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South African exports to the US were up 16 percent to $7 billion (R56bn) in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period last year. Of the total, about $2.7bn qualified for duty-free access under the US-African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).Figures available on the Agoa.info website show, in the period, the US sold $5.2bn worth of goods to South Africa, leaving the latter with a $1.8bn trade surplus.The healthy growth in goods imported to the US from South Africa came despite only modest growth in the US economy....

The Ghana Chapter of African Women's Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP), an initiative of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has been launched in Accra to serve as a rallying point for women entrepreneurship and export trade.The US Secretary of State, initiated the programme to empower women entrepreneurs in Africa to take advantage of the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which offers favourable terms of trade for select African countries.AWEP has trained selected women from across the continent to form NGO chapters in their...

Recently, Gemstone Marketing and Consultancy Limited (GMC), a Zambian family owned company, charmed American Gemstone and Jewelry buyers at an exhibition held at the Zambia Embassy in Washington DC on the 3rd December, 2011The Embassy hosted the show as part of its trade promotional activities as well as the enhancement of commercial activities between Zambia and the USAIn welcoming over 75 invited guests who attended the exhibition, Charge D'affaires at the Embassy, Mr Alfred Chioza alluded to the fact that the show signified the ongoing...

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry on Wednesday launched the Ghana Chapter of African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP), which is a rallying point for total support for women entrepreneurship and export trade.The organisation, which is purely non-governmental, has the vision of empowering women entrepreneurs in Ghana to make a positive impact on their societies and lead in advocating for an enabling environment for women in business and women’s effective participation in international trade.Being an initiative of...

On December 7, Ambassador Ron Kirk met with members of the Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA) to discuss the ways in which the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) plans to advance the Obama Administration’s African trade policy agenda. The TACA, comprised of 19 representatives from the private sector, civil society, and academia, is tasked with providing the USTR with policy advice on issues involving trade and investment in sub-Saharan Africa.Noting the substantial achievements of the overall trade agenda over the past...

THE shops are stacked six feet high with goods, the streets outside are jammed with customers and salespeople are sweating profusely under the onslaught. But this is not a high street during the Christmas-shopping season in the rich world. It is the Onitsha market in southern Nigeria, every day of the year. Many call it the world’s biggest. Up to 3m people go there daily to buy rice and soap, computers and construction equipment. It is a hub for traders from the Gulf of Guinea, a region blighted by corruption, piracy, poverty and disease...

Nigeria's non-oil export earnings between January and June this year was $1.5 billion (N240 billion), the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), has disclosed.The earnings were from the exportation of cocoa; sheep and goat skins leather; sesame seeds and oil; rubber; plastics; cotton yarns and woven fabrics; aluminium; cashew nuts and edible fruits; gum arabics; tobacco products; prawns; shrimps; fish and crustaceans and others.In the non-oil export statistics presented by the Managing Director and Chief Executive of the council, David...

After more than two years of political crisis, Madagascar finally appears to be moving towards the restoration of democracy. A new prime minister has been appointed, and elections are planned for 2012. Donors who suspended aid to the impoverished island nation are watching these developments closely. "I think no one will be coming out of the woodwork unless they see that the Malagasy are serious about their transition," said USAID Country Director Rudolph Thomas, who underscored the need for free, fair and transparent elections. After...

The Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment has inaugurated the African Women Entrepreurship programme (AWEP) for Nigerian women in the country.Inaugurating the AWEP programme, the Director of Trade in the ministry, Mr. David Adejuwon, who represented the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr.Olusegun Aganga, stated that it was expected of Nigeria as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to inaugurate the national chapter of AWEP which was meant for credible entrepreneurs who were already engaged in productive...

The debate between developed and developing countries over the way forward for global trade has taken a new turn. Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies told journalists yesterday that advanced economies had shifted the focus off the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) developmental agenda.He was speaking during a consultative conference with representatives of labour and business in Boksburg, ahead of the eighth session of the WTO ministerial conference (MC8) in Geneva next month.Davies identified two recent developments that are...

Lesotho, a tiny African nation surrounded by South Africa, wrapped up its first trade mission to Canada earlier this month. Two million people live in Lesotho, which is less than half the size of New Brunswick. With a 45-year life expectancy, Lesotho has the world’s third-highest HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate, according to 2009 estimates. That puts Lesotho on the list of countries eligible for Canada’s Least Developed Countries Market Access Initiative, which came into effect in 2003 to help poor countries grow their economies through...

The Lesotho Government plans to spend 100 million maloti (US$12.7 million) over the next two years in an effort to breathe life into the crucial textile industry."The objective... is to stabilize employment in the textile industry and provide capital for companies so that they can take advantage of the global [economic] recovery," Dr Timothy Thahane, Minister of Finance and Development planning, told IRIN. "It's harder for African countries to stay competitive, but this industry is really important to the Lesotho economy, so we have to do...

