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The United States Embassy Charge D'Affaires in The Gambia, Cynthia F. Gregg, said her country was playing a key role in supporting and promoting Gambian women textile products into the US market, PANA reported from h ere Monday.Gregg said this at the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade seminar, o rganised here by the US Embassy in Banjul and the West Africa Trade Hub (WATH) Office in Dakar, Senegal.She said the seminar, with the theme: The Opportunities and Procedures for Exporting to the United States under AGOA, was meant to...

Agriculture and agri-business have been identified by as vehicle that offer the biggest transformational potential for Africa, with an even greater positive impact on ordinary people’s lives than the mobile phone boom.At an investor forum organised by Africa investor, weekend, the world Bank Vice President for Africa Ms Obiageli Ezekwesili said “If you ask me what the next ‘big thing’ in Africa will be, I’d say without hesitation agriculture and agri-business,” The World Bank is bullish on Africa,” Ms Ezekwesili told...

The United States Embassy in Banjul and the West Africa Trade Hub (WATH) yesterday organised a one-day seminar on Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for over 50 small business operators in the country on the opportunities and procedures for exporting goods to the United States markets. The forum was held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi.AGOA, according to officials, since the year 2000 has offered a competitive advantage for African-made products to enter in the US markets and has also given trade preference to countries that are...

The Chief Executive Officer of Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) recognizes the textile and garment sector to be of great significance as it substantially adds to the economy of Swaziland. SIPA, therefore, is focused in its efforts to develop the industry.These comments came at the 2nd yearly textile and apparel benchmarking report ceremony organized at Esibayeni Lodge.According to him, the organization is, at present, involved in talks with factory owners under the economic partnership agreement (EPA), in order to review the...

In a bid to upscale its activities in the honey sector among the countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) will host the APITRADE AFRICA/APIEXPO 2010 in Zambia 26-29 October, according to the latest edition of ACTESA newsletter.The theme for the conference, which is being organisedin partnership with the private sector in the region, is: 'The role of honey in attaining food security in Africa.', according to the newsletter, made available...

Nigeria, which celebrates its Golden Jubilee of Independence anniversary tomorrow, is definitely a goldmine for all potential investors, including from Malaysia, said its High Commissioner to Malaysia Peter J E Anegbeh.In his remarks at the "Business Forum:Investment Opportunities in Nigeria" here, today, Anegbeh said the country offered huge business opportunities ranging from the oil and gas sector to the film industry, something not many Malaysian businessmen were aware of.Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural resources such as huge...

US Ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella has said trade will not succeed on government effort alone but needs the assistance of the private sector.And Ministry of Commerce permanent secretary Dr Buleti Nsemukila said the government recognises the Zambian Diaspora community as an important resource in forming partnerships and will work with Zambians based in the United States to establish linkages.During the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) private sector breakfast meeting at Hotel InterContinental on Friday last week, Ambassador...

Bamako, Mali - The US and Mali have signed four financing agreements to the tune of 28 billion CFA francs for sustainable development and the fight against poverty in the African country, PANA learnt Monday from the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.The first agreement, for 12.5 billion CFA francs, will enhance the increase in the use of high-impact services in reproductive health and child survival through the establishment of an appropriate political environment.Improving the quality of high-impact health...

The Ministry of Commerce is holding seminar on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) on Wednesday in Luanda. This was said on Tuesday in Luanda by the director of the Office of Exchange of the Ministry of Commerce, Bumba Chico. Speaking to Angop, the director said that the event is aimed to inform State institutions and Angolan entrepreneurial sector about the meaning of AGOA and its challenges, as well as attract private, foreign investments, in the framework of the referred legal tool. Bumba Chico said the seminar will also...

The Millennium Development Goals tragically misused the world’s goodwill to support failed official aid approaches to global poverty and gave virtually no support to proven approaches.Economists such as Jeffrey Sachs might argue that the system can be improved by ditching bilateral aid and moving towards a “multi-donor” approach modelled on the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But current experience and history both speak loudly that the only real engine of growth out of poverty is private business, and there is no...

