Home | News | SD IN BETTER POSITION TO APPLY FOR AGOA REVIEW- MINISTER

SD IN BETTER POSITION TO APPLY FOR AGOA REVIEW- MINISTER

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

MANZINI - After being left out of AGOA for the past three years, government believes it is on the right track to regain eligibility during the upcoming review in December.

If indeed government’s beliefs are anything to go by, the country can start benefitting from the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) of 2000 in January 1, 2018.
Minister of Labour and Social Security Winnie Magagula, said she was confident that with the assistance that government got from both the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United States of America (USA), including the American Embassy, the country could be in a better position to apply for AGOA review in August 2017.

She said as government, they need to continue with addressing the ILO benchmarks, in order to finalise the amendments in time to make the application in August. The minister said time to report to the US has passed but that does not mean they should fold arms.
“Instead, we will make the application once we are done with the amendments and present our case,” the minister said.

AGOA is a United States Trade Act, which was enacted on May 18, 2000 as Public Law 106 of the 200th Congress. The legislation significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Qualification for AGOA preference is based on a set of conditions contained in the AGOA legislation. In order to qualify and remain eligible for AGOA, each country must be working to improve its rule of law, human rights and respect for core labour standards.

The country stopped benefitting from the Act in January 1, 2015 after it was removed by the former US President Barack Obama in December 2014. The removal of the country had dire effects on the workforce and economy, as major factories in the  textile industry closed down while others reduced  their staff members and as a result, over 2 000 people became   jobless. In December 2015 and in 2016, the country was left out of the Act because of failure to meet the five benchmarks.
Out of the five benchmarks, government has passed three of them and the remaining two; the Public Order Bill No. 8 of 2016 and the Suppression of Terrorism Bill No. 10 of 2016 are still being discussed in parliament. This was after the Bills were taken to parliament through a certificate of urgency.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: