Africa > Central Africa > Gabon > The African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum

Gabon: The African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum

2015/08/24

On August 24-27, 2015, the government of Gabon and the United States will co-host the 2015 African Increase and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Libreville, under the theme “AGOA at 15: Charting a Course for a Sustainable U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Partnership.” Gabon will be the initial central African country to host the AGOA Forum.

The 2015 Forum will provide a incomparable opportunity to celebrate the recent reauthorization of AGOA, take stock of AGOA’s successes over the last fifteen years and launch a dialogue on our shared vision for the next of U.S.-Africa trade.

AGOA Ministerial Forum

AGOA legislation mandates that the United States and member nations regularly engage in trade and investment policy discussions at the annual AGOA Forum. This event brings together senior officials from the United States and the 39 AGOA member nations, business leaders, entrepreneurs – inclunding youth and women – civil society actors, and private sector stakeholders to discuss a broad range of trade and investment -related issues.

AGOA Side Events

The private sector and civil society organizations have a particularly significant role in the promotion of good governance, the elimination of barriers to trade and investment , and the adherence to the founding AGOA eligibility criteria. The Forum will feature civil society panel discussions August 24-25, along with “Doing Business in America” workshops and a trade exhibition, where participating entrepreneurs can network and display their products and services.

The African Women Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) will conduct workshops on August 25-26 to focus on preparing African women entrepreneurs to integrate into regional and world procurement supply chains. These efforts comply with new AGOA legislation that specifically calls for the “promotion of the role of women in social and economic development.”

Key topics at the 2015 AGOA Forum will include:

Building capacity to comply with eligibility requirements
Promoting public/private partnerships
Managing natural resources as a key to economic growth
Bridging the digital divide

The Role of AGOA

In both Africa and the United States, there is growing consensus that open trade and increased international investment are critical to spurring economic development and reducing poverty in Africa.

Enacted in May 2000, AGOA is the cornerstone of U.S. economic engagement in Africa, offering business-free entry for nearly 98 % of all imports from eligible African nations, in combination with other trade preference programs. AGOA has succeeded in helping eligible nations grow, diversify their exports to the United States, and create employment and inclusive economic increase.

AGOA Results

To date, eligible nations have exported nearly $480 billion worth of goods to the United States under AGOA and the Generalized System of Preferences program. In 2014, non-oil AGOA trade was valued at $4.4 billion, a 250 % increase from 2001, the initial full year of AGOA. That trade supports an estimated 300,000 direct jobs in Africa.

AGOA Benefits for American Business

Stronger commercial ties between Africa and the United States
Better market opportunities and stronger commercial partners in Africa for U.S. companies
Harmonized intra-regional trade, expanding Africa’s potential as a U.S. trading partner
Lowered African trade barriers, making the continent an easier place for U.S. companies to do business

AGOA encourages African economic and governance reform;
spurs African engagement on trade capacity building; and
fosters goodwill between the United States and Africa.

Related Articles

Gabon moves to solve housing deficit
2016/06/19 With general elections scheduled for late August, the government of Gabon is looking to accelerate evolution on building social housing units to narrow the country’s sizeable housing gap. The level of urbanisation in Gabon – the highest in Africa at 86.9% in 2014 – has outpaced residential real estate development, resulting in an estimated housing deficit of around 200,000 units, inclunding 160,000 in Libreville alone. In response, President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s government has declared housing a key priority in terms of capital spending, pledging to construct some 35,000 affordable homes over seven years, although the roll out of new housing stock has faced delays.
Routes Africa forum aims to improve African air connectivity
2016/05/15 An event dedicated to the development of the African aviation industry will take place next month in Tenerife (26-28 June) to encourage the launch of new air services to, from and within the African continent. Routes Africa 2016 will help to improve African connectivity by bringing together airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss next air services. Around 250 route development professionals are expected to attend the forum which was founded ten years ago to stimulate increase in the industry.
While Europe is on the verge of breaking up, Africa is reaping the benefits of integrating, growing and developing its trading blocks
2016/05/13 The collapse of virtual borders is one of the majority remarkable things to have happened in our lifetimes. In the world of cyberspace, time and distance have become almost peripheral considerations at the same time as it comes to doing business. Services from software development to accounting can be delivered across the world in the blink of an eye. Next business leaders will struggle to imagine an era at the same time as communication was neither immediate nor virtually free.
Africa’s economic growth is likely to be slower in the intervening years
2016/05/12 Africa’s economic increase is likely to be slower in the intervening years than in the before decade, according to the new rating by Ernst & Young using a barometer to gauge the level of appeal and success.â€œThe baseline projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2016 is presently reduced to 3%, while it was estimated at 6.1% in April 2015″, Ernst & Young points out in its rating.
Raw materials have long been linked to Africa in many business people’s minds
2016/05/11 Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”