‘FLEXIBLE AGOA RULES CAN BENEFIT PRIVATE SECTOR’

MBABANE – The African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade agreement expires 2025 for SACU member states and they want an extension.

SACU is the Southern African Customs Union; its members include Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Eswatini. The member states attended an AGOA ministerial engagement yesterday at Washington DC in the United States of America (USA) aimed at addressing AGOA related issues. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo said it was SACU’s concerted view that an early and long-term renewal of AGOA preferences was important and necessary to prevent any disruptions to trade. He said a longer-term extension of AGOA beyond 2025 with less conditional ties which guarantees certainty would ensure increased benefits for Sub-Saharan African Countries.

Khumalo said expanded product coverage with flexible Rules of Origin to enable accumulation among sub-Saharan African Countries would also benefit the private sector. The minister said this would ensure increased private sector investment which could enhance market access to the U.S. market. “The value of total SACU exports to the US declined from USD 9.5 billion in 2019 to USD 8.2 billion in 2020, while imports declined from USD 5.1 billion in 2019 to USD 4.8 billion in 2020. This could be attributed to the slowdown in economic activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

Season

Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi Dlamini yesterday said Eswatini was in the midst of a critical business season where rush orders have to be made across the region and these orders have to be processed by workers in order to meet extremely tight deadlines. He said they have persistently decried sporadic disruptions as being unhelpful to the creation of job opportunities which are desperately needed especially for young people. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) remains an important aspect to firms in reaching the South African and U.S. markets. This was mentioned by the United State of America Ambassador to Eswatini Jeanne M. Maloney during the Second Edition of Eswatini Annual Exporter Awards organized by Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) and Business Eswatini (BE).

The ambassador said Eswatini’s National Strategic Development Plan remains the driving force of collaboration between the U.S. Government and the Kingdom of Eswatini, which is boosting exports of proudly Eswatini-made products. She said their Economic Growth Policy demonstrates the United States’ commitment to promoting inclusive, sustained, and resilient economic growth in developing countries. “The U.S. Government shares a vision with all our partners to promote the role of private sector-led economic growth,” she said. Maloney also mentioned that the U.S. Government supported the development of the AGOA Utilization Strategy for Eswatini that was launched in March 2021.

She said it aimed to increase exports from Eswatini to the United States under AGOA by at least 12 percent per year. “This is a goal that will benefit both countries,” she said. She added that despite the turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Eswatini’s exports to South Africa grew by nearly 12 percent between 2020 and 2021, and they included drinks, sugar, timber, and textiles.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: