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AGOA - Increasing Benefits For Cameroon

Published date:
Thursday, 12 October 2006

The second edition of the African Trade and Industrial Development Strategy Forum opened in Yaounde yesterday.

There was every evidence at the Yaounde Conference centre yesterday that Sub-Saharan Africa wants to increase its determination to benefit from the opportunity offered by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) voted into law by the American Congress to boost trade between the African continent and the United States of American. If all what was said in the six speeches delivered during the opening ceremony of the second edition of the African Trade and Industrial Development Strategy Forum could be translated into concrete action, then the road to America will become wider for businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa after the forum.

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The Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana who presided at the ceremony in lieu of the Prime Minister, head of government, was clear about Cameroon's position. "After reaching the Completion Point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, Cameroon now wants to take the opportunity offered by AGOA", he said. To Mrs Ngalle B. Soppo, African president of the AGOA.Net, the success of business between Africa and America hinge heavily on building a tripartite action between public, private sector and the civil society.

In the bid to herald all that has been achieved since the law was voted in 2000, orators at yesterday's ceremony were careful not to completely forget the challenges ahead. "It takes a lot of training and hard work to participate in AGOA", Jean Bolden, the president of the American chapter of AGOA.net underscored, stating inter alia that AGOA is opportunities and challenges with opportunities outweighing the challenges.

These opportunities were ably enumerated by Richard W. Nelson, Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of the United States in Yaounde. "AGOA provides eligible African countries with the most generous access to the 11 trillion dollar U.S. market of any country or region of the World, other than those with which the United States has a Free Trade Agreement", he said. He described the Cameroon situation as successful, citing the case of the African Women's Art Organization, which has been sending containers of art and handicrafts to the U.S. on a regular basis for over a year. He equally cited the cases of two firms in the textile sector which are manufacturing workers' overalls for the U.S market.

Cameroon's exports to the United States include crude oil, cocoa beans, Arabica coffee, rubber, spices, wood products, tobacco, leather articles and art and handicraft accounted for the increase, the American diplomat said. The next AGOA forum will hold in Africa in 2007.



“ Latest AGOA Trade Data currently available on AGOA.info


Click here to view a sector profile of Cameroon’s bilateral trade with the United States, disaggregated by total exports and imports, AGOA exports and GSP exports.


Other regularly updated trade statistics on AGOA.info include: (click each link to view)

  • AGOA-Beneficiary Countries’ AGOA and GSP Trade Aggregates

  • AGOA Trade by Industry Sector

  • Apparel Trade under AGOA’s Wearing Apparel Provisions

  • Latest Apparel Quotas under AGOA

  • Bilateral Trade Data for all AGOA-eligible countries individually.

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