will open new markets for the customs union countries. It also has potential pitfalls. SACU, whose members are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, began trade talks with the US in May and these will resume this month. The proposed FTA will be the second most significant trade relationship exercise between the US and African countries after the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA removes US import...

US companies operating in SA are adopting a more favourable outlook on local domestic investment, a survey conducted in June by the American Chamber of Commerce has revealed.Of the more than 80 members of the chamber who responded to the annual survey, more than half indicated that the economic climate in SA was either excellent or good, with 40% reporting it as variable.Only 5% which the chamber's executive director, Luanne Grant, said was an "encouraging sign" said that the economic climate was poor, compared with 28%in last year's...

Addis Ababa - Pacing his garment factory, 47-year-old Worku Zewde bends down to pick up a piece of cloth that has dropped on the floor.At least 250 young men and women sit at sewing machines, measuring, cutting and stitching fabric from Taiwan at Garment Express, a joint venture between Worku and a US investor.The factory produces baseball, basketball, American football and soccer jerseys under the brand Champro Sports Equipment. The product enters the US duty free under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).US President George W...

President Olusegun Obasanjo may sign the legislation on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which seeks to punish defaulters on trans-shipment, into law in a few days.Special Adviser to the President on AGOA, Mrs. Modupe Sasore, who disclosed this over the weekend in Abuja, said the legislation had already been sent to Obasanjo for his assent by the National Assembly.She explained that part of the new legislation on AGOA specifies the penalty of payment of the values of the products for defaulters of any trans-shipment.Sasore...

African countries had high expectations that the next World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in September would be the culmination of a "development round" of talks focused on establishing new trade regulations that benefit developing countries. But the WTO talks have stalemated in disputes between Europe and the U.S."On none of the issues of concern to the developing countries has there been any progress," says the Mauritius Minister of Industry and International Trade, Jaya Cuttaree. One month before the WTO meeting is scheduled to...

Apparel exports had been growing at a rate of more than 38% a year for the past four years said Clothing Industry Export Council chairman Jack Kipling. The latest manufacturing production figures from Statistics SA show that in the period March to May, one of the major contributors to the 0,9% fall in the index after seasonal adjustment was the 10,7% quarterly fall in total textile production and 11,1% fall in the total production of wearing apparel. Customs and excise trade figures for May show that exports of textiles and textile...

SA is a major beneficiary of nonenergy exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), says economist Eckart Naumann. He was giving at a presentation to the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa. He suggests that the response within Africa is "still fairly polarised", with SA having taken the lion's share of nonenergy and nontextile exports under Agoa. "Agoa significantly liberalises trade between the US and 38 designated sub-Saharan African countries by removing import tariffs on approximately 7000 goods," says...

THE real question about the proposed free-trade agreement between the US and the trading partners of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) is whether it can benefit SA more than the existing African Growth and Opportunitiy Act (Agoa). After all, Agoa already gave SA easier access to US markets for most goods, and the US wants to include a lot of nontrade issues in the free-trade agreement that could limit government's ability to drive economic development.Through Agoa, the US provided unilateral tariff cuts that brought real benefits. SA...

THE final approval of six Zambia's agricultural products to be exported to America under AGOA will be concluded by the end of the year, African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme manager for Africa Moses Simemba said in an interview yesterday.Mr Simemba, who was clarifying reports from the just ended trade fair in Ndola, said the six agricultural products were only recommended by the American officials who were recently in Zambia.A final decision had to be made by the end of they year as there were other technical issues to be sorted...

US President George W Bush yesterday said his country and South Africa were working to expand trade, adding that he believes trade is the key to Africa’s economic future.Speaking at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria, during his official visit to South Africa, Bush said the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) was creating jobs and stimulating investment across the continent.“Right here in South Africa, exports to the US under Agoa have increased by 45% in the last year alone, significant progress.“We're working with five nations of...

The SA Government was hoping for an announcement soon that Ford SA would join the growing ranks of automotive multinationals using SA as an export platform for vehicles, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said yesterday.He was briefing journalists on this week's visit to SA by US President George Bush which comes as SA and its Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) partners are in negotiations on a free trade area agreement with the US.Erwin suggested that a free trade area would lock in many of the benefits SA enjoyed under Washington's...

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Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks believes there is still significant scope for South African and other African companies to more fully exploit the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa), particularly now that President George W Bush has extended the duration of the legislation.Hendricks was speaking on her return from a trip to the US where she had attended the Corporate Council on Africa’s Fourth US-Africa business summit held in Washington, DC, from June 24 to 27.She was accompanied by a...

SA's Government says it plans to build on efforts made at a US-Africa business summit in Washington last week to attract US investors to the domestic textile and clothing sector.Contrary to government's expectations, US companies had not invested in SA or its customs union partners as a result of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa), said Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks at a media briefing on the summit yesterday.The initiative had attracted investments from numerous other countries, including Germany, Malaysia...

