07/29/2024 02:49 PM EDT Constance Hamilton, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Joy Basu, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs MODERATOR: Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub. I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us. Today, we are very pleased to be joined by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton and the U.S. Department of State’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Joy Basu. AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu will give a readout of the 2024 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum, also known as the AGOA Forum. Convening under the theme “Beyond 2025: Reimagining AGOA for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Tomorrow,” the AGOA Forum brought together senior government officials from across the U.S. Government and AGOA-eligible countries, as well as representatives from key regional economic organizations, labor, civil society, and the private sector. Throughout the forum, discussions focused on how to modernize AGOA and make this partnership more effective, inclusive, and tailored to the realities of a 21st century U.S.-Africa economic partnership. We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu, then we will turn to your questions. We will try to get to as many of them as we can during this meeting. With that, I will turn it over to AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu for opening remarks. MS HAMILTON: I think I’ll start. Thank you very much for that very nice introduction. The United States was very pleased to host the 21st African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum in Washington last week. As our moderator mentioned, it brought together senior government officials from the United States, from AGOA-eligible countries, as well as important representatives from continental and regional economic organizations, the private sector, labor, and civil society. During the ministerial, the U.S. delegation highlighted our continued commitment to AGOA and hosted a number of conversations on a broad range of issues, including how to increase use of the program, how to better promote worker-centric trade policies, and how to better strengthen the partnerships to drive economic opportunity for both Americans and Africans. We explored barriers that women, youth, micro- and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the African diaspora face in assessing trade and investment opportunities. We explored how to better use the multilateral trading system to benefit more people, especially those in underserved communities. We also discussed opportunities to modernize the AGOA program to realize its full potential as a tool for development and to support regional economic integration, and we discussed how the United States and AGOA partners can collectively create and promote stronger, high-standard investment opportunities. Discussions also reaffirmed President Biden’s strong support for the modernization and reauthorization of AGOA. We were very pleased with the conversations we had with members of the U.S. Congress and their stated bipartisan commitment to reauthorization and their willingness to explore how can we modernize the legislation. Over the past 24 years, AGOA has made a tangible difference in the lives of millions of Africans – new jobs, new business opportunities. But we recognize that we can do much better. The United States looks forward to working together with our partners on the continent and charting a path ofnot only transforming and modernizing our partnership but also ensuring that AGOA realizes its full potential of promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, development, and regional integration. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions. MS BASU: Thank you, Connie, and thank you to all the journalists who’ve taken the time out of their mornings and afternoons to join us today. I want to leave plenty of space for questions, and so I’ll just be brief in reiterating what Connie said to say that the Biden-Harris administration has reiterated our strong support to – for Congress, the U.S. Congress, to reauthorize the AGOA legislation and to do so as soon as possible. And that was a main focus of the AGOA Forum, but I would also like to emphasize that AGOA is, yes, an important cornerstone of our trade and investment relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, but there are many other programs that work in a symbiotic way with AGOA, which were also featured very prominently at our forum. We have got tools at the State Department, at USTR, at USAID, Prosper Africa, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Trade, to really enhance not only economic activity and economic prosperity in Sub-Saharan but to really strengthen the partnership between the United States and Africa, and to truly ensure that we’re building a modern, 21st century economic partnership that not only lifts up our people and meets the needs of our communities but shows leadership for the world. And as we talk about those programs that AGOA is a part of a suite of tools the United States Government uses for that end, I think our goal for these other programs is by increasing the capacity of African companies to have goods and services to be trading that therefore AGOA utilization will be increased; and also by increasing AGOA usage across all the countries that are eligible, our other tool, both in a purely financial and economic sense, but also broader partnership tools will also be utilized. And so this has been a tremendous focus for our strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa over the last four years to build a modern economic partnership with Sub-Saharan Africa, to increase trade between the United States and Africa, and AGOA is a cornerstone and a key part of the suite of ways that we try to engage that. And