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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...

BMW SA said yesterday that it was due to export cars worth R3,8bn (about $ 380 million) to the US this year under Washington's duty-free provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Although US legislators intended ordinary Africans to benefit from Agoa, the German firm is by far the biggest local beneficiary to date. Agoa offers exporters from many African countries tariff-free access to the US market for thousands of products. BMW SA CE Ian Robertson said he expected BMW's exports to the US to reach 22000 units, up from...

Remarks at African Growth and Opportunity Act Business Roundtable by Secretary Colin L. PowellThank you very much, Tony, and thank you all. It's a great pleasure to be with you this morning and -- I've been up in my office all morning working on a number of issues, the most pressing of which is the resolution before the United Nations. And we're making progress, but it has been very, very intense negotiations and I started out on the telephone at roughly 6:30 this morning and it hasn't stopped -- but always in the background I've had our...

The gathering expectations surrounding AGOA, are leading Ugandan exporters into the unfortunate position of placing too many eggs in one basket.The United States government's offer of quota free/duty free access to its domestic market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)is very welcome. Thanks in part to former President Bill Clinton's efforts and that of the Black caucus in the US Congress.But the pitfalls before Uganda can fully exploit this initiative are being underestimated. Especially for fresh food produce.Although...

THE US's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a blessing in disguise if SA companies take it seriously before the full liberalisation of trade kicks in from 2005 as stipulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The first meeting on Agoa held jointly by some African and US representatives last week reflected on how Agoa was working after one year of its enactment, but had little to do with the bigger picture. While the WTO is forging ahead with its commitments to liberalise sectors such as textile and clothing by 2005, Agoa is...

NAIROBIKenya is expected to earn Sh11 billion this year from the export of locally manufactured clothing and textile products to the United States, an American diplomat says. Mr Thomas G. Hart, the counsellor for public affairs at the Nairobi Embassy, told reporters that exports of Kenyan textile products to the US had increased tremendously following the enactment of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The law allows duty-free exports of selected goods and products from African countries into the American market. Mr Hart was...

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has started a new programme to assist companies in its member states to export their products to the US market under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The pilot phase of the programme targets five countries out of the 13 Agoa-eligible countries in the 20-member trade bloc. The five countries which have been selected for the pilot phase of the project, dubbed the Agoa Linkages in Comesa (ALINC), include Malawi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. ALINC programme...

MBABANE - As electrical workers scramble atop new 30 metre-tall pylons to connect power cables that will electrify an expanded Matsapha Industrial Estate in central Swaziland, industry and government leaders are working to safeguard vital trade privileges with the United States."The Americans are giving us a chance to jump-start our economy through foreign trade, and no one wants to blow this opportunity," Marc Svenningsen told IRIN. Svenningsen, the director of Express Cargo in Matsapha, which transports goods made in Swaziland to South...

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), promulgated by former US president Bill Clinton in 2000 to give certain imports from qualifying sub-Saharan African countries duty- and quota-free entry, has resulted in investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars across the region, the latest edition of the World Investment Report states.The report, released in mid-September by the Geneva-based United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), notes that a US company has paid an undisclosed sum to acquire a fish-processing...

While the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was very beneficial for the local industry, it had had mixed benefits for South African Fine Worsteds, of Cape Town, chief executive officer Mr. Dieter Mielke told the Wool Record.The company's sales in the United States, in dollars, have increased over the past year by 60% but it has not been possible to gain the full benefit of the decline in the rand against the US dollar since December 2001.Mr. Mielke explained that while South African garment-makers were selling into the American...

The Gambia will this year qualify for the US African Growth and Opportunity Act for recording progress towards respect for democratic freedoms, rule of law and human dignity.This was disclosed by the US Ambassador, Mr Jackson McDonald, at the US-Gambia forum organised by Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and Sahel Investment Management at the Kairaba Beach Hotel last Tuesday September 24."Since the lifting of the sanctions, the democratically elected Government of The Gambia continues to record progress towards respect for the democratic...

Kenya wants her Coffee and Tea to be granted duty and quota free access to the United States market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) agreement.An official from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Muturi Mirie, said a new list of products to be covered under the second Agoa agreement was being compiled.He said the Government was encouraging addition of value to tea and coffee for them to be considered under the Act.Mirie was speaking during a Kenya Technical Working Group (KTWG) trade facilitation workshop in Eldoret on...

Several European and Asian companies are actively seeking investment opportunities in South Africa's textile and clothing industry, which now enjoys preferential access to the European and US markets.Under the US's unilateral Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), signed into law in 2000 by former President Bill Clinton, certain imports – including textiles and clothing – from qualifying sub-Saharan African countries are exempt from import duties and quotas until at least 2008.Under the European Union/South Africa (EU/SA) free-trade...

