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Employment rate in the textile and clothing industry has risen by 36 percent from 29,000 to 45,000. The Lesotho Fancy Garments Group's new factory at the new Mohale's Hoek Industrial Estate will generate 18,000 new jobs when completed.While Foreign direct investment flow into the African continent is declining, Lesotho has emerged as one of the top four in sub-regional group of countries that have experienced heightened levels of inward investment flows.Investors are reported to be coming into Lesotho not only from the traditional target...

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni is to be honoured by US president George Bush in June as Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) marks its third year since it was signed into law by former US president Bill Clinton.AGOA was enacted to allow products from select African countries to enter duty free and quota- free to the US market as a strategy to boost development in Africa.Museveni will be honoured at the White House for the being the first African President to endorse AGOA and for his relentless campaign for the developed countries to open up and...

The eightyear-old Levi Strauss factory in Epping, Cape Town, which started to make Levi 501 jeans for European markets last year, is beginning to produce jeans for export to the US, GM Mike Joubert said yesterday.Joubert said during the international clothing group's 150th birthday that Levi's exports to the US would benefit from the provisions of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).Agoa permits duty-free access to the US market for a specified range of goods made in sub-Saharan African countries.In addition to making jeans for the...

THE American government is hopeful that the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) will be extended when it expires in 2008.Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner III said this in Gaborone, Botswana recently in answering questions to journalists during the official dedication of the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub.Mr Kansteiner, who described AGOA as the first step in a long process, said "AGOA kind of lays the beginning foundation if you will."It's a very important foundation and there are real benefits...

EthioIndex to webcast a LIVE Internet audio call-in dialog in Amharic titled "The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) & Ethiopia: Current issues and awareness"May 11, 2003 (EthioIndex.com) EthioIndex is proud to announce an upcoming webcast titled "African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) & Ethiopia: current issues and awareness" to be held Sunday May 18, 2003 at 3 PM Easter Time (New York). The webcast will be transmitted live at http://www.ethioindex.com. In the two years since the passage of the act, only one Ethiopian company is...

INDUSTRIALISTS under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) who are involved in the importation of industrial equipment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme are now to pay 2.5 per cent Customs duty on such goods.According to document from NACCIMA made available to Vanguard, the approval was conveyed to the association by the Director (Fiscal) in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. B. M. Dankano in a letter to the association and copied to the Director...

Latest economic figures show that Lesotho's inflation dropped by just over one per cent between February and march this year, an indication that the country would realize poverty alleviation in a long way."It is also hoped that with the fall in inflation both in South Africa and Lesotho, the interest rates will decline, and economic growth be stimulated. The fall in inflation will also go a long way towards poverty alleviation," said a statement from the Central Bank of Lesotho on Monday.The Central Bank statement said latest figures from...

Assistant US Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter H Kansteiner III will join Botswana's Minister of Trade and Industry, Jacob Nkate, as well as business leaders from countries throughout southern Africa, on May 8, to officially dedicate the Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub.US Ambassador to Botswana Joseph Huggins will host the event at the Hub facilities in Gaborone.The US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Regional Center for Southern Africa (RCSA) established the trade hub in 2002 as part of the US...

Mozambican companies exported 500,000 dollars worth of clothing to the United States in 2002, using the duty-free provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), reports Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".Despite this, the Mozambican clothing industry remains in deep crisis. In the closing years of the colonial period, there were over 50 clothing factories in Maputo. Now there are just three (Sabrina, Ninita and Umar Textiles), employing about 1,000 people, mostly women. A fourth company, Belita, operates in Beira.All...

Lesotho’s textile industry is one of the most lucrative business sectors in that African country, according to Andrew Gibbs, research intern at the University of Natal’s Centre for Civil Society. Since gaining independence in 1966, Lesotho has used foreign investment as a springboard for development. It set up the Lesotho National Development Corporation in 1967 to attract investment from abroad, but it was not until the 1980s when economic sanctions started to hit South Africa that investment in Lesotho really started to grow. “With...

Vice-President Michael Wamalwa has challenged flower producers to exploit the opportunity presented by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The VP revealed that plans were underway to introduce direct flights to Miami, USA as part of the Government's effort to utilise the opportunities in the North American market. Wamalwa was speaking at Oserian Development Company in Naivasha, during the launch of a geothermal green house heating project. The function also marked 21 years since Oserian begun growing flowers in Naivasha. The...

TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin is off to the US next month in an effort to woo new investment into SA.The trip is designed to persuade US businessmen that there are enormous opportunities in exportoriented projects in SA; to cash in on the trade concessions offered by the US under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa); as well as to highlight SA's various competitive advantages.Trade opportunities are likely to expand under the planned free trade area (FTA) agreement which is due to be negotiated between Washington and the...