so why don’t I go ahead and turn it back to you at the Hub. We’re happy to answer questions. MODERATOR: Thank you, AUSTR Hamilton and DAS Basu, for your opening remarks. We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing. We ask that you limit yourself to one question only related to the topic of today’s briefing, which is the AGOA 2024 Forum. Our first question now will go to Mr. Mbogeni Mguni from Mmegi in Botswana, and he asks: “How is the US working with its AGOA partners to ensure more utilization of the agreement?” Ms. Basu? MS BASU: I’m happy to, and thank you again (inaudible), everyone, for joining and for participating; your role as journalists (inaudible) of a vibrant democracy. And the free press is critical for exchange between companies and ideas. So thank you again, and now to go to your question. I think there are many ways that we are trying to work to increase utilization. And as I previewed a little bit, we have tools across essentially our 17 agencies of the U.S. Government that have a trade angle to try to use all of their tools to increase the capability and the capacity of African businesses to be producing and to be trading. So, for example, my team at the State Department really enhanced our focus on commercial diplomacy. How do we really empower our embassies on the ground to be working directly with the business community in their host countries to ensure, first of all, that they are aware of their AGOA benefits and the opportunities that create; but also that they are reaching back to Washington, reaching back to the United States to help those companies produce higher-quality products at greater quantities, and helping governments create the right enabling environment to really draw that investment. So I’ll give you a few examples specifically to your question. And there are more, so this will not be a complete answer, but hopefully it addresses some of it. Right now, we have more than 100 individuals in over 30 AGOA-eligible countries that are certified as AGOA advisors. And the way that I would think about these individuals that we have hired and found and selected is to be customer service support teams that offer targeted advisory services for African companies on their AGOA-related questions. And they can answer these questions in French, in English, in Portuguese at the least. And then one of the challenges that was identified in the forum and that isn’t new is that we really hope that AGOA will benefit companies of all sizes, that many small- and medium-sized enterprises either don’t know about AGOA yet or find it difficult to kind of complete the legal work that is necessary. And so hopefully these hundred-plus individuals in our countries can really provide great customer support. So, another example that comes to mind that was discussed at the forum are using our digital platforms to better connect African exporters to U.S. buyers. So, one example of that is our new U.S. Africa Trade Desk, which was just launched this spring, I believe in March. And the goal of that is to really help U.S. retailers here in the United States diversify their sourcing and reduce kind of their single dependencies in certain supply chains, and at the same time connect African agricultural producers to greater sources of demand in order to increase the premium they are providing, the stability of their sourcing for those African producers. And so right now the platform has 20,000 American retailers on it, and it’s open to many different African producers, but particularly in the agricultural sector. And I believe the goal for the next year and a half of the U.S. Africa Trade Desk is to increase trade in the agricultural sector alone to over $300 million. So that’s really exciting and it’s really impactful, particularly given the role of smallholder farmers in Africa and the incredible impact that that business can have for their household incomes. The last thing I would say is we had many conversations at the forum, particularly at the private sector forum, when it came to what we could do as U.S. companies to better connect American companies and African companies, what we could do as the government to help our African government partners create the right enabling environments. We had roundtables that are focused on the private sector, and I think there’s a strong recognition that there’s a certain amount that – that the American government and African governments can do to create the right setting, but it is truly businesses that engage in trade and those entrepreneurs and their vision and their ingenuity and their hustle, and so what we can do to hear from them and support them was a key part of our conversation. I hope that is helpful. Thank you. MODERATOR: Thank you so much, DAS Basu, for that. The second question goes to Ms. Carien Kruger from Landouweekblad in South Africa. And she asks: “Could you perhaps please give an update on any progress to open the U.S. market to South African citrus from the whole of South Africa, including the parts currently excluded due to the sanitary and phytosanitary issues, as well as opening your market for South African avocado?” Ms. Hamilton? MS HAMILTON: Thank you for that question. And I think the fact that we have been having the citrus discussion with the South African Government for a long time goes to the sensitivity of not just the issue but also the importance of the sanitary and the phytosanitary criteria that are called into play when we talk about these citrus products coming into the United States. I don’t have a specific update. I do know that the – our U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to work diligently with South African ministry to make sure that we can try to resolve any outstanding issues. So, what I would just say to you is that this is currently with the the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they are working with the ministry in South