Local manufacturers of textiles for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) market are up in arms over vessels delay at the port of Mombasa. Director of Kapric Mr Thomas Puthoor said for the last one month, vessels that were bringing containers to the port had to wait at the high seas for 10 days before they were allowed to berth.He said as a result of inadequate equipment to discharge container, the ships take three to four days.Mr Puthoor said this has forced the textile industry to shut down production regularly in the months of...

In an effort to encourage the purchase of locally produced goods and services, government has spent P 106 million.This was revealed by the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Maxwell Motowane at Botswana Export Manufacturing Association (BEMA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) held last week.Motowane said that this is a modest progress made by government to try and reduce the amount of imported goods and services. “The private sector, BEMA members in particular, must play a role to assist the fulfillment of the Economic Diversification...

The Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria, Rebecca Armand, has said to take the country’s real sector out of the woods, the immense opportunities presented by African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), must be utilised.Also, Armand decried the country's negative attitude towards AGOA, saying many African countries have started benefiting from the scheme.The commercial counsellor, made the remark during a breakfast meeting organised in Lagos by the Institute of Directors (IoD).In May 2000, the US Congress...

The president and CEO of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa has told VOA that important stories about Africa continue to feature less prominently in mainstream American media outlets. According to the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa there is a need to demand positive coverage of AfricaThe Africa Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that strives to educate Americans about the richness and diversity of Africa, as well as the economic opportunities that the continent offers.Bernadette Paolo said,...

Two significant events last week, plus past comments from Ford execs, reaffirmed that the curtain is being drawn on the domestic-built Ford Ranger and Ford’s small pickups in the U.S. after 2011. But one possible scenario could play out that might still see American truck buyers driving a Ranger in 2012 and beyond.On Aug. 25, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Chris Coleman unsuccessfully lobbied Ford to keep its Twin Cities assembly plant open where the Ranger is assembled for the U.S. and Canadian markets. After...

I find it troubling that declaring Agoa's achievements a "disappointment" has gained currency in so many policy circles. It leverages a pernicious line of thinking, one that belittles the significant achievements African countries have made over the last 10 years and perceives polices that support African economic growth as zero-sum. This thinking threatens to undermine what I believe is one of the United States' most successful and cost-effective development assistance programs ever.I, for one, am not disappointed in the progress made under...

The World Bank has advised African governments to improve the quality of infrastructure so as to become competitive in the current globalised environment.Speaking at the Agoa forum in Washington recently, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank managing director, said: "Clearly the lack of well functioning transport and trade facilitation regimes hinder many countries from achieving economic growth."She said: "As countries like China have demonstrated, you can't trade without the means to get goods offshore."According to statistics, although...

Business owners in the SPEDU Region have been advised to take advantage of the 6 500 African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) product lines and items that are similar to those on the USA market.Speaking at the first-ever buyer/seller forum held here this week, the Director of the Department of Industrial Affairs, Violet Mosele, said the USA has given all African countries an opportunity to sell their products but they are failing to meet the quotas. Mosele said two Asian countries are producing more quantity than all African countries put...

Cameroon's participation at AGOA's 10th anniversary early this month was the focus of a news conference yesterday. Cameroon stands to gain a lot in terms of export trade from the Africa's Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), if it fully lives up to expectation with the conditions of the institution, the Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, has said. But ten years after the US Congress approved the legislation, AGOA fruits are not quite visible in the country. Speaking in...

The top US trade official has acknowledged that textile and apparel exports — once seen as a potential catalyst for Africa’s industrial development — may never become a major component of US-Africa trade.“I don’t know that America and Africa’s long-term growth [involves] more textiles,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters at a briefing. “Rather than rushing into the crowded world of textiles, Africa has to be open to opportunities in other industries and agriculture.”Mr Kirk, a member of President Obama’s...

