AGOA, Veritable Win-Win Trade Avenue!
By Godlove BAINKONG, Cameroon Tribune, 04-08-2014
Statistics show that Cameroon’s exports to the USA progressed by over 20 per cent in 2013.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region,
has served as a springboard for win-win trade over the years. This is more so as it defines the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship, allowing for an average of around 70 per cent of all imports from Sub-Saharan Africa to enter the U.S. duty-free since the enactment of the legislation.
Statistics show that Cameroon’s exports to the USA progressed by over 20 per cent in 2013.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region,
has served as a springboard for win-win trade over the years. This is more so as it defines the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship, allowing for an average of around 70 per cent of all imports from Sub-Saharan Africa to enter the U.S. duty-free since the enactment of the legislation.
As the
first-ever U.S.-Africa Summit convened by the President of the United
States of America goes on in Washington DC, Cameroon and the rest of the
continent will among others be certainly seeking ways of strengthening
ties with the U.S. so as to tap maximum benefits from the economic
window widely opened by AGOA.
Between
2009 and 2012, Cameroon exported 598,500 metric tons of varied products
to the USA to the tune of FCFA 250 billion. These included hydrocarbon
products, cocoa and its by-products, rubber, wood, coffee, tea, tobacco
and alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, America fed Cameroon within the same
period with 256,736 metric tons of goods like hydrocarbons, vehicles,
tractors and other machines, cereals and organic chemical products
amounting to FCFA 371.903 billion.
Statistics show that Cameroon’s exports to the USA progressed by over 20 per cent in 2013.
Information
garnered on the website of the American embassy in Yaounde on the
U.S.-Cameroon indicates that Cameroon is currently America’s 113th largest
goods trading partner with $698 million (about FCFA 341 billion) in
total (import and export) goods trade in 2013. Goods exported totaled
$331 million (about FCFA 162 billion) and goods imported totaled $367
million (about FCFA 179 billion). But Cameroon could do better given
that of the 6,400 products concerned with the legislation, the country
is only involved in less than 20.
The two
countries have been multiplying strategies for a mutually-beneficial
trade within the AGOA legislation. There is for instance an Enhanced
AGOA Resource Centre in Douala which helps Cameroonian exports of
textiles, handicrafts, pepper, and other agricultural products to meet
international standards. There is also an AGOA committee chaired by the
Secretary General at the Prime Minister’s office which seeks to assist
companies meet American standards with their export produce.
Added
to all what is being done to reap maximum benefits from the legislation,
analysts believe there is need to fully engage the private sector,
develop more formal and informal public-private partnerships and expand
the use of technology. Strengthening democracy, governance and the
business environment as well as improving infrastructure, increasing
capacity building to better meet international standards and addressing
non-tariff barriers must not also be neglected if maximum economic gains
must be harvested from the legislation.
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