Ebrahim Patel and Fikile Slovo Majola to attend 18th AGOA Forum

The AGOA Forum is an annual meeting held alternately in Africa and in the United States (US) between the Ministers of Trade of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries and their US counterparts to discuss issues of mutual interest.

South Africa is participating in the 18th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum currently underway in Cote d’Ivoire.

The AGOA Forum is an annual meeting held alternately in Africa and in the United States (US) between the Ministers of Trade of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries and their US counterparts to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel and his deputy Fikile Slovo Majola are attending the meeting that got underway in Abidjan on Saturday.

AGOA is a unilateral US trade preference program that provides duty-free quota-free treatment for over 6 400 tariff lines from 40 AGOA-eligible sub-Sahara African countries, including South Africa into the United States market.

“The United States is the world’s largest economy and access to the US market and to American investment in our economy are important ways of addressing job creation and the elimination of poverty. We look forward to a constructive and positive discussion with the United States Trade Representative,” said Minister Patel.

The forum is being held under the theme: ‘AGOA and the Future: Developing a New Trade Paradigm to Guide US - Africa Trade and Investment’.

The meeting will conclude on Tuesday. 

The AGOA Forum is an annual forum taking place on an alternating basis between Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. The 17th edition was held in Washington DC in the US. 

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)