Representatives of local exporters to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are to meet potential customers of their products.The AGOA Implementation Advisor, East and Central Africa, Jo Ann Sparacino said this while meeting exporters at the SPEED office in Nakasero.SPEED is a USAID funded project for helping boost exports."We are aiming at serious long term relationships, with the buyer as a friend. The buyer knows what is selling and would be able to advise his supplier on what to aim at."It would be...

Durban - Family run company Universal Lace and Fabric Mills, the only raschel lace manufacturer in southern Africa, has seen its business grow in the last few years.Local clothing companies that it supplies have taken advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa), which gives African textile and apparel manufacturers preferential access to US markets.The business, started 35 years ago by a consortium of 10 families, is now exploring direct export opportunities.Kamalesh Naran, a director of Universal Lace, said: "We need to...

To Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act with Respect to the Republic of the Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo: By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation 1. Section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the "1974 Act") (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (title I of Public Law 106-200) (AGOA), authorizes the President to designate a country listed in section 107 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3706) as a "beneficiary...

Washington - The U.S. Government is "working very hard" using tools like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to increase trade with Ghana. Ghanaians, in turn, are working hard to take advantage of the act's favorable trade benefits to spur their economy by increasing exports into the U.S. market, says Deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jon Huntsman. To truly prosper, the American said Ghana "must move beyond traditional exports of primary commodities and diversify into value-added products. Under AGOA, Ghana has already begun...

Ms Janice M. Bruce, Commercial Attaché of the US Embassy in Accra has called on Ghanaian businessmen and women to use the African Growth andOpportunity Act (AGOA) as an effective instrument to help them gain a better foothold on the international market."Much would depend on each Ghanaian company's approach to researching their markets, studying the demographics of their target audience, assessing customer needs, focusing on competitive pricing, quality and customer service".Ms Bruce was speaking at the commissioning of the first Ghanaian...

Maseru - Textile exports from Lesotho to the US have jumped 50 percent in 2001/02 because of a new trade act, a US International Trade Commission report said last week.However, a Lesotho trade union alleged that the increase was partly due to the exploitation of textile workers.The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) was designed to improve access to US markets by African exporters.According to the report, Lesotho's textile exports to the US rose to just over 300 000 tons in 2001/02 from 200 000 tons the previous year and the textile...

THE MINISTER of Trade and Industry, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, said last week in an interview that even though the country had access to a $70 million textile and apparel market in the US since the inception of the Visa System under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in April last year, only $8million worth of textiles and garment products were exported.Non-traditional exports to the US increased by $8million from $42 million in 2001 to $50million last year and it is targeted to reach at least $62million this year.In order to export...

Cape Town - Seardel Investment Corporation yesterday posted an exceptionally well-stitched set of half-year results.This was reflected in headline earnings a share surging by 109.7 percent.Sales grew by more than R400 million to R2.2 billion, ensuring a 52.6 percent rise in net income to R53.5 million.Analysts said higher exports and increased import substitution had helped the results streak well ahead of expectations. They noted, however, that the next six months would be key in evaluating the effect of the stronger rand.Executive chairman...

The Uganda Agricultural Economics Association (UAEA) is this afternoon hosting a public seminar on 'Uganda's Response and Challenges to 'Africa Growth and Opportunities Act' (AGOA) at Hotel Africana.AGOA, is a US trade initiative where selected goods from Sub-Saharan Africa access their market quota and tariff-free.The seminar will be an opportunity to build on earlier efforts to mobilise production towards the US market.The necessity to create awareness of the opportunities has been raised by Edith Sempala(pictured), Uganda's Ambassador to...

Johannesburg - African exports to the US fell 12.9 percent last year despite increased sales to the world's biggest market under its Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).According to the US International Trade Commission (USITC), South Africa's Agoa exports had grown 46 percent to $1.3 billion between 2001 and 2002, even though its total exports had fallen 4 percent to $4.2 billion over the period.Standard Bank economist Henry Flint said the fact that exports under Agoa had grown when overall exports from the continent had fallen...

The US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), symbolizes aid and opportunities aimed at stimulating economic growth in Africa and to integrate her economies into the global economy for increase productivity. It also serves as a catalyst for economic development by underpinning free exportation of goods, and promoting world marketing of goods, and services from Africa. Critics have associated it with another form of exploitation and colonization of African countries.Nonetheless, the primary objective of AGOA is "to encourage increased...

The Free State Development Corporation (FDC) is constructing a new R18-million factory building to accommodate a R213-million textile mill in Industriqwa, the industrial hub of Harrismith, in the eastern Free State.The investors in the venture are Lifing Textiles, a 50% partnership between a Taiwanese businessman and South African company Sun Home Import and Export. “The 10 000 m2 mill, believed to be the largest in South Africa, will produce 12 000 000 m of denim cloth, using yarn sourced from Taiwan.“A portion of the manufactured...

