ESWATINI, TO DEVELOP AGOA RESPONSE STRATEGY

MBABANE – The Kingdom of Eswatini and the United States Trade and Investment Hub are working together to develop an Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) National Response Strategy.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, as the lead Ministry for AGOA issues, was in the process of constituting a Steering Committee which would manage the exercise of developing the strategy.

Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo explained that the strategy was aimed at assisting the country improve the utilisation of AGOA and allow the private sector to form linkages with other businesses; with the aim of taking advantage of AGOA benefits.
Khumalo mentioned that the National AGOA Response Strategy was introduced to address issues of low utilisation of AGOA.

tariff

“Africa is currently utilising 14 per cent of the 6500 tariff lines under AGOA. It was on this premise that African Ministers of Trade met during the 18thAGOA Forum held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, last month where they attributed the low utilisation to challenges faced by businesses when trying to take advantage of AGOA benefits,” said Khumalo. 

The minister pointed out those challenges identified included low production capacity and regulations that were imposed in the US.
The ministers also noted that some businesses were not aware of AGOA therefore did not know how to utilise its benefits.

USAID assists countries to develop the strategies. Out of the 39 benefiting African countries, only 18 had developed their national strategies.
During the AGOA forum, Khumalo said countries were advised to identify key products which the national strategies can focus on. It was noted that AGOA benefits were uneven; with petroleum products dominating in export volumes.

Countries were advised to add value to their products so that higher benefits can accrue from the export of higher value products as opposed to the raw products that are currently being exported.

relationship

With the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Khumalo said the feeling in the forum was that the AfCFTA would shape the relationship between Africa and the US.
The meeting, according to Khumalo, highlighted the need to plan for the future as AGOA was coming to an end in 2025 and the USA had not indicated an extension or not.

Eswatini has commenced the process of developing its own national strategy with the help of USAID.
The strategy could cover the period from its launch up to 2025 when the current round of AGOA comes to an end.
In addition, Khumalo said the strategy would explore the options available for Eswatini in trading with the USA, in the event the event that AGOA was not renewed post 2025.

“Going forward, the Ministry will engage many stakeholders including the private sector, Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), academia and Unions to ensure the outcome represents the views of all key stakeholders,” added Khumalo.

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