By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has the "unprecedented potential" to create and expand U.S. business opportunities on the continent, but it can also enrich Africans, especially women, by spurring their involvement in exports, says businesswoman Sandra Taylor.

That was one of the points Taylor, who is vice president and director of public affairs for the giant film maker Eastman Kodak Company, said she made during an AGOA speaking tour to Mali, Senegal, and Botswana last January and February. The trip was sponsored by the State Department Office of Public Diplomacy's Speakers and Specialists Program.

In a March 14 interview, Taylor told the Washington File that AGOA "ushers in a new era of trade relations with Africa because it substantially opens the American market to African goods," especially textiles.

She added that "because of AGOA and because of the bold steps many African countries are making toward reform and economic integration, more U.S. companies, investors, and traders are looking to invest on the continent than ever before. They are looking to build on the billions of dollars Americans have already invested in Africa, and they are looking beyond traditional sectors for opportunities in areas never before explored."

An attorney and former foreign service officer who speaks fluent French, Taylor served in economic posts at the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica and the U.S. mission at the United Nations before becoming Senator John Chafee's legislative assistant for international trade and finance in 1984. Following that, she was vice president for public affairs for ICI Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries PLC of Britain, before joining Kodak in 1996. In 1999 the film company and its 80,000 employees generated sales of $14,000 million. In Africa Kodak operates regional marketing centers in Nairobi and Johannesburg.

AGOA was passed by Congress last May. The landmark trade legislation, the first of its kind with Africa, aims primarily to develop a new U.S. relationship with sub-Saharan African nations based on trade rather than aid. As an incentive, AGOA is offering the 35 African nations that have been deemed eligible thus far duty-free, quota-free access to U.S. markets for a wide range of African exports, including many textile products.

Noting that textiles have been the industrial spur for many developed countries, Taylor said, "Apparel manufacturing can also be an entry point into manufacturing and an engine of growth" in Africa. She explained that the AGOA provision regarding textile imports into the United States is "particularly significant, given that the U.S. duties on apparel imports currently average 17.5 percent." And she claimed that "this provision alone will provide African exporters with nearly $1,000 million in duty savings."

For women, Taylor said, AGOA holds out a potential for creating new economic opportunities because women are employed "in great numbers in key potential export sectors in Africa." For example, she said, "70 percent of Africa's apparel production is made by women. The agricultural sector employs about 80 percent of Africa's female work force and women occupy 90 percent of Africa's food processing sector."

According to Taylor, "women are a great source of encouragement and hope for Africa's development," and she stressed that although "women already play a significant role in African economies, they generally do not share in the benefits of international trade." With its emphasis on small and medium-sized exporters, AGOA has the potential to empower women by expanding their share of the economic pie.

To further spur women's participation in the new U.S.-African trade relationship, Taylor said, she helped organize a conference on women and AGOA to be held in Gaborone November 1-3. She added that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is helping to fund the meeting.

Another point Taylor said she emphasized during her speaking tour was that African governments also have an important role in the implementation of AGOA. "Trade policy can create new opportunities, but cannot substitute for proper domestic policies. Governments need to put in place the institutions and rules that will enable markets to function effectively."

She said that means that governments must make "investments in basic public services, such as education, health care, and rule of law," while also fighting corruption, which she said deters investment and "poses a heavy burden disproportionately on the poor as well as a significant drain on economic growth." Governments also must provide "transparent exporting procedures free of corruption," she said.

Infrastructure also is key to the success of AGOA, Taylor said. "African governments must ensure that they have reliable modes of transportation. Ports must be updated and dependable, and shippers should be encouraged through incentives to use those facilities. Government procedures must be transparent and simple. Complex paperwork or the need for an inducement to have goods cleared must be minimized."

To make the new law work, Taylor said, African governments "must also ensure that their exporters are fully educated on the requirements for shipping apparel to the U.S. under AGOA. This means explaining the visa requirement on goods like textiles that are meant to protect against transshipment from another country."

While AGOA offers African businesses potential profits, Taylor said, it also places a burden on their shoulders. What U.S. businesspeople will be looking for from their African partners includes:

-- programs and action plans by African manufacturers to educate their production staff on the quality of goods expected to be delivered to U.S. buyers;

-- an African business code of ethics that will ensure that "a reliable and effective documentation retention system" will be kept in place; and

-- strict compliance with the AGOA customs requirements meant to prevent the transshipment of goods from a country of product origin to the country that is AGOA-eligible but has not produced the product.

Taylor said she reminded the African businesspeople that while their governments can create an enabling environment for them, "it must be you, the private sector, which translates that into productive and sustainable businesses and exports."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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