AGOA is an acronym for “African Growth & opportunity Act”, an America legislation that came into effect in may 2000. It is a trade instrument with preferential tariff initiated by the U.S Government aimed at assisting sub-saharan African’s economic development by promoting trade and investment development between the U.S and the sub-saharan African (SSA) countries. Another objective of this Act is also to encourage regional economic integration in SSA through increased trade relationship Among SSA (i.e intra AGOA business).

The latest version of the legislation titled AGOA III was passed by the U.S Government recently.
The key amendment under AGOA III are:

(I) Extension of AGOA from 2008 to 2015
(II) Extension of third “country fabric” clause from 2004 till 2007
(III) Inclusion of ethnic prints (e.g wax paints)
(Subjected to category 9 certification)

On 18 May, 2000, President Clinton signed into law the historic Trade and Development Act of 2000, containing the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The full text of the Act is available at the AGOA website. The Act provides unprecedented opportunities and aims to:

• Promote increased trade and investment between the United States and Sub-Saharan African countries by providing eligible African countries with unprecedented liberal access to the US market. Essentially all products of these eligible countries will have quota-free and duty-free access to the almost 10 trillion dollar United States market.
• Promote economic development and reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, moving across a wide range of industries, granting tangible benefits to entrepreneurs, farmers and families.
• Promote increased access and opportunities for US investors and business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act offers a wide variety of benefits to businesses, workers, manufacturers, and farmers in eligible countries. However, since the Act only offers opportunities, African countries are encouraged to seize the opportunities provided in the Act and to create enabling environments to strengthen prospects for expanded trade and investment.