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Mutati urges effective exit strategy for AGOA

Mutati urges effective exit strategy for AGOA
By By Mutale Kapekele
Sun 17 Apr. 2011, 03:59 CAT

AFRICA and America should develop an effective exit strategy for the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) that ends in 2015, commerce minister Felix Mutati on Thursday told members of the United States Congress.

Mutati urged US and AGOA eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to begin working at developing an effective exit strategy out of the AGOA process, observing that the original architects of the process never meant it to last forever.

Mutati said it was not in the best interest of Africa to go on demanding for perpetual extensions in the AGOA preference as it was not sustainable and helpful in the long term.

He said the preference should only provide a steppingstone to accelerate Africa’s standing in the global economy.

Mutati said that while it was justified for Africa to appeal to congress to consider an extension for AGOA, it was inevitable to begin engaging in serious discussion regarding the exit strategy.

He challenged the gathering to look at the ‘new’ Africa with interest because of the enormous promise and potential it held for the world.

He said Rwanda and Zambia were among the top 10 reformers stressing that the countries represent the future of the African promise.

“Rwanda has been ranked the best reforming country by the World Bank’s Ease Of Doing Business Report. Similarly, Zambia was among the top ten reformers in components,” he said. “Strides in this regard on the African side speak for themselves. An example being the fact that the top ten reformers in the World Bank Doing Business Report 2011 include three AGOA countries – Rwanda, Cape Verde and Zambia.”

Mutati said during the year 2010 about 50 per cent of countries in sub Saharan Africa had posted growth of five per cent and above.

He also referred to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections that predict that growth in Africa would be around six per cent for the year 2011, a figure he described as a fair and objective outlook against the prevailing macroeconomic environment both at the global and continental level.

He said AGOA remained the cornerstone trade and economic tool for Africa and the US yielding some success stories such as the creation of around 300,000 jobs between 2001 and 2010 as a direct result of AGOA preferences.

Mutati said estimates placed the number of Africans impacted by the programme at 10 million by virtue of them being integrated into the various regional value chains.

Labels: AGOA, FELIX MUTATI

posted by MrK @ 2:45 PM