South Africa's position beyond 2015 as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an American trade law, is not a certainty, according to local trade experts.The Act gives trade preferences to sub-Saharan countries and has meant billions of dollars worth of beneficial American trade for South Africa, particularly our automotive industry. In 2010 the United States imported just more than $8-billion worth of goods from South Africa, virtually all of which were duty free, thanks to the Act.But South Africa's position on a...

The US has urged East Africa to jointly market the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) following the slow response to the initiative. The remarks come on the back of requests from Sub-Saharan Africa asking for the extension of the Agoa initiative from 2015 to 2025 to enable countries benefit from the duty free and quota free access to the US market.Ms Florizelle Liser, the assistant US trade representative for Africa who led a delegation of trade representatives to Uganda, said East Africa should form the East Africa Trade Treaty that...

For the last seven years in my travels across the African continent, I try to pay attention and listen to what things are troubling some African businesses and traders in retail and exports. AGOA is the one word that keeps coming up with excessive groans. In English and French, small African traders are complaining about it.Created by the Clinton Administration, "the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law on May 18, 2000 as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African...

Eleven years since the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an initiative that allows duty free and quarter free access to the US from sub Saharan African countries, was signed into place, most African countries are yet to reap the fruits of the initiative.Uganda, one of the East African Community (EAC) state, has not been an exception. It is among the countries that have performed poorly under AGOA.Countries that are performing well like Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Mauritius, have full backing of their...

IN 2010, Zambia took over the chair of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Zambian Ambassador to the United States Sheila Siwela was appointed co-chairperson of the Economic Development Committee of the African Diplomatic Corps in Washington DC, teaming up with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Lesotho Ambassador David Rantekoa.The major responsibilities of the co-chairs were to engage the US government and congress on the improvement and review of AGOA trade preferences on behalf of and for the benefit of all AGOA eligible...

The United States launched exploratory discussions during a November 4 meeting with the East African Community (EAC) in Arusha on a potential new trade and investment partnership. Alfonso Lenhardt, the U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, who is also accredited as the U.S. ambassador to the EAC, opened the meeting. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for African Affairs Florie Liser led an interagency team of representatives from the departments of State, Commerce and Agriculture, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in...

The US has urged East Africa to jointly market the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) following the slow response to the initiative.The remarks come on the back of requests from Sub-Saharan Africa asking for the extension of the Agoa initiative from 2015 to 2025 to enable countries benefit from the duty free and quota free access to the US market.Ms Florizelle Liser, the assistant US trade representative for Africa who led a delegation of trade representatives to Uganda, said East Africa should form the East Africa Trade Treaty that...

There is good reason to try to keep the South African textile and clothing industry going because it could create many more jobs, raise skills levels and eventually pay better than survival wages.But there are lessons to be learned from Lesotho and Mauritius, whose clothing industries have grown in recent years -- in sharp contrast to the steep decline in the South African industry.A major difference between South Africa, on the one hand, and Lesotho and Mauritius, on the other, is that piecework and productivity incentives, outlawed in...

Arusha, Tanzania – Today, the United States launched exploratory discussions during a meeting with the East African Community (EAC) in Arusha on a potential new trade and investment partnership. Ambassador Alfonso Lenhardt, the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania who is also accredited as the U.S. Ambassador to the EAC, opened the meeting. Assistant United States Trade Representative for African Affairs, Florie Liser, led an interagency team of representatives from the Departments of State, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as the United States...

Lesotho’s textile sector – the country’s largest employer - is regarded by many as the only way out of the poverty trap in a tiny kingdom where more than half of the population lives on less than 1.25 dollars a day. But what many do not know is that the government and the World Bank have unofficially turned their backs on the sector and will soon cut important subsidies.Makhoase Lethibelane, 30, works 10 long hours each day as a label printer at the Shinning Century Limited textile factory in Lesotho’s capital Maseru. Her work is...

President Obama issued a press release on October 25, 2011 where he announced the trade benefits of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) would be restored to Ivory Coast, Guinea and Niger. Each country had previously been deemed ineligible—Ivory Coast in 2005 amidst the country’s political turmoil; Niger in 2009 after the president extended his term against the country’s constitution; and Guinea in 2010 after a coup. Over the course of this year, all three countries hosted elections that were considered free and fair, which...

The United States is proud to announce the restoration of trade preferences and other benefits to Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Niger under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk says.In a statement issued October 25 after President Obama signed a proclamation restoring trade preferences, Kirk said AGOA "remains a vital and growing pillar of U.S.-Africa trade policy."Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Niger had lost their eligibility for AGOA benefits due to undemocratic changes in government, but in...

