Investing in Africa: US and AGOA

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, gives duty-free access for exports to the American market, and has done for 23 years.

South Africa is one of the countries that has benefitted – but now its inclusion in doubt due to allegations from the US that it has violated its neutrality and supplied weapons to Russia - something South Africa denies. So what would being pushed out of AGOA mean for the country?

Plus we hear from Ethiopia – it has been suspended from AGOA due to the the war in Tigray - we hear from an economist in Addis Ababa who disputes the benefits of these trade agreements to Africa.

Presented by Ahmed Adan with reporting by Russell Padmore.

(Image: An Ivory Coast stand at the 2019 AGOA forum, showcasing products on the market. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Whether you call it football or soccer in your part of the world, match of the day, Africa
0:04.0	Top 10 is the podcast from the BBC World Service ranking the best African players.
0:08.4	This guy is recognized as the best in the world. Teams.
0:10.8	The world come in turn, boom.
0:12.6	And the biggest moments in African football.
0:14.5	The whole world remembers that.
0:15.8	Remember that yet?
0:16.5	It's not just African fans.
0:18.0	Match of the day, Africa, top 10.
0:19.9	Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:24.1	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.
0:28.3	I am Ahmed Aden.
0:29.8	Today we continue our focus on international investment in Africa.
0:33.9	In this episode, we are looking specifically at the relationship between the United States and the African continent.
0:39.9	What is the future of free trade deals and growth initiatives?
0:43.5	My impression is that the Americans really are trying hard to get more involved in Africa.
0:48.2	There seems to be a new kind of, but not in a negative sense, but a new kind of scramble for Africa.
0:53.3	The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or Agoa, gives its duty-free access for exports.
0:59.7	South Africa is one of the countries that has benefited.
1:02.9	But now it is inclusion in doubt.
1:05.3	Honestly, I have never seen the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and South Africa. I have never seen it
1:13.0	more vulnerable in the past decades as it is today. We will also hear from Ethiopia. The country
	...

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