Intro panel
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ALT: Hillary Rodham Clinton and other women standing at table laden with items (AP Images)
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade law enacted in 2000, has helped increase both the volume and diversity of U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa. U.S. trade with the region, combining exports and imports, totaled $95.2 billion in 2011, up 18 percent from the year before. U.S. imports reached $74.2 billion, up nearly 14 percent from 2010.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton looks at products made by members of the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program in Lusaka, Zambia, site of the 2011 AGOA Forum. In her remarks at the forum, Clinton stressed the need to create business-friendly environments.
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ALT: Bill Clinton at desk, others applauding behind him (AP Images)
President Bill Clinton clenches his fists after signing the African Growth and Opportunity Act at the White House on May 18, 2000. The trade law ushered in an era of U.S. cooperation and support with sub-Saharan Africa that extended preferential treatment to imports from eligible countries that are pursuing market-reform measures.
Currently, 40 African countries qualify for AGOA’s benefits and almost 6,400 products are eligible to enter the United States duty-free.
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ALT: Man putting box on top of stack (AP Images)
Barnabus Ossai arranges boxes of computer-printer paper in his small shop in Lagos, Nigeria. Africans are hoping that the current global economic crisis will soon abate and local economies will improve. More African nations are taking advantage of the liberal trade opportunities under AGOA, but many are facing significant challenges in their efforts to increase trade.
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EMBED: USAID
ALT: Young women sitting at sewing machines (USAID)
Young women complete vocational training as seamstresses in Gitarama, Rwanda. The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office says African countries have enormous potential for expanding exports of value-added products such as fabrics and apparel. USTR estimates that if sub-Saharan Africa increased its share of global trade by 1 percent, it would generate additional export revenues of $70 billion annually.
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ALT: President Obama holding microphone and talking with group of African visitors (State Dept.)
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President Obama hosted a town hall meeting at the White House during the 2010 Presidential Forum with Young African Leaders, which was held in conjunction with the AGOA Forum. He told the young leaders that as they work to build strong economies with jobs and opportunities, the United States will work with them, promoting the trade and investment on which growth depends.
“It will be up to you — young people full of talent and imagination — to build the Africa for the next 50 years,” the president said.
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ALT: Man spreading cocoa beans on mat (AP Images)
Farmer Issiaka Ouedraogo arranges cocoa beans, laid out to dry on reed mats, on a cocoa farm outside the village of Fangolo, near Duékoué, Ivory Coast.
U.S. imports of agriculture, fish and forestry products from AGOA countries doubled between 2001 and 2010, to $1.2 billion. Major imports from AGOA countries include rubber, cocoa beans, cocoa paste and cocoa butter, sugar and tree nuts.
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ALT: Man sitting at counter looking at tray full of small containers (AP Images)
An Ethiopian coffee taster works in a “cupping” laboratory in Addis Ababa. Quality is a determining factor in the price of coffee beans. Small farmers have found it increasingly difficult to survive in today’s fiercely competitive coffee market, and so a partnership has grown between the coffee industry, USAID and local governments to help farmers struggling to move into the market for quality coffee.
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ALT: People at trade show booth (USAID)
African businesses have quickly learned the value of trade shows to enter and maintain a presence in the global market. Nali Ltd., Mulli Brothers, and Satemwa Tea & Coffee Estate participated in the Gulfood trade show in Dubai. Community Partnerships for Sustainable Resource Management, a project funded by USAID, worked to get these East African companies to attend this major industry trade show.
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EMBED: USAID
ALT: Woman working in rows of flowers (USAID)
A nursery worker cross-pollinates flowers for export. USAID-supported agricultural projects focus on improving Uganda’s flower-exporting industry.
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EMBED: USAID
ALT: People with piles of avocados (USAID)
Kenyan workers offload avocados that will be processed into oil, which is used for making cosmetics. Sunny Processors began operations in 2005 in response to the increased supply of avocados in the Maragua district of Kenya. Through USAID’s Kenya BDS Program, the processor is buying avocados directly from small farmer groups.
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Workers at the Fairview wine-and-cheese estate in South Africa pack the farm’s Camembert cheese for shipment around the world. The company’s cheese has won the gold medal numerous times at the World Cheese Awards.
See "AGOA Eligibility Continues in 2012 for 40 African Countries."
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Tourism provides significant revenue to many African nations. A country’s success as a tourist destination depends on ease of access, and thus aviation infrastructure is vital. AGOA’s “Safe Skies for Africa” program focuses on making air transport safer and has helped African airports to meet the standards necessary for U.S. carriers to enter Africa.
Shown is Chumbe Island off the coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania.
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ALT: Two men removing grapes from vines (AP Images)
Workers at the Graham Beck wine estate in Robertson, South Africa, harvest grapes for their winery. South Africa has had a wine industry for 350 years and exports the wine to the United States and elsewhere in the West.
The International Monetary Fund predicts that economic growth in Africa will reach 5.5 percent in 2012 and that sub-Saharan Africa will claim seven of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies by 2015.
The global business consulting company Ernst & Young issued a report in May 2012 saying Africa is “a story of growth, progress, potential and profitability.”
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EMBED: State Dept.
ALT: Hillary Rodham Clinton posing with several other women at State Department (State Dept.)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with participants in the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) at the State Department in October 2011. The women also traveled to several mid-size American cities to learn how to expand opportunities for exports and U.S. investment under the terms of AGOA. An inaugural AWEP group came to the United States in 2010.
This June, the 2012 AWEP participants are attending events in conjunction with the U.S.-hosted 2012 AGOA Forum in Washington and a U.S.-Africa Business Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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EMBED: State Dept.
ALT: Women looking at handbags displayed on table (State Dept.)
A group of 46 African women from 36 countries began their three-week African Women's Entrepreneurship Program in New York on June 4, 2012, by meeting with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. The participants, who hail from the fashion and textile industries, agribusiness, and home décor, will attend the U.S.–sub-Saharan African Trade and Economic Forum (commonly known as the AGOA Forum) in Washington June 14–15. They will also travel to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the U.S.-Africa Business Conference.
AWEP is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Shown here, some of the 2012 AWEP participants check out the merchandise in New York City.
See the AWEP Facebook page.