Africa, and they are trying very hard to resolve some of the remaining questions on this issue. MODERATOR: Thank you so much for that. Our third question goes to Ms. Nokukhanya Mntambo from Eyewitness News. And she asks: “The 2025 deadline is getting closer. What considerations are being given to calls for an early extension and for a longer 10-year deal?” MS BASU: It’s a great question and one that, as you might imagine, was asked many times during the forum. What I can say very briefly is that the administration has expressed its support for an early reauthorization to AGOA before the bill expires at the end of the Fiscal Year 2025. And so, we have about 14 months left. We have indicated our support for an early reauthorization, and a reauthorization as soon as possible. Obviously, our colleagues in Congress hold the pen, but if you look at a number of bills that have been introduced already, I think you will see that a longer extension period – at least a stable extension period – is on the table right now, which we would be happy to see in order to give companies and businesses that stability over the period that Congress allows. But if you look at the bills that have been put forward so far, I think that we’re seeing positive trends for somewhere between 10 and 20 years. However, we’ll have to see what Congress decides in its final iteration. But thank you for that question. MODERATOR: Thank you so much, DAS Basu, for that answer. Now to our next question, from Mr. Sisay Sahlu Nigatu from the Ethiopian Reporter. And he asks: “What are Ethiopia’s chances of remaining eligible under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and what steps can it take to accomplish this? And what activities are currently in place or planned to help Ethiopian small- and medium-sized companies get access to the U.S. market?” MS BASU: I’m happy – it’s an important question – I’m happy to give a brief answer, and then I’ll turn it over to my colleague, Connie, if she would like to elaborate. What I can say is that we do an annual review of every country to see how they are complying with the legislation, which has been very clear. We’ve had years of conversation with the Ethiopian Government as to what the government needs to do to ensure that the country is re-eligible – or is eligible again for AGOA benefits. And those – many of those decisions are in the government’s hands, particularly when it comes to supporting civil society and government actions when it comes to the civil unrest, particularly in the various regions outside of Addis. And so we’ve had an ongoing dialogue with the Ethiopian Government. We are in the process of reviewing any actions that have been taken. And once those actions are taken by the government when it comes to the democracy, human rights, and governance aspects of the legislation, we hope that Ethiopia will be eligible again. But Connie, is there anything else that you would add to that? MS HAMILTON: The only thing I would say, Joy – thank you – is that we don’t make countries guess as to what they have to do to get back into AGOA. We have been very specific in our conversations with the Ethiopian Government of what we need to see in order to reinstate them in the program. The review right now is underway. We are looking at all of the information that’s coming in from various sources, which we will evaluate very carefully, and before the end of the year, the President will announce his decision on whether or not Ethiopia will be returned to AGOA or not. But that’s still pending and still waiting to see the outcome of the review. But thank you for the question. MS BASU: I think there’s one thing that Connie reminded me of, which I think is often misunderstood and is important to reiterate with our colleagues, is that as Connie said, we’re very specific. It’s never a guessing game about what it will take, and it’s also not a surprise when countries are removed. There’s a lot of conversation, a lot of letters that go out in advance. The legislation is quite clear as to where some of the bright lines are. And so, we want to see countries be eligible. We want to see companies benefit. And so, as my colleague said, we are very specific and very communicative about what it will take to get back in once a country has lost eligibility. And we also are very communicative in advance when we start to see signs of concern in the months and the years leading up to a potential removal of eligibility. Thank you. MODERATOR: Thank you. The next question comes from Mr. Blessed Sogah from Ghana. And he writes – he asks, “Ghana is currently hosting the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which is seeking to shore up preferential trade across Africa above its current rate of 15 percent. Does this pan-African framework create any unique opportunities or hurdles for the implementation of AGOA?” MS BASU: Let me turn it first to Connie, and then I can elaborate. But Connie, would you like to take that first? MS HAMILTON: Yeah, actually, I don’t think – I think that continental regional integration is something that we also believe is very important and that we support. We actually have a memorandum of understanding to work with the secretariat in Ghana to help promote the various chapters of the AfCFTA and to make sure that anything that we can do – any resources we can provide, technical assistance to move things forward – we’re trying to do that. So, I think that AGOA and the AfCFTA can actually work hand in hand. We have the same goals: better trade and investment across the continent. I do think that when we look at how to modernize AGOA, one of the things that I hope that Congress will address is how to make sure that we incentivize the entire the continent – so not just Sub-Saharan Africa but also North Africa – to pull in the smaller, least developed countries into their supply chains. And so those are things that we hope to see. We’ll