Nine African agribusiness leaders included the AGOA Forum in their schedule as they traveled across the United States on a tour of U.S. agricultural sites and equipment manufacturers.The group is looking for ways to improve agricultural irrigation, productivity and storage, as well as add value to agricultural commodities, by using state-of-the-art equipment, technologies and other inputs.Their stop in Kansas City for the AGOA Forum — also known as the U.S.–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum — enabled them to...

Delegates to the ninth annual U.S.–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum were able to witness firsthand the importance of adding value to commodities when they visited a Kansas City coffee roaster. AGOA ministers and other delegates to the forum — known as the AGOA Forum, for the African Growth and Opportunity Act — toured The Roasterie coffee roasting company to see how raw coffee beans from Africa and around the world are roasted and processed into a superior product for sale to U.S. consumers. Adding value is...

Increased trade between nations that is fair and profitable for the United States is one of the components for the country's economic recovery, a key advisor to President Obama said recently. Ambassador Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative, in an interview conducted by the Washington Informer on Tue., Aug. 3 at his office in Northwest, said that foreign trade has emerged as an important facet of Obama’s economic and foreign policy."The president recognizes that our ability to sell products, goods and services to our markets abroad is a...

Kenya’s textile exports to the US face stiff competition as the American government seeks to relax market access rules to low-cost producers from outside Africa.In one of the proposed reforms, the US Congress is working on a rule that proposes to reform the preferential trade programme and extend the duty-free-quota-free (DFQF) status to apparel products from non-African countries such as Cambodia and Bangladesh.The US administration is also negotiating a free trade area (FTA) with a group of Pacific countries such as Vietnam under the...

Ethiopian Airlines and the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) of the United States have signed an agreement worth over 1.6 billion USD to support the financing of five B777-200LR and ten B787-8 aircraft and General Electric spare engines.At a ceremony held at the 9th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington DC on August 02, 2010, the financing documents were signed by Ethiopian Airlines CEO Girma Wake and Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.According to a press release Ethiopian sent to WIC, the magnitude of...

The United States congress is likely to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) before its 2015 expiration, though is unlikely to be made permanent.African trade groups have said that the program's temporary nature discourages long-term investment in the continent.U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a forum on US trade with Africa in Washington that the Obama administration's trade and development strategy stressed "fostering regional markets within Africa, boosting trade and aid effectiveness and working with partner...

The US is moving higher up the products advancement ladder to keep its share of trade with Africa where competition for the low-end market has intensified with availability of cheap goods from emerging economies such as China and India.US assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson says America is tightening its grip of the high-tech segment of the market to secure its top position in global commerce that has come under serious attack from the industrialising economies commonly known as BRICs.“America will not compete at the...

Zambia's Commerce Minister Felix Mutati has told American investors they stand to lose huge opportunities if they avoid investing in changing Africa.Mutati, who on Friday received a standing ovation after delivering a strong emotional speech at the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Kansas City, said Africa was changing.According to first secretary for press at the Zambian Embassy in Washington DC, Ben Kangwa, Mutati’s speech was punctuated with a strong message of Africa as a new frontier for investment “amid long...

Ten years ago the United States launched the African Growth and Opportunity Act. One of its chief architects, Rosa Whitaker, CEO of the Whitaker Group, also served as the first U.S. Trade Representative for Africa after the U.S. Congress enacted AGOA. As the law passes its first decade, Tradewinds asked Whitaker for her thoughts on how it had affected trade between the U.S. and AGOA-eligible African countries.Rosa Whitaker was the first U.S. Assistant Trade Representative for Africa.Tradewinds: It's been 10 years since AGOA came into effect....

Speaking in Washington DC in the US during the ongoing Agoa 2010 Summit, Comesa Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya, and the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) CEO, Dr Cris Muyunda, made earnest appeals to US investors to invest in Africa. Ngwenya said Africa has potential to produce enough food for internal needs and international trade. The Comesa region brings together 19 member states including, Burundi, Comoros, D.R. Congo and Djibouti. Others are Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar,...