THE US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) can do much to stimulate Namibian trade and development, but not all parties are happy with the law's provisions. Trade and Industry Minister Jesaya Nyamu, recently returned from a forum on AGOA in Mauritius, told a meeting of business people yesterday that the US represented a vast market for the products of sub-Saharan Africa."Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for less than two per cent of US merchandise imports, which indicates a huge potential for trade growth," Nyamu said."There are obviously...

Durban - The US would probably implement the short supply ruling of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to help poor countries facing a temporary shortage of textiles, Walter Simeoni, SA Textile Industry's president, said yesterday. Fresh from Agoa, Simeoni said the entire sub-Saharan African textile industry supported retaining the deadline for least developed countries to discontinue fabric imports from other sources by September 2004. Small countries with an apparel industry based on fabric imports from the Far East were most...

Durban - "African delegates who came to Mauritius expecting to talk mainly to potential US investors made great contacts with each other for future business deals," Tim McCoy, the spokesperson for the private sector at last week's second Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) forum, said at the weekend. Intracontinental trade is providing a major spin-off for poor countries like Zambia, which has benefited from Agoa by selling yarn to Mauritius for the first time. Mauritius is also investing in apparel factories in Madagascar as well as in...

A report released during a summit in Mauritius last week said Agoa could potentially enable as many as 200,000 Kenyans to find work, but critics of the policy have their doubtsKENYA COULD create about 200,000 jobs in the textile sub-sector under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act ( Agoa), substantially boosting the new government's pledge to create 500,000 jobs annually.A US trade report shows that Kenya's textile sales to America have soared from $189 million in 1999 to $577 million in 2001, following the establishment or reopening of...

Mauritius - U.S. Representative Ed Royce reinforced his reputation as a staunch proponent of private-sector-driven development for Africa at the second U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation [AGOA] Forum, calling for an expansion of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and extension beyond its 2008 expiration date.Royce told the first-ever grouping of businessmen attending an AGOA Forum, "We can all be pleased at the results of AGOA thus far. But "we need to extend and broaden" the legislation and "we need to bring a...

The African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) an initiative of the government of the United States of America (USA) has been in existence for two years now. The initiative was developed by the United States Congress in a bid to assist selected African countries like Zambia to develop their economies by providing export incentives to the USA.In the last two years a handful of African states have successfully exploited the AGOA and boosted their economies in varying degrees.Well organised economies however, such as Mauritius and South Africa have...

Dept. of Transportation official McDermott addresses 2nd AGOA Forum in MauritiusFlic en Flac, Mauritius - African nations will never be able to take full advantage of the favorable export provisions extended them under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) until they develop their transportation systems, a top U.S. transportation official told the second U.S.-Sub-Saharan Trade and Economic Cooperation [AGOA] Forum January 17.In an interview with the Washington File at the close of the January 13-17 conference, Deputy Assistant...

United States President George Bush pledged on Wednesday that America would stand by Africa, helping it to end conflicts and to grow its economies through extended access to the giant US market.Bush was delivering an address by satellite to the summit on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in Port Louis, Mauritius, which is being attended by senior US officials and many African trade ministers.He said he still intended visiting Africa later this year.Bush said last year's terror attacks in Mombasa "remind us that Africa is on the...

American delegates have been rattling off billion-dollar figures at the US-African trade conference. The African Growth and Opportunities Act, or AGOA, was introduced just over two years ago to open up a tariff-free or duty-free arrangement between the US and initially 36 African countries.That's now been expanded to 38, and most of them are represented in Mauritius to reflect on how much trade has been carried out, how much money has been made, how many jobs have been created, and where this is all going in the future. The statistics are...

US Trade Representative Robert B Zoellick will join trade and foreign affairs ministers from over thirty African countries at the Second US/Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum in Reduit, Mauritius, from January 15 to 17.The annual "AGOA Forum" provides an opportunity for top US and sub-Saharan African trade officials to discuss ways of expanding trade and investment relations, under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provisions.Enacted in 2000, AGOA authorized a new US trade and investment policy toward Africa,...

THE Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), the US law passed in 2000 giving sub-Saharan Africa increased access to the US market, comes under the spotlight this week. There is no doubt that certain countries SA, Mauritius and Lesotho among them have received tangible benefits from the scrapping of US tariffs on a range of product categories. But there is concern among African governments about the future of Agoa, which expires in 2008. Some of these issues will be raised at the Agoa Forum, a threeday ministerial meeting that convenes in...

