2009 AGOA Forum To Take Place in Kenya
July 15, 2009Together, Kenya and the United States will host the 8th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum August 4–6, 2009, in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme for the 2009 AGOA Forum is “Realizing the Full Potential of AGOA through Expansion of Trade and Investment.”
The forum allows officials from AGOA-eligible countries and officials from the United States to review implementation of the act, and to chart new ways forward in building closer economic ties between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to the government-to-government meetings, the forum will include meetings of the U.S. and African private sectors and civil society.
AGOA originally covered the 8-year period from October 2000 to September 2008, but amendments signed into law in July 2004 further extend AGOA to 2015. At the same time, a special dispensation relating to apparel was extended by 3 years to 2007. On December 20, 2006, key changes to AGOA were signed into law, extending the garment provisions to 2012. In June 2007, a revised textile certificate of origin was published to give effect to the “abundant supply” provisions contained in the most recent legislative changes.
AGOA builds on existing U.S. trade programs by expanding the duty-free benefits previously available only under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. Duty-free access to the U.S. market under the combined AGOA/GSP program stands at approximately 7,000 product tariff lines, including the roughly 1,800 product tariff lines that were added to the GSP by the AGOA legislation, including items such as apparel, wine, motor vehicle components, agricultural products, chemicals, and steel.