The Internet can tremendously boost Africa's trade with the United States, a trade specialist has said.Dr Susan Hester, an international trade economist, said a good number of business people in the US were looking for information on African products on the web but this was hampered by lack of websites on African products.She said online marketing was important if Africa hoped to meaningfully exploit the US market.The economist was addressing business people at a seminar on Niche Marketing of African Textiles and Handicrafts, organised under...

Washington - Businesspeople and government officials from Benin recently benefited from a seminar held in their country, which provided information about how African businesses can take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a law that allows countries in sub-Saharan Africa generous access to the U.S. market."There is a need for clarity about what the real opportunities in the U.S. are" for African countries, said Gregory Simpkins, an Africa policy specialist and vice president of The Foundation for Democracy in Africa...

LISTED companies in a variety of industries are talking about taking advantage of the export opportunities offered by the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), but this does not necessarily mean that their share prices will react in the short term to the possibilities. The performance of those companies' shares will depend on how efficiently they cope with the detail of the Agoa preferences as well as factors like their liquidity and general market sentiment towards small capitalisation companies. Deloitte & Touche associate director in...

Five years ago, CMT Clothing (Bophuthatswana) was a small player in the SA clothing manufacturing industry, having been rescued from liquidation a few years earlier. Today, CMT's prospects look much brighter. It employs 38% more workers and their jobs have never been more secure. That is largely thanks to the Africa Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa), the US government's trade and investment policy for Africa. And though Agoa has faced stern criticism from some economists, for CMT and many other SA companies it is a boon as the domestic market...

TOURISM, trade and industry ministry officials have been overwhelmed by the high interest shown by the business community to export to the United States market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) quota and tariff free policy.Davies Bamuleseyo, the ministry's desk officer in- charge of AGOA said on average, five people every day visit the ministry offices at Farmers House on Parliament Avenue in Kampala, seeking information on how to export under AGOA, while 250 others have already registered with the ministry."A lot of...

US President George Bush has signed into law the changes or "enhancements" to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) paving way for more trading opportunities for Africa and the US. The US Assistant Trade Representative (USTR) for Africa, Rosa Whitaker described the new development, part of the omnibus Trade Act of 2002 signed into law last week as a "win-win situation for sub-Saharan Africa and us", the US embassy in Kampala revealed. According to Whitaker, "The enactment of the AGOA enhancement will add momentum" to the growing...

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) generated an additional R10bn for SA last year, accounting for 20% of the country's R50bn exports to the US. This amount was expected to increase to R14bn this year, US ambassador to SA, Cameron Hume, said. The figures were part of a new report on the macroeconomic effect of Agoa on SA. The act provides for duty-free access to certain products under strict rules of origin from some African countries to the US. The report, which was funded by the US Agency for International Development, examined...

A US trade representative in southern Africa says changes to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) - a part of the omnibus Trade Act signed into law by President George W Bush on August 6 - are a "win-win [situation] for sub-Saharan Africa and the US." Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa Rosa Whitaker was quoted in The Washington File, a publication of the Department of State. The changes, for which Namibia has lobbied heavily, include allowing Namibia and Botswana the right to use non-African fabric in clothes produced for...

Nairobi - Kenya's cotton industry, on its knees after decades of political neglect, is set for revival thanks to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The law was passed by the US Congress more than two years ago to help sub-Saharan African countries by allowing duty-free exports to the world's greatest economy. The opportunities have goaded the local business community and industrialists into stepping up their production. "The statistics of trade growth from Kenya to America are mind boggling," said Peter Kariuki, the chief...

Speakers at an intra-African trade promotion program organized by the International Trade Centre (ITC) have warned African clothing manufacturers that they could soon lose out on a special Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) ruling which allows them to source fabrics from outside the continent or the U.S. However, this subsidy ceases on 30 September 2004, and unless companies have taken steps to invest or forge relationships with textile manufacturers in sub-Saharan Africa the industry could lose one of its biggest advantages, not to...

Port Elizabeth master ice cream maker Dave Vardy is cooling American palates by R20m/year. Vardy and his partner Manie Maritz make exquisite, fruity ice creams, packed in fruit or coconut shells. With the advent of the Africa Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa) his exports to the US are duty-free. Their company, Dynamic Commodities, has teamed up with an ex-South African in the US to launch the product in restaurants, theme parks and supermarkets there. Agoa extends preferential trade benefits to a specified range of products, including ice...