The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a United States Trade Act, remains a cornerstone of the United States’s trade and investment relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, Ms. Constance Hamilton, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Office of the Trade Representative, has reaffirmed.
She said AGOA had made a tangible difference in the lives of millions of Africans in the past 24 years, creating new jobs, and new business opportunities.
Addressing journalists at a digital presser organised by the Africa Regional Media Hub of the U.S.
Department of State, she acknowledged that AGOA could “do much better in the coming years.”
The press briefing followed the 21st African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington on the theme: “Beyond 2025: Reimagining AGOA for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Tomorrow.”
Discussions at the forum focused on how to modernize AGOA and make the partnership more effective, inclusive, and tailored to the realities of a 21st-century U.S. – Africa economic partnership.
The forum brought together senior government officials from the United States, and AGOA-eligible countries, as well as representatives from continental and regional economic organizations, the private sector, labour, and civil society.
As the 2025 expiration date for AGOA approaches, there is a strong push for its early reauthorization through the U.S. Congress, which has the authority to extend the legislation.
Ms Hamilton, who highlighted the forum’s success in fostering dialogue on how to bolster worker-centric trade policies and strengthen economic
opportunities, said, “We explored barriers that different groups face in accessing trade and investment opportunities and discussed how to better utilize the multilateral trading system to benefit more people.”
She also underscored the U.S. commitment to modernizing AGOA to support regional economic integration and promote high-standard investment opportunities while exploring how to better use the multilateral trading system to benefit more people, especially those in underserved communities.
Ms. Hamilton said the U.S. looked forward to working together with its partners on the continent and charting a path of not only transforming and modernizing its partnership, but also ensuring that AGOA realized its full potential of promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, development, and regional integration.
Speaking on the unique opportunities or hurdles for the implementation of AGOA with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), she said, there was a memorandum of understanding to work
with the secretariate in Ghana to help promote the various chapters of AfCFTA and ensure that technical assistance is provided to move the initiative forward.
“So, I think that AGOA and the AfCFTA can actually work hand in hand. We have the same goals: better trade and investment across the continent,” she stressed.
Ms. Joy Basu, the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State, reiterated the Biden-Harris administration’s strong support for the reauthorization and modernization of AGOA.
“AGOA remains a cornerstone of our trade and investment relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, and we are committed to ensuring its continuation and enhancement,” she stated and highlighted the symbiotic relationship between AGOA and other U.S. programmes aimed at enhancing economic activity and prosperity in the region.
Among others, she cited the newly launched U.S.
Africa Trade Desk, to diversify sourcing and connect African agricultural producers with American retailers, as a key initiative in this regard.
She said the importance of leveraging digital platforms to connect African exporters with U.S. buyers, thereby increasing trade and economic cooperation was key among the issues discussed by stakeholders at the forum.
Ms. Basu said, “The goal of that is to really help U.S. retailers here in the United States diversify their sourcing and reduce kind of their single dependencies in certain supply chains, and at the same time connect African agricultural producers to greater sources of demand in order to increase the premium they are providing.”
The platform, she added, had 20,000 American retailers and was opened to different African producers, particularly in the Agricultural sector, and “the goal for the next year and a half of the U.S. Africa Trade Desk was to increase trade in the agricultural sector alone to over $300 million.”
As the 2025 expiration date for AGOA approaches, there is a strong push for its early reauthorization.
While Congress holds the authority to extend the legislation, discussions during the forum indicated positive trends towards a longer extension period, potentially between 10 and 20 years.
This would provide stability and predictability for businesses and governments alike.
