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Africa: Obama administration planning 50th anniversary festivities to honor 'significant gains'
President Barack Obama will host a town hall meeting next month with African youth leaders as part of a U.S. celebration of 50 years of independence being marked this year by 17 African countries."In honor of Africa's significant gains since 1960, its increasingly important voice on the world stage and in anticipation of the next 50 years of progress toward peace and prosperity, the United States will host a series of events focusing on the Future of Africa in Washington, D.C., in early August," Benjamin Chang, spokesman for the National...
US President Obama hails Zambia
United States President Barack Obama has praised Zambia for her continued efforts to maintain peace and stability in the African sub-region.Mr Obama said Zambia’s peaceful transition to self-governance and its commitment to maintaining peace for almost half a century will remain steadfast and that it is a positive example to neighbouring countries.He said this at the White House when newly appointed Zambia’s ambassador to the USA Sheila Siwela presented her credential.This is according to a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by first...
African countries urged to take advantage of AGOA
With about five years to the expiration of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2015, African countries have been advised to step up their efforts in taking advantage of the Act as a way of creating employment opportunities and improving the income of their small and medium enterprises, United States-based economist, Professor Thomas Andrew O'keefe, said in Lagos on Monday."The Act is for all countries in sub-Saharan Africa to take advantage of by exporting certain categories of products to the United States duty free. However,...
Angola: Country wants to diversify export to US
The Angolan Government will export, soon, agriculture and agro-industrial products to the United States of America (USA) to where it now exports oil and gas in order to diversify its exports profile.The information was given during a press conference by the Angolan and United States Government representatives after the opening session of the trade and investments council held under an agreement on trade and investments called TIFA.According to the representative of US delegation, Florie Lizer, her country intends to diversify and strengthen...
United States, Angola hold high-level trade and investment talks
US and Angolan trade and development officials met today to discuss means for strengthening bilateral trade and investment ties. The meeting was the first held under the United States-Angola Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which was signed in May 2009. The TIFA provides a high-level forum for advancing cooperation on the full spectrum of trade and investment issues between the United States and Angola. Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Florie Liser and Angolan Commerce Vice Minister Archer Mangueira co-chaired...
Nigeria: Decline in textile export earnings persists
Despite its elastic foreign exchange earning opportunities for Sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings from cotton yarns and woven fabrics’ export to the United States of America (USA) through the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act’s (AGOA) window and other foreign countries in the past few years have been on consistent decline with the attendant negative implications for capacity building for local cotton and textile manufacturing companies.Available statistics sourced by the Nigerian Compass on Nigeria’s...
AGOA creates more than 300,000 jobs in Africa
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is said to be creating more than 300,000 jobs in Africa and also brings in about $300 billion in export earnings and nearly $30 billion in non-oil exports to Africa at a minimal cost to United State (US) taxpayers.The Chair of the AGOA Action Committee and President, the Whitaker Group, the premier United State (US’s) trade consultancy facilitating trade between the US and Africa, Ms. Rosa Whitaker, who stated this said that AGOA has been very successful in the past decade in its...
East Africa: EAC to draw up AGOA work plan
The East African Community (EAC) Yesterday Begun a Threeday meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, aimed at developing a regional African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) work plan.AGOA is a partnership between the United States of America and Sub Saharan Africa aimed at creating an environment that encourages Africans to access the US market.A statement released by the EAC, Director for Trade, Dr. Flora Musonda, reads that the development of a regional approach for AGOA program will be based on the review of all the stages of production of eligible...
Kenya: Biden's promises to country nothing to write home about
[Opiniopn] US Vice-President Joe Biden, like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, promised lots of American investments and development assistance to Kenya during their visits, if only we demonstrate our commitment to reforms by passing the proposed new Constitution.Though it is well known that American investors make decisions on their own independent assessment of opportunities in a given market, Mr. Biden's of conditional promise of massive US investments may have impressed some people both in the business and political circles.Harbouring...
US Government: Diplomacy Briefing on Sub-Saharan Africa
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon, everyone. Well, thank you all very much and welcome again. I know you’ve been welcomed over and over again, but it’s a delight to have you here in the State Department for this briefing on Sub-Saharan Africa and the issues that affect the countries in that region and our relationship with them.We are very pleased to have such a broad cross-section. I understand we even have some people who may be watching us, as I see on this screen here, from universities. And I delighted that we have you with us. I...
Clinton: Africa must launch tough economic reforms
African nations must stop seeking handouts and begin tough structural reforms, especially on trade, if they truly want to improve their economies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday."Most of the work that needs to be done needs to be done in Africa," Clinton told a forum about U.S. diplomacy on the continent."If you look at trade between African countries, it is abysmally minimalistic," Clinton said. "African countries don't trade with themselves. They have barriers and tariffs and customs problems that stand in the way of...
Diplomacy Briefing: US priorities for SSA
Good afternoon. I would like to thank the Bureau of Public Affairs for organizing the Diplomacy Briefing Series and for inviting me to join all of you today to examine our key priorities in Africa.I want to begin today by emphasizing the strong commitment of this Administration to working with our African partners to bring about a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous Africa. This Administration sees immense potential in Africa, and we are determined to work with Africans across the continent to help realize this promise.Often, Africa has...
US VP Biden’s visit to Kenya signals more US interest in region
Heightened expectations greeted the arrival of a usual dignitary to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, as U. S. Vice President Joe Biden jetted into the country on Monday night.The much awaited arrival of Biden into the East African political and economic hub elicited huge expectations amongst political and business circles.This was expected given the impact such a visit could have on the U.S.-Kenya diplomatic and economic relations and even to the larger East African Community (EAC) region, given the level of U.S. business interests in the...
Kenya: Biden’s visit promotes US agenda
US Vice-President Joseph Biden’s visit to Kenya and other African states this week, coming only 10 months after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traversed Sub-Saharan Africa, appears to demonstrate that President Barack Obama’s government accords high priority to Kenya and the rest of Africa.Whether this special attention is based on the need to help Africans address their numerous problems or on the desire to use Africa as an instrument in the promotion of American national interests, is hard to tell.But, how are Africans...
Kenya: Industrialists see fortune in special economic zones
Jas Bedi of Bedi Investments — a Nakuru-based textile manufacturing company — waits for the day the government will convert the country’s Export Processing Zones (EPZs) into Special Export Zones (SEZs), which will allow his firm to sell products locally.Currently Bedi Investments’ textile products, which include high quality blankets, are largely for export especially to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme.“EPZ is largely apparel -based, which is denying other critical sectors of the...
Old car tires fuel green shoe revolution in Ethiopia
Ethiopia - "Oh, yes!" cries Bethlehem Alemu, the dynamic founder and owner of SoleRebels, a game-changing shoe company in the heart of Addis Ababa, the ancient capital of Ethiopia.Working in Africa has its challenges. I'm used to stalking politicians in hallways, riding on the back of trucks with gun-turrets in Sudan, and negotiating UN flights in far-flung territories, but trying on hot pink vegan flip-flops was something new.Alemu, 30, runs a trailblazing business making shoes from old rubber tires and tubes with each one hand cut into...
Obama Administration committed to AGOA partnership with Africa
The Obama administration is very much committed to a strong partnership with Africa, and the ninth annual U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum -- better known as the AGOA Forum -- in August is part of that commitment, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told African diplomats May 26.Addressing the African diplomatic corps at the State Department, Carson said: "We want to find ways to make this partnership beneficial to the United States and, most importantly, to Africa and the people of...
The Gambia: New chamber of commerce to rejig country’s trade efforts
The establishment of the American Chamber of Commerce in The Gambia has been described as an important step in facilitating improved trade and investment sector in the country.Speaking yesterday at the launch of the ACC, its executive chairperson, Sylvia Grace George expressed hope that the chamber will be an inspiring and practical institution for The Gambia and the United States, noting that it will build a spirit of enterprise and co-operation in making sure that the objectives of the United States Embassy in The Gambia to boost and...
Decade-old US AGOA trade program assessed
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the U.S. government’s trade preference program for Africa, is 10 years old this month.President Bill Clinton signed the AGOA bill into law on May 18, 2000. Since then, three successive administrations, including the Obama administration, have actively implemented the program working closely with African partners.Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Florie Liser said AGOA has led to a significant increase in two-way trade between the United States and Africa.“I would say that AGOA has been a...
Asian countries' eagerness to strike FTA a lesson for African textile sector
The race by Asian countries to strike a free trade area (FTA) with the Europe puts the Kenyan textile producers between a hard place and a rock as far as their search for alternative export destinations go.For some time, Kenyan producers, like players from other sub Saharan African countries, have been betting on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) as an opportunity to penetrate the EU market, reducing overdependence on the increasingly competitive American market.Taking a cue from the hugely successfully African Growth and...
