Agoa deadline extended to 2015

LEONARD NEILL
THE US government has extended the ‘life’ of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to ‘pre-empt conflicts that might have arisen when the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) enters into a free trade agreement with the US’.
The Agoa 3 Action Committee announced last week that an amendment to the agreement now extends the original deadline from 2008 to 2015.
The new agreement allows African countries in the Agoa net to continue sing low cost imported fabric in garments made for the US market
It also allows the provision of technical assistance for trade capacity building, development of eco-tourism and SPS compliance for African agricultural products, instructs the US administration to develop programmes to assist with transportation and infrastructure development, and defines Agoa-eligible garments.