{"id":12917,"date":"2014-03-04T06:40:14","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T06:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/us-govt-to-reshape-renew-agoa\/"},"modified":"2014-03-04T06:38:46","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T06:38:46","slug":"us-govt-to-reshape-renew-agoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/us-govt-to-reshape-renew-agoa\/","title":{"rendered":"US Govt to Reshape, Renew AGOA"},"content":{"rendered":"

{{The 14-year-old US preferential trade programme for Africa could be reshaped as the Obama administration drafts recommendations for renewal of the initiative.}}<\/p>\n

Florizelle Liser, the top US trade official for Africa, told a Washington forum that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) could be transformed into a set of free-trade agreements with specific countries and regional groupings.<\/p>\n

Once the US and European Union conclude a current round of negotiations, Africa will be the only part of the world without a free-trade agreement with the US, Ms Liser said.<\/p>\n

The programme, which faces a September 2015 expiration date, allows almost all products exported by eligible African nations to enter the US market duty-free.
\nMs Liser said \u201cToday\u2019s Africa is very different from when Agoa was launched.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initiative should be modified to reflect those differences, she suggested. Agoa, as it exists now, has proved a disappointment to many of its architects.<\/p>\n

The law was conceived partly as a means to spur growth of domestic industries in Africa, particularly in the textile sector. That has not happened to a significant degree.<\/p>\n

A study published recently by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development noted modest gains in textile production in a few African countries, such as Kenya, in the years following implementation of Agoa.<\/p>\n

As it is, textiles and clothing account for only two per cent of African exports to the US.<\/p>\n

Eligibility for Agoa is currently determined by African countries\u2019 compliance with US criteria covering economic policy, trade and investment standards, governance, commitment to development, and labour conditions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

NMG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{The 14-year-old US preferential trade programme for Africa could be reshaped as the Obama administration drafts recommendations for renewal of the initiative.}} Florizelle Liser, the top US trade official for Africa, told a Washington forum that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) could be transformed into a set of free-trade agreements with specific countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000050719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000050719,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12917.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000050719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12917"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12917"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}