Happy 10th birthday AGOA but why is there no party?
Congratulations abounded on Capitol Hill in Washington at a 10th birthday celebration for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.“By opening the American market to almost all goods from beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, Agoa has helped Africans use trade to fight poverty and grow their economies,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk declared.Mr Kirk acknowledged, however, that “more can be done to help African countries make the most of the opportunities Agoa provides.”Analysts outside the US government agree that Agoa did...
New AGOA: Merely recycling old ideas?
A few weeks ago, the AGOA Action Committee - a group consisting primarily of U.S. companies, U.S. academics, and Washington-based NGOs - recently released its six-pronged policy proposal that allegedly signifies a new U.S. policy approach toward Africa. This comes at the time of the 10th anniversary of the passage of AGOA and when a general stock-taking is underway in Washington. However, many of the policy proposals put forth are merely the repackaged ideas of old and, more importantly, reflect a failure to understand how both U.S. and...
EU-Asia FTA affects African textile exports
In their quest for an alternate market, Kenyan textile manufacturers are facing tough competition, as the low-priced Asian manufacturers are seeking free-trade agreements (FTA) with the European Union (EU).For instance, India and Pakistan are currently working on their FTA with EU that would permit their industries easy access in to the EU markets.These FTAs that are getting signed between Asian countries and EU are likely to reduce the tariffs further, thereby, increasing the level of Asian exports in to the EU markets.As per Jaswinder...
Two East Africans chosen by respected US think tank
Two professionals from East Africa have been chosen by an influential Washington think tank to develop policy proposals for consideration by the Obama administration, the US Congress and international institutions such as the World Bank.Founding director of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis Mwangi Kimenyi and former Ugandan finance minister Ezra Suruma, were both appointed to posts at the Brookings Institution.Prof Kimenyi became a senior fellow a year ago, while Mr Suruma began his tenure as a visiting fellow last...
Congress, USTR Kirk celebrate first decade of AGOA
A landmark piece of trade legislation celebrated its 10th birthday on Capitol Hill May 12 with a party, a cake and a large group of proud supporters.U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk presided at a ceremony heralding the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade preference program. In attendance were several past and present members of Congress who played key roles in the drafting, passage and implementation of AGOA, including Sander Levin, current chair of the House Ways and Means...
Africa: Export zones to boost Africa's manufacturing industry
Export processing zones (EPZs) have mushroomed across Africa. Their logic is to attract export-oriented manufacturing investment to boost economies. EPZs, although they create controversy in certain circles, have been highl successful in Asia, central and Latin American countries. Is the attempt by Africa to follow suit bearing fruits?African states, from Egypt in the north to Zambia in the south, have embraced export processing zones (EPZ) as a strategy to attract foreign investment. Also known as special economic zones, industrial...
Obama right to press Kenya to reform
Not much has changed politically in Kenya since the violent clashes that erupted after the December 2007 presidential election and the power-sharing agreement that ended them in February 2008.Most of the reforms the power-sharing government agreed to implement have yet to materialize. The two factions appear more interested in fighting over who should run things than in getting things done.This failure to govern is the subject of daily headlines in the Kenyan newspapers, but the slow unfurling of a country is not something that tends to...
Scramble for Africa
The United States said this week it is trying to promote a new type of trade, where Africa will add more value to its own raw materials, and that processed products -- whether they are fruit juices or clothes -- can go not only to the US duty free but also to the rest of the world.Africa may have a wealth of natural resources but these are typically sold for a pittance, while finished products are sold at a massive profit internationally. In addition, African countries that attempt to export processed and manufactured products find...
Sub-Saharan Africa enjoying benefits of AGOA
The Saharan region of Africa is still struggling to get a strong foot hold in the global arena. But with the aid of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), opportunities would be showing a silver lining. The AGOA Act was approved by the U.S. Congress to assist the Sub Saharan economies and augment relations between the concerned region and the US. Under the administration of Presidents George W. Bush and William J. Clinton, Rosa Whitaker developed and implemented the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Currently 39 African...
