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The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) is in the process of developing a strategic document to enable local companies realise the full potential in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade initiative. Presently, a draft is being developed with input from local companies in export trade across the country to develop a four-step strategic document, ‘AGOA Review Strategy’ to promote export for Ghanaian companies. In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS, on the sidelines of AGOA sensitisation workshop in Accra, the Director...

Rwanda, one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, has called on the United States government to grant easier access to traders from across Africa doing business with America market under the renewed African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The East African nation is one of the beneficiaries of AGOA, the signature trade initiative by the US government to allow at least 7000 products from 39 nations in Sub Saharan Africa to America market duty-free. “The process of acquiring visas remains lengthy even if we qualify through that trade...

Entrepreneurs have been challenged to take advantage of the expanded list of goods that can be exported to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme to enhance Rwanda’s export volumes and revenue. Francois Kanimba, the Minister for Trade and Industry, said the development should act as an incentive for producers, particularly small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) to increase production to benefit fully from the AGOA arrangement. Kanimba was on Tuesday speaking during the announcement of the new additional list of...

The US State Department has officially announced the dates for the 2016 US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the AGOA Forum. The Forum (Ministerial) will take place on 26 September 2016, and is preceded by a range of events incorporating the private sector, civil society, and African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) stakeholders, on 22-23 September. This year’s theme is “Maximizing AGOA now while preparing for the future beyond AGOA.” Draft program details (updated on 07 September,...

It appears the interest of American companies in Ghana is increasing, as 37 of them have invested in Ghana in the last five years, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Robert P. Jackson told ghanabusinessnews.com in an exclusive interview. The interview covered US foreign direct investment (FDI) into Ghana, bilateral trade, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), visa issues, the number of American citizens in Ghanaian prisons and what the favourite Ghanaian dish of the Ambassador is. Mr. Jackson indicated that in the last five years, 37...

Amelia Kyambadde, Uganda’s minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, wants the United States government to relax the rules of origin under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), and also expand the list of eligible products allowed under the programme. Kyambadde attributes Uganda’s poor performance under Agoa to the strict rules of origin. “The current arrangement is that a value addition level of 35 per cent must be attained on products whose inputs are imported from non-Agoa countries in order to export them under the...

This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2017. The Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The Subcommittee will consider the written...

The United States will host the fifteenth annual U.S.-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, commonly known as the AGOA Forum, on September 26, 2016, at the U.S. Department of State, in Washington, D.C. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the U.S. government's signature trade initiative with sub-Saharan Africa. The AGOA legislation mandates the annual AGOA Forum to foster close economic ties between the United States and its partners in sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s theme is “Maximizing AGOA Now while...

"Deep disappointment" has been expressed over the exclusion of travel goods produced in the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka from duty-free status under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, following the US Administration's recent annual review. Under the GSP program, approximately 5,000 products from 122 beneficiary developing countries and territories, including 43 least developed countries, are eligible for duty-free treatment when exported to the United States. Based on the review, which...

The U.S. Trade Representative presented to Congress today a comprehensive report on implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – the cornerstone of the  U.S. trade and investment relationship with sub-Saharan Africa. The report is statutorily mandated by Congress under the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 to be submitted one year following the enactment of the Act, and biennially thereafter.   The 2016 Biennial Report on the Implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act details the...

The United States is investing $10 million in Ghana to help the country meet international standards and guidelines for its agricultural produce. The project is aimed at strengthening sanitary and phytosanitary compliance with agricultural produce in Ghana.  The initiative is part of the Trade Africa Initiative which, among other things, is designed to build partnerships between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa to increase internal and regional trade within Africa. It comes at a time Ghana’s vegetable exports to the...

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) co-hosted an Africa Policy Breakfast on the first anniversary of AGOA’s reauthorization, “Refocusing on Capacity Building,” to discuss why capacity building is important to AGOA eligible countries and what needs to be done to help them take full advantage of AGOA’s benefits. The forum was opened by Rep. Bass who expressed her continuing support for AGOA and introduced the forum’s diplomatic panel. Presenters included H.E. Professor Molapi Sebatane, Ambassador of Lesotho; H.E....

A South African official said on Tuesday that her country and other Sub-Saharan countries are under-utilizing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), thereby not fully reaping its benefits. Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, Deputy Director-General at the Department of Trade and Industry, said this while giving a keynote address at a seminar on ways to unpack AGOA in Johannesburg. The AGOA, a legislation that was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000, is to assist the economies of Sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between...