Miriam Sapiro
As African leaders converged on Washington earlier this week for the first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, it has been refreshing to see strong bipartisan support in the Congress for something. Renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has generated significant support on both sides of the aisle so far, as seen in congressional hearings last week in the House and the Senate. But it’s necessary to add the qualifier “so far” because any policy that requires legislation is so challenging. And the act will expire next year unless Congress decides to extend it.
Renewal of AGOA is a key piece of the broader U.S. strategy to help the American and African economies grow closer, as well as to promote greater regional integration within Africa. The region is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world and has a GDP of $1.5 trillion, a population of more than 900 million people, and the fastest-growing middle class on the planet. A number of regional organizations are already active in fostering closer cooperation on economic issues. These include the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community, the Southern African Customs Union, and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. The United States has focused much of its attention on the East African Community—composed of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda—and established the goal of boosting intra-regional trade by 100 percent and exports to the United States by 40 percent.
Continued:
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/africa-in-f...
Posted By: Cheer Leader
Tuesday, August 12th 2014 at 8:59AM
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