Over US$10 million has been spent on infrastructure development at the Ndola-based Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial Park which is expected to create about 30,000 jobs in the next five years.The industrial park is a multi-function economic development zone aimed at accelerating economic growth through business activities and employment creation.Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial park president Phesto Musonda said contractors are currently on site to work on the road network while Zesco Limited and Copper belt Energy Corporation...

Presidential Proclamation-African Growth and Opportunity Act BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION 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 sub-Saharan African country" if the President determines that the country meets the...

US President Barack Obama restored privileged US trade partner status Tuesday to Ivory Coast, Niger and Guinea following democratic gains in the African countries, the White House said.Obama announced his decision after the annual review of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which allocates trade preferences and other benefits to certain African countries based on democratic advances or setbacks."Today, the President signed a proclamation which restores trade preferences and other benefits to Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Niger under the...

Today, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk commented after President Obama signed a proclamation restoring trade preferences and other benefits to Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Niger under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Niger had previously lost their eligibility for AGOA benefits due to undemocratic changes in government. In late 2010 and early 2011, all three countries conducted Presidential elections that were considered free and fair.“President Obama’s determination and proclamation...

Influential American business lobby groups have launched a fresh bid to have the US Congress extend a rule that allows for duty-free importation of African garments made from imported inputs.The third country fabric rule of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) will lapse in September next year, locking out the bulk of textile imports from eligible African states such as Kenya.The American business group calling itself “Supporters of Africa Trade in Washington” said the timing for its campaign was necessary to ensure that the...

The Nigerian textile industry, which was once a vibrant sector of the Nigerian economy, is gradually grinding to a halt. Despite government promises to revitalise the sector that holds numerous potentials for the economy, not much has happened. Nigerians who are not aware of the forces that have brought the once flourishing industry to its knees are wondering what might have struck the sector. Fred Itua examines the factors behind the rot in the industry. In any developed or developing economy, the indices used in judging growth is...

The US Chamber of Commerce and more than a half dozen American Chambers in Africa are urging the US government to take steps to increase exports to the African region.Among the measures called for are an extension and expansion of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is currently due to expire in 2015.Arguing that the US needs to find new markets to sell its goods and services if it is to meet the president's goal of doubling exports over the next five years, the Chambers point out that Africa represents many of the world's...

A Ugandan coffee firm with active markets in the United Kingdom, Uganda and South Africa, is now eying the lucrative African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) market. Good African Coffee, which operates a modern roasting, processing and packaging facility, believes that it is time for Africans to process and market their own products globally and use trade as a means to bring about the sustainable development so desperately needed by the farmers and communities. But despite its ambitious plans, Good African like any other enterprising...

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Hage Geingob, has led a small team of Namibian SMEs and youth leaders on a trade and investment mission to the US. First the Minister and delegation attended the US-Africa Business Summit organised by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in Washington DC from October 4 to 7. The CCA is a US-based business association and holds this forum on an annual basis. During the forum Geingob participated in a panel discussion on Intellectual Property Rights and Indigenous Knowledge for Foreign Direct...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act is an initiative by the United States Congress to open up US markets to eligible sub-Saharan African countriesExport opportunities for African countries have always been few and far between, particularly to first-world countries. But in 2000, the US government signed into law the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), aimed at liberalising trade and assisting the growth and development of sub-Saharan African countries, through duty-free and quota-free access of a broad range of products into the US....

Celebrity activist Bono and his wife recently launched the spring 2012 collection of their Edun fashion label, and talked about fashion, African trade and those omnipresent sunglasses. David Lipke has the story.Ali Hewson and husband Bono celebrated Edun's spring women's show and the launch of the men's "Pioneers Project" marketing campaign recently. In between courses of crab cakes and mac 'n' greens, they shared their philosophy on how the catwalk can be a platform for fair trade."It's strange to hear an activist like me say that, but Edun...

The volume of trade between Nigeria and the United States of America (USA) has hit N34.6 billion in 2010, THISDAY has learnt.The National President, Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Mr. Sam Ohuabunwa, who made the statement at the recent 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the chamber in Lagos.He said this bilateral trade volume represents a 25 per cent increase over the 2009 figure.He said Nigeria and the US have continued to be strong economic partners especially after the meeting with United States President, Barrack Obama...

Two Ghanaian women entrepreneurs joined their counterparts from all over the world to participate in the African Women Entrepreneurship programme underway in the United States of America. The three-week programme seeks to provide the African women entrepreneurs professional development training and networking opportunities with their American counterparts from civil society, corporations, industry associations, non-profit organisations, and business alliances. A statement issued by the Public Affairs Section of United States Embassy in...

