Minister Davies Leads South African Delegation to Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington

The theme for this year’s Forum is “Forging New Strategies for U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment” 

PRETORIA, South Africa, July 10, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies leaves tonight for Washington, DC in the United States of America for the 17th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum taking place 11-12 July 2018. The AGOA Forum is an annual forum taking place on an alternating basis between Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. The 16th Forum was hosted by Togo in August last year.
The theme for this year’s Forum is “Forging New Strategies for U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment”. The forum will focus on the implementation of AGOA, as well as, strategies for deepening the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa trade and investment relationship.

AGOA is a unilateral US trade preference programme that provides duty-free quota-free treatment for over 6 400 tariff lines from 40 AGOA-eligible sub-Sahara African countries, including South Africa into the United States market. South Africa is the largest non-oil AGOA-beneficiary country exporting products such as automobiles and auto parts, agricultural products, chemicals, steel and aluminium products, among others.

Minister Davies says this year’s Forum provides an important platform to discuss how to preserve the AGOA preferences, as well as, how the programme can support regional integration efforts in the continent, especially the regional value chains in light of the recent signature of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement. Davies emphasises that AGOA has resulted in a relatively balanced, growing, diversified and mutually beneficial trade relationship between South Africa and the United States.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of The Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa.