Govt confident US will agree to short-term extension of AGOA

Government said it was confident the United States (US) would agree to a short-term extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, also known as AGOA. 

AGOA is a trade agreement that dates back to 2000. 

It allows for duty-free access to the US for goods from countries based in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. 

The AGOA deal expired on 30 September, with the White House and representatives from the African countries working behind the scenes to renew it.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Cabinet lekgotla on Tuesday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said there were encouraging signs from the US Congress regarding renewing the deal. 

"We have indicated, even in previous years, to say, AGOA in terms of the economic impact for South Africa is 1.3% of our agricultural economy, so we are looking at the work we are doing on having an agreement with the US on our trade relations but we support the initiative. We made proposals on the renewal of AGOA."