US Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Michael Froman is officially launching a public review of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to assess its success and highlight areas of possible improvement ahead of a proposed extension of the legislation beyond 2015.

Froman, who will participate in the twelfth Agoa Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 12 and 13, aims to use the review to highlight Agoa’s achievements, as well as any challenges to its further implementation.

In 2012, total two-way trade between the US and sub-Saharan Africa was valued at $72.3-billion, with 39 of the region’s 49 countries benefiting from the duty-free access on many product lines extended through Agoa.

African exports to the US totalled $49.7-billion in 2012 and non-oil exports covered have more than trebled since enactment of Agoa in 2001.

In a briefing ahead of the Ethiopia forum, USTR Assistant Trade Representative for Africa Florizelle Liser reiterated that the President Barack Obama administration remained committed to a “seamless renewal” of Agoa.

“But we want to make sure that we know all that Agoa has done, we want to know what the current challenges are to its further utilisation, and this public review process will help us to do that,” she said.

Congressional approval is required for any extension of Agoa beyond its current expiry date of September 30, 2015. Therefore, Liser also stressed that the review would be part of the USTR’s ongoing work with the Congress, “because Agoa is their baby as well as ours”.

Questions were being asked in Congress about why African countries should continue to receive duty-free access into the US market at a time when prospects are improving for many beneficiaries and while European Union countries have superior access into some African markets.

“Africa was in a different place in 2000 when Agoa first started, and we have to look at where Africa is today,” Liser outlined.

“Do we want to just do what we did 13 years ago . . . or do we want to do something that’s going to enhance two-way US-Africa trade and investment?

“I think that’s the question and that’s a part of what Ambassador Froman, on behalf of the US government, will be doing in this Agoa review process that he will officially launch during the forum in Ethiopia.”