Progress on AGOA is very slow

Outgoing Minister for Trade & PSIs, Alan Kyeremanteng has observed that the progress being made on AGOA in many African countries is regrettably slow. Most of the impact on some economies also highly insignificant, he noted.

He explained that the slow progress on AGOA and the inability of member countries to take advantage of the initiative creates a scenario depicting a lack of strategic focus on the kind of policy, legal, institutional and support framework that will assist the private sector to produce on a competitive basis.

Mr. Kyeremanteng who is resigning from government to make a bid to lead his party to the next presidential elections gave his report card on AGOA at a recent forum in Accra.

It was attended by several African trade ministers and private sector development connoisseurs and was the 6th AGOA Forum. It was on the theme ?As trade grows, Africa prospers: Optimizing benefits under AGOA.?

The out-going minister said despite the obvious benefits that can be gained from the landmark initiative, many African countries are yet to identify the comparative and competitive advantage that they have within the diversified product range under the AGOA initiative.

He noted further that the opportunity to export over 6,400 products duty free and quota free to the largest consumer market in the world, worth millions of dollars, should be enough incentive for every African country to strive to produce a variety of products on a mass scale for export.

This would in effect create jobs, increase foreign exchange and increase the level of income particularly for the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. But that is not happening.

Mr. Kyeremanteng called for the encouragement, promotion and development of manufacturing industries that will diversify the export base of African countries. This he explained will help countries move away from the dependency on one or two major export commodities as the backbone of their economies.

He described as tragic the fact that countries have failed over the years to add value to the few commodities they have, and thereby find themselves at the mercy of the world market forces.

Trade and private sector development experts at the forum were also urged to identify policies, institutional and enterprise level constraints that have prevented African countries from maximizing their benefits under AGOA.