NEW DAWN FOR ESWATINI AS AGOA VISA TAKES EFFECT

MANZINI - Finally, the long wait is over as Eswatini has received an effective AGOA textile visa system re-authorisation from the United States of America (USA).

This is contained in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) website and the attachment was uploaded by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

This means the country can now export textile and apparel goods to the USA without paying levy as from Tuesday June 3, 2018.
According to the attachment, the USTR had determined that the Kingdom of Eswatini had adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent the unlawful transhipment of textile and apparel articles and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with the shipment of such articles.

Progress

The statement, which was made on Monday and issued on Tuesday, further said the Kingdom of Eswatini had implemented and followed or was making substantial progress towards implementing and following the custom procedures required by AGOA.
“Therefore, imports of eligible products from Eswatini qualify for the textile and apparel benefits provided under the AGOA,” reads part of the statement on the AGOA website.

Again, the statement said the notice also made conforming changes to the harmonised tariff schedule of the United States to reflect the recent change in name of the Kingdom of Swaziland to Eswatini.

When giving background information in the statement, the USTR said AGOA (Title I of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, Public Law 106-200, as amended) provides preferential tariff treatment for imports of certain textile and apparel products of beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.

It further said the textile and apparel trade benefits under AGOA were available to imports of eligible products from countries that the president designates as ‘beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries’, provided that these countries have adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent the unlawful transhipment of textile and apparel articles and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipment of such articles.

Again, the statement said the countries should have implemented and follow, or were making substantial progress towards implementing and following, certain customs procedures that assist the US Customs and Border Protection in verifying the origin of the products.
In Proclamation 9687 dated December 22, 2017 (82 FR 61414), the statement said the president designated Eswatini as a ‘beneficiary sub-Saharan African country’ and proclaimed for the purposes of Section 112(c) of AGOA, that the kingdom should be considered a lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country.

The statement said based on the actions Eswatini had taken, the United States Trade Representative had determined that the kingdom had satisfied the two requirements for eligibility for textile and apparel benefits under AGOA.

Efforts of getting a comment from the American Embassy proved futile as it was a holiday for them yesterday. A short message was sent to one of the officers at the Embassy but it had not been replied to at the time of compiling this report.

Again, efforts to get a comment from the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Phumelele Dlamini, were made but she was constantly reported to be held up in a meeting. However, some of the officers who talked to this publication from the authority confirmed the latest developments but asked to remain anonymous as it was only the CEO who was authorised to speak to the media.

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