see how Congress decides to handle that, but I do think that the two work very well together. And we do support all of the goals of the AfCFTA. But over to you, Joy. MS BASU: Thank you. And of course I fully agree with all of that and would just say what we’re looking forward to is seeing the faster and kind of successful implementation of the AfCFTA. I believe when it comes to AGOA utilization and the effectiveness of AGOA, hopefully as Connie said, these two can go hand in hand. They really are reinforcing of each other. And so we are here to support the implementation of the protocols so that we can see companies and communities and people benefiting from the vision of the AfCFTA and the vision of AGOA together. MODERATOR: Thank you for those answers. We’ll now go to some live questions. And the first one is from Thando Maeko from Business Day in South Africa. And they ask, “The Biden administration has shown strong support for the swift renewal of AGOA, which is set to expire in 2025. Can beneficiaries expect a decision to be made by the U.S. regarding the renewal and modernization by the end of the year or at least before the U.S. heads to the polls?” MS HAMILTON: Let me just say that Congress is completely in charge of the legislation being written, approved, and passed through Congress. I am very confident that it will happen before AGOA is set to expire in 2025. I can’t give you a date to predict when it might happen. I do think, as we look at the timeline and all the things that are happening here, it may be unlikely to happen in 2024, but certainly in early 2025 I expect to see it completed. MS BASU: I have nothing to add. Thank you. MODERATOR: Thank you. We will go to another live question, to Peter Fabricius from the Daily Maverick in Cape Town. Please, Peter, go ahead and ask your question. QUESTION: Hi, can you hear me? MODERATOR: Yes, we can. QUESTION: Yeah — MODERATOR: You have been muted, Peter. You’ve muted yourself. Please continue. QUESTION: Can you hear me? Can you hear me? MODERATOR: Yes, we can. Please continue, Peter. QUESTION: Yeah. The trade minister – South African Trade Minister Tau was at the forum in part to try to prevent South Africa being removed from AGOA because of the perceived threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests posed by the South African Government’s foreign policy. Was his mission successful? Do you believe that South Africa will remain part of AGOA for the foreseeable future? Thank you. MS HAMILTON: Let me just say something, then I’ll turn to my colleague, Joy. We had a very good bilateral meeting between Ambassador Tai and the minister. I think it was an opportunity for them to get to know each other, to express their desires for – about AGOA going forward. But again, as we mentioned, the annual review of AGOA for 2025 is currently underway. And South Africa, like all the other countries, will be evaluated based on the criteria, and then we’ll have a decision. But it’s too early now to predict what the outcome will be for any country, not just South Africa. But over to you, Joy. MS BASU: I fully support those two points, and I would just add that we really welcomed the engagement from Minister Parks Tau and the delegation he brought that included the private sector and labor and civil society from South Africa. I think it was clear that our partners in South Africa have heard the concerns that were raised last year and that there has been close engagement in multiple levels and that the government of national unity is here to express its intention to be responsive to the concerns and to really build and expand on the important and strategic relationship that the United States and South Africa have and have had. But as Connie said, it is too early to tell the outcome of this year’s eligibility review. MODERATOR: Thank you so much for that. We have time for one last question, and I think the question will go to Margaret Spiegelman from Washington, Inside U.S. Trade. And this is directed to the AUSTR Hamilton. It says: “USTR in its latest biannual report on AGOA said that the agency wants to make AGOA more impactful through a number of improvements, including by providing additional tools for assessing and reinstating eligibility. Please could you talk about those – what those tools might look like? And I understand that the trade ministers from AGOA-eligible countries raised concerns last week about how losing eligibility impacts regional supply chains and integration. Could you respond to those concerns or talk about what you discussed with your counterparts last week about the eligibility review process? Thank you.” MS HAMILTON: Thank you for that question. Let me start with the second part first, about losing eligibility. Congress through AGOA has provided trade benefits to countries that are not available outside of an FTA with the United States. These are incredible benefits. AGOA provides access to the U.S. market for about – more than 1,800 products that sit on top of GSP. So that’s a total of almost six, seven thousand products that can come into the United States duty free. And when GSP expires, AGOA-eligible countries can still use GSP because it doesn’t count for them when GSP expires. So what I would say is that countries are very clear about the criteria that we look at, and that, as I said earlier, we don’t make them guess as to whether or not they are meeting the criteria or not. We are very specific and very engaged with countries that are in trouble. So when a country loses their AGOA eligibility, it’s because they have already been warned several times that they are crossing a line in terms of remaining in the program. And if they choose not to respond to the concerns that we raised, because of the way AGOA’s written, losing AGOA eligibility is almost inevitable. So what I would say to countries that are in trouble, that have been warned – either through a demarche, through