CS Amina Mohamed calls for strategies to improve access to US market

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has called for the implementation of strategies that will enable Kenya to benefit from the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa).

The Act gives African countries preferential trade access to the United States market.

It aims to promote economic development in eligible sub-Saharan African countries, including Kenya. “Agoa eligible African countries need to take effective steps to address the challenges that impede their ability to exploit the huge market access offered,” Ms Mohamed said during the 15th Annual AGOA Forum in Washington DC.

“Our focus should be on implementation of national strategies that will enable Sub-Saharan countries to optimise utilisation of trade opportunities offered under Agoa.”

Citing lack of capacity to meet international product standards, lack of financing for trade and poor infrastructure as key impediments constraining Sub-Saharan Africa countries from benefiting fully from Agoa, the CS called for partnerships that will help address these challenges. “We need partners who understand Africa, who are ready to work and prosper with us,” said Mohamed.

The CS acknowledged that Agoa has been the cornerstone of US and Sub-Saharan Africa trade and economic partnership, saying that combined two-way trade between the US and Agoa-eligible Sub-Saharan African countries had doubled between 2001 and 2014.

“The growth we have seen so far is only a glimpse of what is possible. This becomes clearer when we consider that the total share of Sub-Saharan exports to the US market was only 0.8 per cent in 2015,” she added. Kenya is United States’ 4th largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa and the majority of our exports to the United States are duty-free under AGOA.

Between 2005 and 2015, the total trade between Kenya and USA increased from $1 billion (Sh101 billion) in 2005 to $1.5 billion (Sh151.9 billion) in 2015. The Cabinet Secretary stressed the need to reflect beyond 2025 when the Agoa arrangement expires and called for candid discussions on how to translate the current partnership into a permanent framework.

“We must think beyond Agoa with a view to translating Agoa into a sustainable framework that takes into account emerging global developments and safeguards the existing market access and investments under Agoa,’ said Mohamed.