The Ethio-American Trade and Investment Council (EATIC) with the support of the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, DC, is organizing manufacturing orientation visit (OV) to the USA for Ethiopian textile, garment and leather manufacturers. The purpose of the visit, which will take place from next August 11 to August 24, would be to introduce Ethiopian textile garment and leather manufacturers to the business practices of the same industries in the United States in order to increase...

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, made the following statement at a hearing of his committee on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. It is my pleasure to welcome our witnesses and distinguished guests to our hearing on the African Growth and Opportunity Act. We are privileged to have on our first panel Flori Liser, the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, and Walter Kansteiner, the Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. Following their testimony, we will hear from a second panel composed of...

Walter H. Kansteiner, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Testimony Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee Washington, DCMr. Chairman, Ranking Member Biden and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before the Committee today on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It is a particular pleasure to testify on AGOA before this Committee because it allows me to again congratulate the Chairman and other members of this Committee who were instrumental in enacting AGOA into law in 2000, and in the...

Under the leadership of former Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker, the Whitaker Group has mobilized an action committee of businesses, NGOs and faith-based groups to draft, promote and see enacted and implemented critically needed enhancements to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.These enhancements, AGOA III for short, will further strengthen the competitive position of U.S. business and investment in Africa. They will add momentum to the continent's growth and development by spurring continued reform and...

Under the leadership of former Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker, the Whitaker Group has mobilized an action committee of businesses, NGOs and faith-based groups to draft, promote and see enacted and implemented critically needed enhancements to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.These enhancements, AGOA III for short, will further strengthen the competitive position of U.S. business and investment in Africa. They will add momentum to the continent's growth and development by spurring continued reform and...

To ensure that export procedure contained in African Growth and Opportunity Acts are simplified for manufacturers, the Federal Ministry of Commerce has commissioned a United States-based export consultant - Manchester Trade Limited, to develop strategic export plan.Vanguard gathered that the approval which was given before the dissolution of the federal executive council empowered the consultant working in collaboration with the implementation and advisory committee on AGOA to develop an elaborate export plan.To evolve the strategic export...

On the surface, the news is grim. Global foreign direct investment is stagnant in some areas and dropping in others. Sub-Saharan Africa, which saw a dramatic drop in FDI inflows for 2002, is no exception. But peeling back the veneer, the picture begins to look a little different.For starters, the projected two-thirds drop in FDI for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, from $17 billion in 2001 to $7 billion in 2002, is pretty much explained by several large, one-off transactions in 2001, the global economic and investment slowdown, and...

White House National Security Council (NSC) director for Africa Jendayi Frazer this week helped launch an effort to expand the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), the landmark US trade legislation that supporters say can provide the market access to counter Africa's economic marginalisation.Frazer told 500 officials, businesspersons and journalists, gathered at the Mayflower Hotel to inaugurate 'The Agoa III Action Committee,' while celebrating the third anniversary of the Act, that "Agoa has become the centrepiece of our economic...

After the December, 2004 textile producer will not be able to source textiles for garment production for Agoa exports to America from within the country and the Sub-Saharan region.This factor is worrying garment and textile players, Garment and Textiles Association of Malawi (GTAM) national consultant Julian Mhone said with the future of David Whitehead and Sons (DWS) in limbo, it will be difficult for the industry to source yarn and fabrics within the country.Agoa conditions stipulate that least developed countries (LDCs) like Malawi and...

SA's exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) jumped 45% last year, according to a new US administration report on the preferential trade access programme.This shows that SA exporters are beginning to take real advantage of the Agoa programme, which offers tariff-free and quota-free access for thousands of products from SA and dozens of other African countries into the US market."SA increased its total Agoa exports from $923m in 2001 to 1,3bn in 2002, a 45% increase," according to the report, which was compiled...

The United States has selected Uganda, among other African countries, to benefit from a $475m facility that will be used to support projects that are participating in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) export arrangement.Rosa Whitaker, a former senior trade official in the US government in charge of AGOA, said last week $125m will come from a special Citibank fund and $350m from the Millenium Challenge Fund Account."The funds are meant to support projects that produce products that enter duty-free and quota free to the US market...

One of US' largest garment dealers under AGOA initiative, John Sporidis, is to invest over $40m ( about sh80b)in the spinning, weaving and spinning knitting sectors of the local textile industry. This is intended to revamp and expand the industry to meet the demands of American buyers reports Raymond Mikah.Sporidis together with Rosa Whitaker, former US official in charge of AGOA who have been touring Uganda's textile industries, said last week work to install machinery will start in three months time.He said weaving and knitting will...

Once every two years, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) convenes the premier gathering in the United States of business and government leaders who are united by their shared commitment to promoting trade and investment between the U.S. and Africa. The fourth U.S.-Africa Business Summit will be held this year from June 24-27 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. The summit’s theme is “Building Partnerships.” The goal of the Summit is to facilitate export/import trading, identify agents, representatives and distributors,...