Africa has a lot of products to offer the global market, but what African producers need most is increased access to markets, according to South African Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.
Ntshavheni made the remarks on the sidelines of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum held in Johannesburg on Friday. AGOA is a US trade initiative that provides preferential access to the US market for goods from eligible sub-Saharan African countries.
Ntshavheni said that African producers need even greater access to markets in order to thrive. She noted that there is a tendency for the largest trade in AGOA to take place in minerals and raw products, rather than in value-added products.
“We need to get the beneficiation. We need investors to invest here,” Ntshavheni said. “But there are products from SMMEs [small, medium and micro-sized enterprises], who are now given certification in terms of rules of origin, that they are done on the African continent and therefore they must have access to market there.”
Ntshavheni also reiterated President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for an extended period of extension for the AGOA initiative. The current AGOA authorization expires in 2025.
“The private sector, organised labour, civil society, women representatives and the trade ministry have all collectively reiterated the need to make the AGOA extension not a short extension but a longer extension, with a proposal of a 20-year extension so that it can be what the President [Cyril Ramaphosa] deemed the long haul,” Ntshavheni said.
Ntshavheni also emphasized that Africa is on a growth path that will lead to a strong future.
“We are determined as the African continent that we are going to work together to make sure that Africa is the hub of development,” Ntshavheni said. “Africa, by 2030, will be the continent with the largest population, therefore it will be the largest market for any global goods and services and therefore, we are going to rely on ourselves.”
Ntshavheni also responded to questions related to perceptions of “shaky” relations between South Africa and the US.
“South Africa-US relationships are not shaky,” Ntshavheni said. “We have South Africans who speak very loudly and express their views, and the Americans also do the same. But the relationship between South Africa and the US has always been solid because they are one of our largest trading partners and we are one of their largest trading partners on the African continent.”
