Nairobi calls for strategies to improve access to U.S. market

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Amina Mohamed, has called for the implementation of strategies that will enable Kenya, among other Sub-Saharan countries, benefit fully from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that offers preferential trade access to the United States market.

“AGOA eligible African countries need to take effective steps to address the challenges that impede their ability to exploit the huge market access offered by AGOA,” said Mohamed.

“Our focus should be on implementation of national strategies that will enable Sub-Saharan countries optimize utilization of trade opportunities offered under AGOA,” added the Cabinet Secretary.

Mohamed was speaking Monday when she co-chaired the plenary session on: ‘Taking stock of where we are with AGOA and looking forward,’ during the 15^th Annual AGOA Forum in Washington DC.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a trade preference programme that aims to promote economic development in eligible sub-Saharan African countries which includes Kenya.

AGOA was enacted by the US congress in the year 2000 and signed into law by President Clinton and covers over 6400 products which are eligible for duty free and quota free market access into the US market.

Citing lack of capacity to meet international product standards, lack of financing for trade and poor infrastructure as some of the key impediments constraining Sub-Saharan Africa countries from benefiting fully from AGOA, the Cabinet Secretary 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 Amb. Amina 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 United States and AGOA-eligible Sub-Saharan African countries had doubled between 2001 and 2014.

“While this is commendable progress,” said Ambassador Mohamed, “a great deal more can be accomplished moving forward.”

“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% in 2015,” she added.

Kenya is United States’ 4^th largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa and the majority of Kenya’s exports to the United States are duty-free under AGOA. Kenya has made relative progress since the enactment of AGOA and her exports to U.S. have been growing steadily since 2000.

During the period 2005 to 2015, the total trade between Kenya and USA increased from US $ 1 billion in 2005 to US $ 1.1 billion in 2013 and finally increased to US $ 1.5 billion in 2015.

“That we must take this partnership to a higher, more stable, more predictable level is not the question. The question will always be what formula we use and how to make the relationship equitable,” said the Foreign Affairs CS.

The Cabinet Secretary further 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.

“We have good lead time and we must get down to work and come up with a blueprint that is customized to and for Africa,” she added.

The 15^th AGOA Forum convened under the theme, ‘Maximizing AGOA now to prepare for the future beyond AGOA’ and provided a platform for consultations on bolstering US-Africa trade & investments.