Durban - The clothing and textile industries are at loggerheads over whether the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) September 2004 deadline for least developed countries (LDCs) should be extended.An extension would allow garment manufacturers to continue using fabric from countries outside sub-Saharan Africa, Walter Simeoni, the president of the South African Textile Federation, said at the weekend.The issue will be hotly debated at the second annual Agoa meeting in Mauritius this week."It will be a tragedy if the US government...

Port Louis, Mauritius -- Access to markets is vital if Africa is to move out of the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment, Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth said January 13 in opening the private sector session of the second annual U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum.Jugnauth spoke to a business audience at the Freeport Exhibition Center located in the port area of Mer Rouge just outside the capital. He said, "I am confident that now that the U.S. has shown its commitment to the socio-economic success of the...

Trade ministers from the US and several African countries and almost 1000 business leaders have begun arriving in Mauritius for a week-long US-Africa trade forum where America's African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) is to be the main focus.The U.S.-Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum is a meeting of government ministers from the US and sub-Saharan Africa to review U.S.-Africa trade and economic relations. This and a parallel private sector forum were created by Agoa legislation two years ago. Agoa provides duty-free and...

The landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) was signed into law by President Clinton on May 18, 2000, and took effect on October 1, 2000. Agoa seeks to harness the power of the private sector to contribute to sustainable economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa by stimulating increased trade flows between the United States and Africa.With two years of experience under the Agoa framework now behind us, the second annual meeting of the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (Agoa Forum) in Mauritius from...

US WASHINGTON The US has embarked on a major African foreign policy drive ahead of next week's meeting with African ministers in Mauritius, warning yesterday that some countries may lose trade privileges unless they improve their human rights records. A senior US state department official said yesterday that Swaziland and Eritrea would soon receive letters from Secretary of State Colin Powell, warning them that they would be dropped from eligibility for benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) unless they carry out...

MASERU - In a corner of Maseru's shabby industrial zone, workers at the Shining Century factory cut and sew bolts of billowing maroon and navy blue fabric into T-shirts destined for the shelves of Gap stores across the US. They are part of a growing textile industry in this tiny African nation that is profiting from a new US trade initiative. The Gap shirts enter the US under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which has slashed tariffs on nearly 2,000 products imported from dozens of African countries and opened the world's...

On December 31, 2002, President Bush approved the designation of the following 38 Sub-Saharan African countries as eligible for tariff preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Benin; Botswana; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chad; Republic of the Congo; Cote d'Ivoire; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; The Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; So Tome and...

Ooutgoing US trade representative for Africa Rosa Whitaker has lauded the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) as one of the proudest achievements of her four-year stay. She said the greatest challenge for the US now was the need to build on Agoa's successes and to create a "greater urgency" about the economic need of sub-Saharan Africa. Under AGOA, about 35 sub-Saharan nations are now eligible for the duty-free and quota-free entry of their exports into the US market. In addition, President George Bush signed the...

About 11 companies have so far registered to participate in the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade exhibition that is scheduled for January 13-17 in Mauritius."The response is so far good, more are still coming, it is still early to know how many will participate but the number will increase," Uganda Investment Authority executive director Dr. Maggie Kigozi has said.She said that the Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB) will exhibit on behalf of government."This is therefore to inform all exhibitors that there will be one booth, so...

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) announced the membership of its Africa Investment Advisory Council on November 13. The ten-member committee was established pursuant to the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and for the purpose of supporting OPIC efforts to generate an increase in U.S. private investment in sub-Sahara Africa."We are convinced that Africa has the potential to become one of the world's most dynamic emerging markets in the next few years, and as such, an important destination for U.S. investment," said...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) announced today that it will provide AGOA-eligible member states free exhibit space in the "COMESA Village" of the AGOA Trade Exhibition, scheduled for January 13-17, 2003, in Port Louis, Mauritius. The unprecedented Exhibition is part of the Private Sector Session of the U.S.-Africa AGOA Forum, an annual ministerial meeting that will attract hundreds of government and business leaders from the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. President George W. Bush is expected to lead the...

THE Nigerian government has approved the establishment of the Nigerian Apparel and Footwear Project, an initiative aimed at taking advantage of the US-sponsored Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Nigerian Commerce Minister Mustapha Bello said the project, established under the US-Nigeria Development Institute, was part of the government's mediumterm commitment towards realising $500m in nonoil exports to the US by the end of next year. He said the project's overall objective was to improve the manufacturing facilities, workforce and...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) came into force in the year 2001. The law allows the United States of America to trade with accredited countries duty and quota free.Already great inroads have been made in the area of textiles through this Act. It is reported that Kenya exported to the US, textile and apparel, worth US $56 million (Sh4.4 billion) by September 2001.The Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZs) have attracted 20 garment factories exporting textile and apparel provisions to US under the Act.It is projected that for...