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today applauded Senate passage of legislation renewing the expired Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program and also renewing key Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) reforms. GSP promotes economic growth in the developing world and benefits American importers and consumers by providing duty-free entry for thousands of products from developing countries. TAA provides training and support to help workers, firms, farmers and fishermen transition to alternative employment if their jobs are...

The US Embassy in Banjul, in collaboration with the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment will today officially launch the Gambia AGOA Resource Centre.The launching ceremony will be held at the American Corner within the Comium Building along Kairaba Avenue. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been designed to encourage increased trade and investment-related opportunities between the United States and eligible countries within Africa as a...

The apparel and textile sub-sectors are fearful of the September 2012 deadline by which they should source raw materials locally.Matters are not made any better by America's silence on pleas for extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act provisions related to the industry.African states, including Kenya are expected to comply with the provisions of Agoa IV, which require that they source raw materials from within or from other developing countries. They want this provision extended to 2015 to enable the struggling cotton industry...

Real estate agents usually handle property sales for other people. But ten years ago David Masika, an agent in Kenya, bought a cotton mill for himself.The mill was Makueni Ginneries in Eastern province. It was operating with technology from the nineteen sixties. It produced only two hundred kilos of cotton in its first year under new ownership.Last year Makueni Ginneries sold six hundred thousand kilos, or about one thousand bales. It made its first profit since Mr. Masika bought it.Business is good -- world prices for cotton are up. But...

The Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) has urged local entrepreneurs to be proactive if they are to penetrate the United States (US) market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).PSDA chairperson Yusuf Dodia said AGOA has presented a number of opportunities for Zambian entrepreneurs but it is up to them to produce products that will meet the US standards.Mr Dodia said the AGOA Forum which was held in June was an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to share ideas with the US business delegation on how best they can...

In 2004 Namibia adopted Vision 2030 as its roadmap for the industrialisation of our country. The Vision envisages that Namibia shall be developed by her own human resources. We are in the seventh year in the implementation. Yet, we do not, as a nation, have a concrete roadmap for industrialisation. At the same time the global trading system is fast changing. The rules of the WTO; the emerging patterns of international trade, for example, the rise of global value chains and marketing networks of multi-nationals; and bilateral and regional...

Despite the existence of established trade access to the US under AGOA, basket weavers in Ngamiland - ignorant of the lucrative market in the world's biggest economy - say they are struggling to move their renowned products.The women basket weavers, whose artistry has put Botswana on the map internationally, have expressed ignorance of AGOA's provisions, while bemoaning the slow death of their businesses.Ironically, Americans have one of the biggest appetites for local baskets and other Setswana cultural products, meaning AGOA would be a...

Kenya’s fledgling cotton industry has been picking up in recent months with a spike in world prices for cotton. But the once-flourishing business still has a lot of obstacles to overcome to increase the country’s cotton supply and modernize its cotton mills, or "ginneries." Business is brisk at Makueni Ginneries in Kenya’s Eastern province. But it wasn’t always this way.Real estate agent David Masika purchased Makueni Ginneries 10 years ago. In the first year of operation, he sold 200 kilos of cotton. Last year - for the first time...

As Congress continues to drag its collective feet in passing three long-delayed Free Trade Agreements, as well as the long-overdue renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), it is clear that international trade policy is one realm where numbers and politics rarely mix well.When adding the morally-loaded, ambiguous term "poverty reduction" to an already adversarial mix, the righteous drive to do good can sometimes blind us to faulty logic and oversimplification.The ongoing conversation over extending Duty-Free Quota-Free (DFQF)...

Citrus growers in the northern areas of South Africa are hopeful that they will soon be able to export their fruit to the United States Some of the regions in the northern part of South Africa, which have been excluded from shipping their citrus fruit to the US in the past because they have been classified as black spot regions, are hopeful that the country's authorities will lift these restrictions soon. The optimism stems from reports in the US that authorities will have to make concessions with relation to areas where black spot is...

The South African ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool , says there is every reason for the US to continue extending trade preferences to African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, known as Agoa.Mr Rasool was on hand to welcome the ship Sea Phoenix at the Holt Marine Terminals in Gloucester City, New Jersey, on Tuesday afternoon when it unloaded a large shipment of South African citrus.SA’s Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum is certified under Agoa to export citrus to the US. This week’s shipment consisted of 24000...

The Zambia Honey Council (ZHC) has received honey processing equipment aimed at boosting trade and improving quality of the products by Zambian beekeepers under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).This follows an agreement which was signed between the ZHC and United States (US)-based Mann-Lake Limited during the AGOA conference in Lusaka in June.ZHC Business Development Manger MacDonald Kayuna said the equipment would facilitate increased and improved honey production in the country.He said the equipment was being used as a pilot...