The annual U.S.–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum — better known as the AGOA Forum — opened August 2 in Washington with U.S. and African officials pledging on the 10th anniversary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to make the U.S. trade preference program work even better to stimulate economic growth and development on both sides of the Atlantic.U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Amos Muhinga Kimunya, Kenya’s minister of trade, both addressed the opening session. Also on the dais were...

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, good afternoon, and thank you very much, Under Secretary Bob Hormats, for your introduction and for your leadership on these important issues. And it is a great personal pleasure for me to welcome all of you to Washington. Last year, I had the honor of addressing the eighth AGOA Forum in Nairobi, so I am pleased to have this opportunity to return the warm hospitality that I enjoyed, not just in Kenya, but across Africa on my most recent trip.But I do have one piece of business that I want to get out of the way right...

Ministers and trade officials from the United States and 38 African nations met in Washington this week to discuss US-Africa trade relations ten years after the US enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act.The meeting, the ninth of its kind since the act became law in May 2000, represents “the highest-level dialogue between the United States and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in his opening remarks on Monday.AGOA builds on Washington’s Generalized System of Preferences for developing...

Angolan minister of Trade, Maria Idalina Valente, said in Washington that the global financial crisis has opened new perspectives for diversifying of the country’s economy with a view to face up the emerging challenges. Idalina Valente, who was speaking at the end of the Consultative meeting gathering ministers of Trade, stated that the crisis also opened perspectives to diversifying other export markets. “Exactly, with regard to our country, member of Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) since 2003, the crisis opened new...

The following communique was issued on by the U.S. Civil Society Coalition for African Trade and Investment following the Agoa Civil Society Forum 29-30 July 2010Over the last decade, civil society organizations have helped to ensure that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is as successful and as broadly beneficial to Africa as originally intended. The U.S. Civil Society Coalition for African Trade and Investment organized a two-day program that brought together American and African experts, including government, private sector...

The Obama administration's top trade official said on Monday "real progress" could be made in the long-stalled Doha round of world trade talks by the end of 2010.Political changes will help spur momentum for the World Trade Organization talks, now in their ninth year, said Ron Kirk, who has insisted large developing countries like Brazil, China and India must do more to open their markets to U.S. farm and manufactured goods."I'm confident and hopeful that once we get past the elections in Brazil, now that we're through the elections in...

(Johnnie Carson Guest Columnist) If you’re looking to grow your business and open new markets abroad, you might want to visit the Marriott in downtown Kansas City this Wednesday through Friday. About 35 trade, agriculture and transportation ministers from 30 African countries — in addition to more than 100 African and 50 U.S. businesses — will be meeting there for the ninth annual African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum. Since 2001, the forum has alternated between Washington and African capitals, but this year we have included Kansas...

Angolan governmental delegation, led by the Trade minister, Maria Idalina Valente, is attending the 9th Forum of the Economic and Commercial Co-operation between the US and the Sub-Saharan African countries, on August 02-06, in the United States. The 9th African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) Forum will be held in Washington DC and Kansas City under the theme "New Strategies for a Changing World". The Angolan delegation, which arrived in Washington on Saturday evening, is comprised by the secretary of State for Agriculture, José...

The continuation of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), under which most South African exports enter the US duty- and quota-free, is essential for SA to continue attracting investment, particularly in the automotive industry.Current Font Size:South Africa will lobby at this week's 10th Agoa Forum in Washington for its continued inclusion under the act and an extension of the 2015 expiry date, trade and industry minister Rob Davies and representatives of industry bodies said this week.The automotive industry in particular benefits...

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutati has arrived in the United States of America to attend the 9th African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) Forum which will be officially opened Monday, August 2, 2010.According to a press statement to the Watchdog by First Secretary for Press at the Zambian Embassy in USA Ben Kangwa, Mutati is accompanied by officials from various Ministries, the Zambia Development Agency, (ZDA), the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) and the Private Sector.The AGOA Forum will be held in two sessions: August...

