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ESWATINI RECEIVES 10 YEARS AGOA EXTENSION

19/12/2022 08:21:00 Mhlengi Magongo

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MBABANE – A 10 years African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade extension has been added for Eswatini with less conditionalities.

This was mentioned by Prime Minister Cleopas Dlamini, who said AGOA’s preferences to Eswatini were to be extended for more than 10 years with less conditionalities, which guarantees certainty. He said the extension would be made a year earlier (2024) to prevent any disruptions to trade and AGOA will now include all African countries, since this was important for African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), integration and industrialisation, including boosting regional and continental value chains. “The Kingdom of Eswatini will continue to work with all relevant stakeholders in the United State of America (USA) and at home to explore how we can optimise the benefits of all the various programmes discussed at this successful summit, in order to improve our economy and create more job opportunities for emaSwati,” he said. The prime minister also mentioned that a commitment by USA made a commitment to invest E6.5 billion (US$370 million) through the International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC).

Reliable

He said the investment would cater for reliable clean energy at E1.7 billion (US$100 million) for Sub Saharan Africa and various other projects to develop productive capacity in Africa.
“Other financial support assistance comes through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, where renewable energy and telecommunications projects are already underway in Africa, mobilising up to E141.2 billion (US$8 billion) in public and private finance,” added the prime minister. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo said it was Southern African Customs Union’s (SACU) 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 US market.“The value of total SACU exports to the US declined from US$ 9.5 billion in 2019 to US$ 8.2 billion in 2020, while imports declined from US$ 5.1 billion in 2019 to US$ 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.

Critical

Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi Dlamini yesterday said Eswatini was in the midst of a critical business season, where rush orders had to be made across the region and these orders had to be processed by workers in order to meet extremely tight deadlines. He said they had persistently decried sporadic disruptions as being unhelpful to the creation of job opportunities which were 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 US markets. This was mentioned by the USA Ambassador to Eswatini Jeanne M. Maloney during the Second Edition of Eswatini Annual Exporter Awards, organised by Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) and Business Eswatini (BE).

The ambassador said Eswatini’s National Strategic Development Plan remained the driving force of collaboration between the US Government and the Kingdom of Eswatini, which was boosting exports of proudly Eswatini-made products. She said their Economic Growth Policy demonstrates the US’s commitment to promoting inclusive, sustained, and resilient economic growth in developing countries. “The US 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 US Government supported the development of the AGOA Utilisation Strategy for Eswatini that was launched in March 2021. She said it aimed to increase exports from Eswatini to the US under AGOA by at least 12 per cent 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 per cent between 2020 and 2021, and they included drinks, sugar, timber and textiles.