{"id":18185,"date":"2022-12-15T07:46:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T07:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important"},"modified":"2022-12-15T07:58:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T07:58:38","slug":"long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important","title":{"rendered":"LONG-TERM RENEWAL OF AGOA IMPORTANT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has disclosed that an early and long term renewal of African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) was important and necessary to prevent any disruptions to trade.<\/b><\/p>\n

This was disclosed by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo during the 2022 AGOA Ministerial Engagement in Washington DC, USA, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Khumalo explained that SACU members had jointly agreed that an early and long-term renewal of African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) was important and necessary to prevent any disruptions to trade.<\/p>\n

He mentioned that the value of total SACU exports to the US declined from USD 9.5 billion in 2019 to USD 8.2 billion in 2020, while imports declined from USD 5.1 billion in 2019 to USD 4.8 billion in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could be attributed to the slowdown in economic activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, SACU\u2019s exports to the US have remained relatively stable over the years, accounting for around 7 per cent of total exports to the world,\u201d the minister stated.<\/p>\n

Khumalo further explained that SACU countries had been committed to ensuring and creating an enabling environment, including putting in place the necessary response strategies for private sector to maximise the AGOA benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to our Trade Statistics, the US is SACU\u2019s third trading partner, both in terms of imports and exports, after the European Union and China. SACU has been experiencing a trade surplus with the US since the inception of AGOA in 2000 and has recorded a positive trade balance with the US over the past eight years,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

According to the minister, a longer-term extension of AGOA beyond 2025 with less conditionality which guarantees certainty would ensure increased benefits for Sub-Saharan African countries.<\/p>\n

He said in addition, expanded product coverage with flexible rules of origin to enable cumulation among sub-Saharan African countries will also benefit the private sector.<\/p>\n

He explained that consequently, this would be predictable and ensure increased private sector investment which could enhance market access to the US market.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), allow me to highlight that the AfCFTA is a priority for SACU Member States,\u201d the minister stated. He said they were engaged to fully implement and take advantage of the opportunities it presents.<\/p>\n

He further mentioned that SACU had prioritised industrialisation, including the development of regional value chains, export promotion and investment promotion as an over-arching objective to deepen their regional economic integration agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are, therefore, optimistic that the AfCFTA will provide opportunities for increased trade and investment relationship between the US and Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also expressed gratitude to the Government of the United States of America, particularly to Ambassador Katherine Tai.<\/p>\n

\u201c2025 is around the corner, there is, therefore, an urgency to concretise AGOA benefits to ensure that they are not lost and that the relations between the US and Africa are strengthened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He mentioned that the Member States of SACU-Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa-had benefitted tremendously from AGOA since its inception in May 2000. He also thanked the US government for hosting the AGOA Ministerial meeting.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has disclosed that an early and long term renewal of African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) was important and necessary to prevent any disruptions to trade. This was disclosed by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo during the 2022 AGOA Ministerial Engagement in Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-18185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\nLONG-TERM RENEWAL OF AGOA IMPORTANT - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has disclosed that an early and long term renewal of African Growth Opportu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LONG-TERM RENEWAL OF AGOA IMPORTANT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has disclosed that an early and long term renewal of African Growth Opportu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T07:46:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-15T07:58:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671075283.41.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"409\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"LONG-TERM RENEWAL OF AGOA IMPORTANT\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-15T07:46:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-15T07:58:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\"},\"wordCount\":526,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671075283.41.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/long-term-renewal-of-agoa-important\",\"name\":\"LONG-TERM RENEWAL OF AGOA IMPORTANT - 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