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The United States and Togo will co-host the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Lomé, Togo August 8-10. The Forum will bring together senior government officials from the United States and 38 Sub-Saharan African AGOA-eligible countries to discuss ways to boost economic cooperation and trade between the United States and Africa. The African Union and regional economic communities will also participate. The theme of this year’s Forum is “The United States and Africa: Partnering for Prosperity through Trade.” The 2017...

Tanzania is dispatching a team of experts to the US today for negotiations on the planned review which could exclude the country from accessing American market through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). At the same time, ruling on a petition filed by the US-based Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (Smart), which complained that Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda violated Agoa rules by banning importation of secondhand cloth - was expected to be publicly heard today. BusinessWeek has reviewed some of the possible...

US Ambassador to Ghana Robert Jackson wants Ghanaians exporting under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to step up their game to reap the full benefit of the programme. The Act, which was signed on 18 May 2000, offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. Speaking at a partnership programme for growth organised by the US Embassy in Accra on Wednesday, 6 July, 2017, Mr Jackson said Ghanaians had not fully availed themselves of the opportunity to enjoy...

The United States has asked Swaziland to redefine ‘Terrorism Act’ before it could be reconsidered for the African Growth Opportunity Agreement (AGOA). This was stated by Prime Minister Banarbas Dlamini when giving feedback to Senate Portfolio Committee in Parliament during the debate of the Suppression of Terrorism Amendment Bill No. 10 of 2010 on Wednesday. The premier said during the discussion of the bill with the Americans and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) it transpired that the initial definition needed to be...

Kenya no longer faces possible loss of Agoa trade benefits, US officials announced on Tuesday. However, three other East African Community member states — Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda — must undergo an assessment of their Agoa eligibility status, Washington's top trade agency affirmed. The assessment could result in their ejection from the preferential trade programme. A review of Kenya's inclusion in the African Growth and Opportunity Act “is not warranted at this time,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said in a notice...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in consultation with the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), is announcing the initiation of an out-of-cycle review of the eligibility of the Republic of Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Republic of Uganda to receive benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in response to a petition. The AGOA Subcommittee of the TPSC (Subcommittee) will consider written comments, written testimony, and oral testimony in response to this notice to develop...

Sub-Saharan Africa has both been the land of sourcing opportunity and the land where trade was most likely to remain close to status quo amid other potential adjustments to U.S. agreements. Now, the U.S. may be set to take a closer look at the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which affords eligible African countries duty free sourcing to the U.S. AGOA was renewed in 2015 and is set to remain in place until 2025, at which point it will again be up for renewal consideration. Since its inception in 2000, qualifying African countries...

Africa appears to now be getting more of the Trump Administration’s attention when it comes to trade. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said last week that the U.S. has to move from an “AID-based” relationship with Africa to one that’s more “TRADE-based,” which could mean eliminating a trade preference program like the African Growth and Opportunity Act in favor of bilateral trade agreements. Now, in an out-of-cycle review (see related announcement HERE), the Office of the United States Trade Representative will be looking...

The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), said it has attains AGOA Trade Resource Centre status, particularly for the organised private sector in Nigeria. The chamber, which has the mandate of promoting trade and commerce between Nigeria and America, said it also signed pacts with the USAID/West Africa Trade and Investment Hub (WATIH) in order to boost Nigeria’s share of world trade. Speaking on the collaboration, the NACC Director General, Joyce Akpata stated that the chamber would soon host the AGOA Desk in its national...

Zambia needs to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) as it still possesses opportunity for economic growth. Since its inception in 2000, AGOA has given duty-free and quota-free access to the United States market on about 6,000 products from qualifying African countries, including Zambia. Speaking at the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA)-sponsored US-Africa Business Summit under the theme “The US stake in Africa: A call for greater economic engagement”, United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross urged...

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says America’s relationship with Africa “has to continue its transition from being ‘AID-based’ to ‘TRADE-based’”. “To that end, having two-way trade agreements, not just temporary trade preferences, would create long-term, sustainable improvements to quality of life on both sides of the Atlantic,” Ross told the Corporate Council for Africa’s business summit in Washington on Thursday. [See a transcript of the speech further below] The temporary trade preference he was referring to is the...

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has urged sub-Saharan African countries to comply with the eligibility requirements for AGOA (the African Growth and Opportunity Act) in what is thought to be a veiled warning to Kenya and other members of the East African Community. In remarks delivered this week at the Corporate Council on Africa's 11th US-Africa Business Summit in Washington, DC, he said: "We must ensure countries currently benefiting from trade preferences granted by our African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) continue complying...

The government has hired a newly influential US lobbying firm partly in order to help Kenya block a threat to the sizable trade benefits it receives through the AGOA programme, Kenya’s embassy in Washington said on Friday. More than 66,000 jobs in Kenya are in “imminent danger and threat of being lost” due to a move by a US trade association to have all the East African Community member-states barred from continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the embassy warned. Kenya last year exported Sh35.2 billion...

The American Business Council of Sierra Leone (ABC) has recently been officially launched as a forum for United States and Sierra Leonean companies to strengthen commercial ties between the two countries. The American Business Council according to Scott Risner Economic and Commercial Officer Embassy of the United States of America in Sierra Leone will engage local businesses and the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) to build a more...

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Sunday urged the South African government to engage with the new US administration to preserve the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). In its Policy Discussion Document which underscores the importance of bridging the gap between the developed North and the developing South, the ANC said the new administration in the US has not yet pronounced on its Africa policy, and to this end "we will adopt a wait-and-see approach". The renewal of AGOA too remains uncertain, the party said. South...

East African Community partner states have agreed to grant garments and textiles manufacturers a three-year waiver of duties and value added tax (VAT) on inputs, fabrics and accessories not available in the region to boost local production and reduce the cost of production. This is one of the strategies to promote textiles and leather industries while slowing down the importation of used clothes, shoes and other leather products from outside the region. The EAC partners will now adopt a three-year strategy (2017-2019) for the phase-out of...

In a bid to exploit the market in the world's largest economy through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) extension, firms from the United States will now partner with those from Uganda, especially in the agri-business sector. The business partnerships are expected to step up Uganda's production and capacity of the agricultural sector and the levels of trade and investment between the two countries. This was one of the outcomes during the just-concluded meeting between the US agricultural trade mission and the Private Sector...