mmegi

The rug beneath the Summit

A stitch in time: The textile sector used to be the chief AGOA sector for Botswana. The country is extending its focus to jewellery, meat, handicraft and others PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
A stitch in time: The textile sector used to be the chief AGOA sector for Botswana. The country is extending its focus to jewellery, meat, handicraft and others PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The deal-making and generation of leads at the recent US Africa Business Summit took place on a precarious foundation, namely the AGOA trade deal which expires next year. While delegates from both sides expect it to be renewed, no one yet is sure what the new AGOA will entail, writes MBONGENI MGUNI

Trade and Industry minister, Mmusi Kgafela, is closely following the progress towards renewing the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), the trade arrangement between the US and over 30 sub-Saharan African countries which provides relaxed access to the American market.

In December, Kgafela, his fellow ministers from Africa and senior officials were in Washington DC for the US Africa Leaders’ Summit where they met with various US authorities including members of Congress, raising the issue of AGOA’s expiry next year and the need for early commitments on renewal.

Editor's Comment
The State apparatus must be sanitised

When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...

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