Press statement by H. E. Deputy chairperson (AUC) on the 7th AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) Forum held in Washington DC / The annual dialogue between the United States and Africa
WASHINGTON, USA, July 18, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The seventh AGOA Forum took place in Washington, D.C., July 14-16. The theme for this year’s forum was: Mobilizing Private Investment for Trade and Growth. This dynamic event set the stage for active discussions focusing on the linkages between private investment and economic growth, as well as providing African countries with the ability to take advantage of trade opportunities in AGOA and elsewhere around the globe. This event brought together senior U.S. administration officials, African Government ministers, as well as U.S. and African business and civil society stakeholders to accelerate the exchange of ideas and information critical to AGOA’s continued success and, indeed, to Africa’s continued economic success. The Africa Union Commission was represented by H. E. Erastus Mwecha (Deputy Chairperson) and Mme. Elizabeth Tankeu (Commissioner for Trade).
The ministerial plenary sessions, along with associated breakouts were held on July 15th at the State Department. In addition, there were private sector and civil society related hosted events on the 14th and 16th that highlighted additional opportunities between the United States and Africa. At the ministerial session, the focus was on critical areas that affect trade and economic growth. The morning dealt with improving the business climate, increasing eligible countries from 41, increased trade and investments, capacity building in sanitary and phyto-sanitary areas, with breakouts looking at key sectors and the afternoon looked at access to capital with breakout sessions on each of the main financial instruments.
The meetings discussed the future of Sub-Saharan Africa that continues to look brighter, as there’s a growing number of countries beginning to reap the benefits of sound economic policy changes, improved governance and new investments in key sectors undertaken over the last decade. The consensus at the meeting was that, with the continued growth of responsible and representative governments in Africa and the recovery from several lengthy conflicts on the continent, much of Africa now is poised to see much more robust economic growth and an improvement in living standards.
The pace of economic growth and development in Africa is, of course, of paramount concern to Africa and the United States. Both continue to demonstrate worldwide leadership in expanding the opportunities for even greater African prosperity in the future through initiatives such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. AGOA is a progressive U.S. trade and investment policy toward the continent that is reducing barriers to trade, increasing diversified exports, creating jobs and expanding opportunities for Africans to build better lives. Specifically, AGOA provides trade preferences to designated countries that are making progress in economic, legal and human rights reforms.
Under AGOA, eligible countries can export almost any product to the United States duty-free. Right now, that’s nearly 6,500 products from apparel to automobiles and footwear to fruit. AGOA also provides a framework for technical assistance to help countries take greater advantage of trade preferences.
Last year, in 2007, over 98 percent of U.S. imports from AGOA-eligible countries entered this country duty-free. Total trade between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa has grown to more than $44.2 billion last year and we have seen non-oil AGOA imports into the U.S. nearly triple since 2001. Currently we have 41 Sub-Saharan African countries that meet AGOA’s eligibility criteria that can take advantage of the trade benefits offered under the act. This year, with the addition of Togo and the union of Comoros, there are up to 41 total countries.
H.E. Deputy Chairperson and H.E. Madame E. Tankeu addressed the African Ambassadors during the review and preparatory meetings on Friday, July 11, 2008 with a view to discussing and agreeing on a position with regard to the topics being proposed under the 7th AGOA Forum.
On Monday, July 14, 2008, a Third Consultative Meeting of the African Ministers of Trade Consultative Meeting was held with the African Ministers of Trade and Ambassadors in attendance. The Ministers also met with the Congress to discuss the Draft bill (THE NEW AFRICAN TRADE BILL- “NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2007″) in Senate sponsored by Mc Dermot. They expressed their support for this bill but also their reservations on the conditionality for eligibility.
At the breakout sessions on July 15, 2008, H.E. Deputy Chairperson gave a presentation on Mobilizing Capital: Financing Infrastructure in Africa. He cited infrastructure as the most serious constraint to Africa’s competitiveness and appealed to all development partners to increase their support for infrastructure development in Africa.
At the Private Sector Forum on July 16, 2008, H. E. Deputy Chairperson spoke on the role of the private and public sector in the growth and development of Africa and the need for continued Private Public Partnerships (PPP). He also held various bilateral meetings with the World Bank, Corporate Council for Africa (CCA), Manchester Trade Ltd, and USAID amongst others.
SOURCE : African Union Commission (AUC)