a letter, through personal engagement – please pay attention to what we’re saying because the way AGOA is structured, meeting the criteria is the way to stay in the program. The only way countries get removed from AGOA is because they are not meeting the eligibility criteria. So it’s not really on the United States to make sure that that happens, but the governments that receive AGOA to make sure that they’re meeting those criteria so that those supply chains are not disrupted. To the first part of your question in terms of how do we modernize AGOA, what are we looking to do: What we really want to do is strengthen the usage of the program, especially by the least developed countries. When we look at the experience of AGOA, we’re finding that maybe four or five countries are using it fully, and maybe one or two is using it more than everyone else, but the least developed countries are barely using the program. And after 25 years, one of the major outcomes that we wanted to see was for those smaller countries that use a program like AGOA to provide the economic growth and development for their people. And it’s not happening. It’s really not happening in the program when we look at the experience of today. So one of the things we hope will happen is that as Congress is thinking about how to modernize this program, that new roles or new mechanisms are put in place that will help strengthen the utilization of AGOA. And it’s not just on our side, but things that they may request the countries to do to improve their own utilization of the program. And developing those utilization strategies is one of the things that we’ve been talking about for several years. And some countries have done them, but a lot of countries still have not really taken advantage of that avenue. Countries – the other thing that we think that AGOA can do, we think that we can find a way to modernize the program so that it promotes high-standard investment, that it promotes supply chain integration and resilience and competitiveness – there may be things that Congress can put into the legislation that supports that – and that support eligibility for – and that contains eligibility criteria to endorse policies that further promote respect for human rights and worker rights. This is now becoming a serious issue, especially the human rights question, and we want to make sure that our countries are aware of what the expectation is on our side and what they can do to sort of fulfill some of those commitments that Congress is currently looking for. So in terms of modernizing the program, the short answer is we just want to make it more impactful for everyone who’s participating in AGOA and for the recipients of the benefits, which would be the workers and the people in these countries. Over to you, Joy. MS BASU: Perfect, thank you. And I, minding the time, will just close us out by saying thank you again for being on this media call with us. The media plays an important part of promoting the goals and successes of our AGOA initiative, both in the United States and in Africa. And there’s a number of things that maybe I would leave you with in terms of what you and your colleagues can do as next steps. One is obviously continuing to educate the public about the importance of AGOA, and the point that especially my colleague raised that the legislation is clear, but unfortunately when it comes to lower utilization, an element of that has been a lack of knowledge. So I would kind of call on everyone on this call – both thank you for everything you do, but also help us continue to make sure companies in your country, entrepreneurs in your countries, governments are doing everything they can to make the most of these benefits. Second goes back to the critical role that the press plays in a vibrant democracy. A lot of the criteria and eligibility criteria behind AGOA is really creating the right investment climate that draws businesses, it’s creating – it helps attract high investment, high-quality investment that respects workers’ rights, that respects the environment so that communities are uplifted together through private-sector-led growth. And so continue to kind of shine that light in your countries on opportunities for a fair and transparent investment environment, continue to shine the light when the government is doing the right thing and also when there are concerns about people benefiting and the rule of law. And so I continue to call on you for that. And third, continue to shine on the good news stories about Africa. And I think so often on these calls, we can focus on what’s hard and what’s wrong, and that is a part of our problem-solving mentality, which is important, particularly as policymakers. But I think a big part of our goal is also to uplift the good news stories and to remind countries that Africa is competing on a global stage and has so many assets with which to share – first and foremost, its talented and innovative and hard-working population. And so I think the press plays a good news – plays a critical role on making sure that yes, we are right-sizing the risks and we’re spotlighting those opportunities, but also that we are sharing kind of the – all the opportunities that do exist. Because at the end of the day, trade is based on a hopeful message, and I’d leave the AGOA Forum feeling very optimistic, and so I just wanted to make sure that was conveyed before we closed out. MODERATOR: Well, thank you so much, Deputy Assistant Joy Basu. Thank you to all the journalists for participating in this call today. A recording and transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can produce them. If you have any questions about today’s briefing, you may contact the Africa Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov. I would also like to invite everyone to follow us on X at our handle @AfricaMediaHub. Thank you. |
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