US President Joe Biden announced that Uganda, Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic will be excluded from the AGOA trade program, which exempts thousands of goods exported by African countries to the US.
According to international news agencies, Biden made the decision based on “gross violations” of human rights or a failure to take significant steps to improve democracy.
These countries “have not established or are not continuing the process of establishing protections for political pluralism and the rule of law,” Joe Biden said, stressing that the withdrawal of the Central African Republic and Uganda from the program was due to “gross human rights violations” by the government, an implicit reference to attacks on homosexuals in these countries.
In 2000, the United States created the African Growth and Opportunity Act, covering about 1,800 products that can be exported from African countries to the United States at reduced rates or even exempt from customs duties.
In addition to these four countries, which are expected to be excluded from the agreement from next year, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea-Conakry are also not included in the agreement due to military coups that have occurred in these countries in recent years.
Since its enactment in 2000, AGOA has been at the center of U.S. economic and trade policy on the African continent.
More than 30 African countries benefit from AGOA, providing access to tax breaks when exporting certain products to the United States, according to North American authorities.
News of the four countries’ exclusion comes ahead of a visit on Monday by US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of African Affairs Joy Basu to Angola to strengthen economic partnerships with the country and promote diversification of the “whole Angolan economy.”
“We have major investments from American companies facilitated by the (federal) government, both in the port of Lobito and in solar energy and telecommunications,” a government official explained in statements to Luse in Johannesburg, where she was attending the 20th commercial forum. AGUA.
These are American companies that are “working with the US government to increase investment in Angola, and the purpose of my trip is to understand what more we can do to help strengthen bilateral trade between the US and Angola and diversify further economic growth.” , He said.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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