NGO Expert Analyzes AGOA at Mauritius Forum

Foundation for Democracy in Africa's G. Sympkins briefs workshop

Phoenix, Mauritius -- Civil society expert Gregg Sympkins rated the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) a real success story while addressing representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the second annual U.S. Sub-Saharan African Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum January 13. The legislation has helped "millions of African families find opportunities to build prosperity," he said.

Sympkins, a program executive with the Foundation for Democracy in Africa (FDA), briefed participants from more than 200 NGOs that are taking part in the Forum from January 13 to 17. The AGOA conference also includes a private sector component featuring a business exhibition by 1000 companies as well as the meeting of 38 African ministers of finance, economics and trade.

AGOA is a two-year-old piece of trade legislation that observers here say has been a success in its intended aim of spurring the export sector of African economies by offering favorable trade entry into the U.S. market for countries willing to institute open market reforms.

Before the Forum began, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who leads the 25-member U.S. delegation to the government portion of the event, said, "The AGOA Forum is an opportunity for us to review AGOA's progress and to chart a course for building on and deepening U.S.-African trade and economic ties."

According to Sympkins, AGOA has already changed "the course of trade relations between Africa and the United States for the long term, while helping millions of African families find opportunities to build prosperity by:

-- reinforcing African reform efforts through participation requirements; -- providing U.S. technical assistance, financing and market access; and -- establishing a high-level dialogue on trade and investment."

Sympkins added that one need only look at how textile exports have expanded in eligible African nations, spurred by AGOA's incentives allowing duty- and quota-free entry into the U.S. market, to see the law is working. He pointed out that "Madagascar's exports of knit and woven apparel to the U.S. increased approximately 137 percent in the first year of AGOA alone, and it is estimated that the country's textile industry could employ more than 70,000 workers by the year 2005."

At the same time, AGOA, he said, "has encouraged foreign investment in two garment factories in Malawi, raising the total number of employees in the garment industry to 20,000. In South Africa, a new U.S. $100 million clothing factory will employ 13,000 workers and satisfy new demand for the country's textile and apparel exports not only to the U.S. but also to other African countries."

Civil society has a role to play in the AGOA development process, Sympkins said, by "engaging in training and monitoring government and business and in that way make a major contribution to the success of AGOA."

Anthony Okonmah, Sympkin's colleague and executive director of FDA, said AGOA's success story was being spread with technical assistance from the U.S. State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy. A team of public affairs specialists and camera crews arranged and conducted video dialogues that are being broadcast digitally, linking audiences in Africa with America. At the same time the teams are covering forum events and broadcasting them digitally over the Internet in a process called Web Casting.

The result is that the size of the AGOA Forum's audience will be much greater than the number of participants in Mauritius alone, and more people will be able to ask questions and learn of AGOA's benefits, Okonmah said.