Ethiopia: Large textile factory opens near Addis Ababa
A giant textile factory, established with an investment of over 100 million dollars, was inaugurated on Friday, April 30, reports Capital. The Prime Minster, other Ministers and government officials attended the event in Alem Gena, which is around 20 kilometres west of Addis Ababa. During the inaugural ceremony, Girma Birru, Minister of Trade and Industry, said that the beginning of production by the factory will play a major role in strengthening the country's textile manufacturing value chain. The factory in Alem Gena is expected to...
Collier warns against expanding AGOA-like trade preferences
Eminent development economist Dr. Paul Collier, Director of the Center for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, warned on Monday that expanding the trade preferences currently reserved for eligible African nations by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) would be disastrous for African economic development.Speaking at the Leaders Forum on the 10-Year Anniversary of AGOA in Washington , DC , Dr. Collier described how proposed legislation in the US Congress to extend duty-free and...
South Africa: Exports to US grow as trade revives
South Africa's exports to the US are on the rise again after falling sharply last year, according to the US International Trade Commission. In the first two months of the year the value of local exports to the US rose 18 percent, compared with the same period in 2009, to $975.5 million (R7.2 billion). See link to data here.In the whole of last year, exports to the US fell to $5.9bn, from nearly $10bn in 2008.The major export was in the category minerals and metals, worth $3bn last year from more than $6bn the previous year.The sharp dip...
Kenya: Prime Minister issues order on textile purchases
In a move designed to contribute to the revival of the cotton industry, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has directed government ministries and institutions to buy textile for staff uniforms from local industries.While pointing to the thousands of jobs that used to be generated by the local textile industries before the collapse of the sector, Mr Odinga expressed the government’s commitment to ensure that the industry thrives again.“We need to revive this industry which in the past offered jobs to thousands of Kenyans in the manufacturing of...
Swaziland struggling to reap full benefits from AGOA
A decade after the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a preferential US trade agreement, became law on 18 May 2000, there are questions over the benefits, if any, derived from the initiative.AGOA was touted by the US government as offering "tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets"; in return, selected countries could access US markets without restrictive quotas or import taxes.Neither Swaziland nor Lesotho had a textile sector before the advent of AGOA, but...
Swaziland: US trade act a mixed bag for Swazis
A decade has passed since the US trade initiative, the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa), expanded some countries’ economies like a balloon, bringing the largest manufacturing investments of any single time and tens of thousands of jobs, only to later deflate when the party seemed to be overAgoa offers duty-free access into the US market for African manufactured exports but Lesotho, Madagascar and Swaziland found the treaty has enticed mostly Asian-owned textile firms to invest in their countries. When the fortunes of these...
Nigeria, US sign MoU on market promotion
The Federal Government and the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), on Friday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote trade under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye, signed the MOU on behalf of the (Nigerian) Federal Government, while the President of ITC, Mr. Wea Lee, signed on behalf of the Commission.The agreement came at the end of a two-day U.S.-Nigeria Business forum.The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the MoU would enhance...
The new scramble for Africa
For the past decade there has been a new scramble for Africa. Scrambling for Africa is nothing new. It reached its apogee in 1884 when 13 European powers and the United States convened at the palace of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to carve up the continent into spheres of influence. No African attended and decisions were announced as though the African people mattered not at all. Now things have changed a great deal. Europe and the USA no longer dominate the world and the new scramble involves fewer players as well as different...
South Africa: Grant plan for motor industry publicised
Guidelines for grants that will be available to vehicle and component manufacturers through the Automotive Investment Scheme (AIS), which forms part of the government's new Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP), have been completed.The scheme is meant to deepen the domestic automotive manufacturing industry.The South African government has also proposed to the US government that it roll over the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for "a reasonable period of time".Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies confirmed this...
Gambia designers storm the United States
Thirty Gambian fashion designers and apparel producers are planning on attending a major textile expo in the United States of America in May.The delegation of Textile and sewn products Industry week (TASPIW) in Atlanta, Georgia would be in The Gambia, led by a representative of the US Embassy and an official of the ministry of Trade and Employment.The show will expose visitors to the latest equipment and technology in textile making and apparel production as well as to the high quality fabrics in the United States.The visit to the expo in...
