Address challenges of access to US markets - Kamayoyo
Address challenges of access to US markets - KamayoyoBy Mutale Kapekele
Wed 15 Dec. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE African Growth Opportunity Act is burdensome to sub-Saharan African countries as the continent has failed to penetrate the US market, says economist Kelvin Kamayoyo.
Kamayoyo, who congratulated Zambia for its selection to host next year's AGOA, said African negotiators should actively engage the US to produce a flexible trade and investment deal that was fair and less burdensome.
Kamayoyo, in an interview, wondered how Africa failed to access a seemingly open American market since the year 2000 when the AGOA was born.
He said AGOA beneficiary countries had struggled to effectively penetrate the US market due to the long distance “which exposes firms to high transaction costs, existence of sub-Saharan Africa inland poor transport infrastructure and generally high costs of doing business.”
Kamayoyo urged Zambia, which heads the negotiations team for Africa, to use the forum to address challenges of accessing the US market and find a lasting solution if the AGOA framework was to increase and effectively contribute to poverty alleviation especially among the eligible sub-Saharan African countries.
Kamayoyo also advised COMESA to take up an active negotiating role to ensure that its member countries easily accessed the US market.
Since 2000, there has been little trade between the United States and the 38 AGOA eligible African countries.
According to the US Trade Policy Review Report for 2010, AGOA and related imports were valued at US$33.7 billion in 2009, down 49 per cent from 2008 largely due to the downturn in the global economy.
Kamayoyo argued that the little trade experienced within AGOA framework could be attributed to the nature of the framework which “appears to be somehow selective and unpredictable because eligibility is annually assessed based on unilateral criteria with particular focus on improvement on labor rights, rule of law and movement toward a market-based economy.”
Kamayoyo said Zambia exceedingly met the AGOA criteria and deserved to benefit from the trade preferential market access offered by the US.
Labels: AGOA, KELVIN KAMAYOYO, MARKETS
posted by MrK @ 3:10 PM
2 Comments:
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Profoundly true and very timely..Africa can gain more through these collaborative relationships.
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