Credit:   ng.usembassy.gov /    U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy  

By Gary  Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

America’s top diplomat for Africa Tibor Nagy said the primary focus of the current U.S. administration’s Africa strategy is to significantly increase trade and investment with the continent for growing its prosperity and for providing jobs for  “Africa’s emerging youth tsunami.” Ambassador Nagy, during a press briefing last week, discussed the United States and Ivory Coast co-hosting the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, August 4-6.  Nagy was joined by Constance Hamilton, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, at the press briefing in Washington D.C.  “The AGOA forum, where both of us will be participating, is one of the key components of U.S.-Africa strategy,’ Nagy said. 

“Our whole focus, and our primary focus, for the administration, is primarily significantly increasing our trade and investment with the continent as a mechanism for growing Africa’s prosperity and for providing jobs for what we have termed “Africa’s emerging youth tsunami,” because, as we have said before, all those millions of young people, what they really want and what they really need are jobs, jobs, and good jobs.”

– Ambassador Tibor Nagy

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a United States Trade Act, enacted on 18 May 2000 as Public Law 106 of the 200th Congress. AGOA has since been renewed to 2025.

Africa Is a Top priority for the U.S. Government:  Constance Hamilton

Credit: agoa.info  /   Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton

“For almost two decades, AGOA has been the cornerstone of the United States’ economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa, and during that time we have invested heavily to help African countries better utilize AGOA, including creation of the trade hubs as resources for African businesses and entrepreneurs, and allocating more than $7 billion for trade capacity building initiatives,”  Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Africa Constance Hamilton said. However, Hamilton acknowledged  that while AGOA has brought important benefits, “we recognize that the benefits are uneven, and there remains more that can be done to realize the full potential of U.S.-African trade.”

Hamilton added:     “Additionally, AGOA has not led to the trade diversification for which we originally hoped. Petroleum products continued to account for the largest portion of AGOA imports, with a 67% share. And the volume of AGOA trade remains modest. In the AGOA clothing sector, for example, we get about $1 billion per year from Africa, but that’s just roughly 1% of the United States’ $95 billion imports in global clothing imports. To maximize AGOA, countries must take an active role in creating the competitive conditions in which companies, entrepreneurs, and farmers can thrive. Africa is a top priority for the U.S. government. We see tremendous opportunities in this relationship. We want to work with our partners to unlock those gains.

Ambassador Nagy explained that AGOA is primarily  for exports from Africa to the United States. 

Press Question:  “Why do you think Nigerian companies have not been able to more efficiently key into the business opportunities offered by AGOA, and what role does the Nigerian government need to play to boost AGOA?

Constance Hamilton addressed question regarding  NIGERIA : 

“I think that Nigeria has not taken advantage of AGOA because they send us mainly oil, so in a certain extent, to answer your question, they actually are taking advantage of it—probably more than some of the other countries—but it is petroleum. And oil doesn’t really create the kind of jobs or other benefits from trade that I think that countries are looking for. So I think that Nigeria, and I think the new government is talking about trying to expand and go beyond just petroleum production and get into other things, but that really is a question for what Nigeria wants to see happen. You’re part of ECOWAS. ECOWAS is always talking about the liberalization of trade barriers, removing those barriers to trade and investment. I think that the fact that Nigeria has now joined the conversation with the Continental Free-Trade Area Agreement ; it will also be submitting its commitments on liberalization, those are opportunities to open up the Nigerian market in many, many ways, not just for the United States and other partners outside of Africa, but also within the region.”

QUESTION:  ECOWAS Single Currency Creation Program for Francophone West African Nations and AGOA? 

AMB. NAGY:      “The plan for ECOWAS, to introduce an ECOWAS currency in 2020. They had planned that several times in the past, and they’ve had to delay the implementation, and we’ll just see what happens in 2020. Obviously, the United States of America supports the sub-regional trade blocs and organizations like ECOWAS in Africa, but that is purely a decision for ECOWAS to make regarding its own economic interests.”

U.S. Policy Towards Africa Is Not An Anti-China Policy: It Is A Pro-Africa and U.S. Trade Policy:  AMB  NAGY

QUESTION: “Can the United States use AGOA to reposition itself in Africa in the face of stiff competition by China?”

 “Yeah, it’s important to remember that AGOA has been around for now 20 years, and the whole issue of the “global competition” between the United States and China is relatively recent. You know, as I have said many times in my comments and even on some of these press interviews, our whole policy towards Africa, especially the dramatically increasing trade and investment, is not an anti-China policy; it is a pro-Africa and U.S. trade policy, especially to give Africans additional choices. I mean, I have been quite critical in my comments about our own efforts in the past. I said that in the past when there was a knock on Africa’s door for trade and investment, and they opened the door and only China is standing there. I absolutely do not blame Africa for doing all the deals with China. Well, what we would like to do in the U.S. government is make sure that in the future, when there’s a knock on the door, there’s also the U.S. standing there, through our vast private sector, which is eager- very, very eager to engage with Africa.”

-AMB  NAGY