AGOA dollars elude Uganda
When Kumar Dewapura, a renowned textile guru and the chairman of the Sri Lanka-based Tri-Star Group, landed in Uganda in 2002, two years after the US government unveiled the AGOA initiative, he was given the nation’s dream of exporting its first textile products to the mighty US market but most importantly, he was expected to help the country benefit from a fully-integrated textile industrial model.Dewapura traversed the country with the hope of buying into the existing textile factories of Lira Spinning Mill or the Mbale-based African...
300 Gambian fashion designers to attend textile expo in US
A delegation comprising 300 Gambian fashion designers and apparel producers are currently planning to attend a major textile expo in the United States of America in May. The delegation to the Textile and Sewn Products Industry (TaSPIW) in Atlanta, Georgia, will be led by officials from the Trade and Employment ministry.Speaking at a press conference held at the US Embassy Thursday, Barry Wells, the United States ambassador to The Gambia disclosed that the visit is part of the efforts of the US Embassy and the Ministry of Trade to help...
Botswana Parliament adopts national trade policy
Parliament has adopted the 2009 National Trade Policy for Botswana.The policy intends to facilitate access to markets for Botswanas export of goods and services and enable consumers access to a wider choice of international goods and services on the best possible terms.Presenting the motion, Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Dorcus Makgato-Malesu said Botswana had never had a national trade policy document to guide her trade relations with other countries.She stated that trade policy positions had been based on various pieces of...
Nigeria: Harnessing the gains of President Jonathan's visit to Washington
Acting President Goodluck Jonathan is to have a one-on -one meeting with United States while in Washington for the nuclear security summit. Ikechukwu Eze and Alex Chiejina write that the Presidency should leverage the opportunity to not only deepen the diplomatic ties between both countries but also harness probable business opportunitiesFor most foreign leaders getting an audience with an American President is always a highly coveted quest. It is always considered a great privilege to either get the world's most powerful leader to visit...
South Africa has requested rollover of Agoa – Minister Davies
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Thursday that the South African government had put forward a proposal to the US government to roll over the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) "for a reasonable period of time".Agoa was to come to an end in 2015.Agoa allowed for the duty-free and quota-free entry of around 7 000 product lines into the US from 37 designated sub-Saharan countries. These product lines included vehicle and component exports, such as the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, produced in East London.Automotive exports to the...
US and Nigeria aim to improve ties through broad-based accord
The US and Nigeria would be attempting to upgrade its diplomatic ties through a historic comprehensive commission pact to be signed on Wednesday in New York. The bi-national commission agreement comes barely days after the US lifted enhanced airport screening measures against Nigeria and other 13 countries, which was imposed following failed terror attempt by a Nigerian in a US flight on Christmas day last year.The Secretary to the Nigerian Government of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Yayale is leading a delegation comprising of top government...
South Africa's vehicle exports plummet, but USA exports under AGOA remain buoyant
The value of vehicles and vehicle components exported by South African manufacturers in 2009 was R33.2bn less than in the previous year.This decline brings the value of last year's exports by the motor industry to R61bn, some 35% less than the record R94.2bn worth of exports in 2008.Norman Lamprecht, managing executive for the Automotive Industry Export Council and the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, says the negative effect of the financial crisis on the motor industry's top export markets had far-reaching...
Column: 'The truth as Madagascar goes downhill'
Lagos - The political crisis in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar has been rumbling on for more than a year. The genesis of the current problems may be traced to sometime in 2008, when opposition protesters, loyal to the former Mayor of Antananarivo, the national capital, started what turned out to be weeks and weeks of random rallies against the elected government of President Marc Ravalomanana, in an effort to bring it down. The leader of the protests happened to be one Andre Rajuoline, a thirty-three-year-old former disc...
Remarks by Chairman Donald Payne at 'An Overview of US Policy in Africa' hearing
The following remarks were issued by Chairman Donald M. Payne at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health titled 'An Overvìew of U.S. Polícy ín Africa'.As the title suggests, the purpose of this hearing is to discuss the Administration's policy on the continent of Africa - to gain an understanding of both the overall policy towards the region and the United States' position on key and pressing issues of the day. To that end we have two distinguished panels which I will introduce following Members' opening statements. Let...
Policy Statement: Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs discusses US policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
In a statement prepared for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, March 24, 2010, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson discussed challenges facing sub-Saharan African nations and how the United States plans to work with African governments and the international community to address these challenges. Carson emphasized the importance of strengthening democratic institutions, promoting economic development, and preventing and resolving conflicts as key elements to Africa's transformation. "The Obama Administration...