The ninth U.S.-sub Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, also known as the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), will take place on August 2-3 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., and August 4-6 in Kansas City, Missouri.Secretary Clinton will deliver remarks at the forum on August 3 at the Ronald Reagan Building. The remarks will be open to credentialed members of the media. More details will be forthcoming in the public schedule.The AGOA Forum will bring together more than 600 participants, including senior U.S....

Thirty-four African women entrepreneurs are participating in the 2010 U.S.–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum — better known as the AGOA Forum — and the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum to further enhance the U.S.-Africa trade relationship by expanding their businesses and increasing economic growth in their own countries.Four of these women — entrepreneurs from Uganda, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Botswana — express their views on AGOA.UgandaMaria Odido, chief executive officer of Bee Natural Products Ltd....

The 9th th annual United States–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, known as the AGOA Forum, convenes its ministerial meeting in Washington August 2, offering an excellent opportunity to look at U.S.-Africa trade today and agree on new strategies for tomorrow.According to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programmes, Florizelle Liser, the assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, made that point in a July 23 interview with America.gov. “Ten years ago when we put AGOA in place, I...

he 10th annual United States–Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, known as the AGOA Forum, convenes its ministerial meeting in Washington August 2, offering an excellent opportunity to look at U.S.-Africa trade today and agree on new strategies for tomorrow.Florizelle Liser, the assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa, made that point in a July 23 interview with America.gov.“Ten years ago when we put AGOA in place, I think we were clear that we wanted to provide more market access for Africa’s valued-added...

Thirty-four African women entrepreneurs are participating in the 2010 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum -- better known as the AGOA Forum -- and the African Women's Entrepreneurship Forum to further enhance the U.S.-Africa trade relationship by expanding their businesses and increasing economic growth in their own countries.Four of these women -- entrepreneurs from Uganda, Cameroon, Ethiopia and Botswana -- talked to America.gov July 27.Maria Odido, chief executive officer of Bee Natural Products Ltd. in Uganda,...

Ghanaian exporters were on Tuesday encouraged to intensify penetration into the United States market through the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) before it ends in 2015. The last five-year phase of the programme offered Ghanaians producers an important opportunity to consolidate their preferential access into the United States markets, Mr. Maxwell Osei Kusi, Deputy Director in-charge of Research at Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), stated in Accra. Mr. Osei Kusi was speaking at the 2010 AGOA Policy Dialogue organised by...

Washington — The focus of the 2010 African Growth and Opportunity Act ( AGOA ) Civil Society Forum, which convenes in Washington July 29, is to make the U.S.-Africa trade relationship beneficial to both Africans and Americans. The theme of this year’s civil society forum is “A Decade of Progress in Bridging the U.S.-Africa Trade Gap.”Gregory B. Simpkins, the spokesman for the U.S. civil society coalition for African trade and investment, previewed the event in a July 22 interview with America.gov.While Africans need to do more in...

The Africa Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, together with Manchester Trade, the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, and the Shell Corporation are pleased to invite you to the AGOA Civil Society Forum of 2010, "A Decade of Progress in Bridging the U.S.-Africa Trade Gap".This forum will examine the involvement of civil society in the creation and implementation of AGOA and discussing the recommendations made by civil society forums over the years. In the United States, civil society organizations played a leading role in...

Participants at the on-going Fifth African Agriculture Science week, which entered its third day on Wednesday, want all the stakeholders including political leaders to develop func tional policies that will encourage more intra-Africa trade.The participants, who include civil society groups from within and outside Afric a involved in agriculture, farmers group and non-governmental organizations, said existing protocol on free movement of goods and persons, par ticularly in ECOWAS countries and other Regional Economic Communities (REC),...

The 15th Ordinary African Union summit is on in Kampala with a timely theme, “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa”. The choice of the theme for the summit being held just five years to the end of the set deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could not have had better timing than 2010.Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister once said, “You can tell the condition of a nation (I add, continent) by looking at the status of its women”. To spur consistent development, African leaders must...