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| US Senate drags feet on amendment of AGOA
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Kampala, Uganda (PANA) -
The much-awaited amendments on both the
Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) and other trade-
related measures are still stuck in the US senate due to several
other bills in the queue.
Whereas the House Representatives passed the AGOA II amendment on
16 November 2001 as part of the Andean Trade Preference Act
(ATPA), the Senate Finance Committee is yet to take up the House
version of the ATPA that includes AGOA II.
According to a US-Africa Trade report released at the end of a
two-day seminar in Kampala, the senate last November instead
marked up its own version of ATPA without AGOA II amendments.
The report was released and distributed on Tuesday to over 200
delegates to the seminar that discussed the maximising of AGOA
benefits in East Africa.
The AGOA II amendments clarify that knit-to-shape garments
including sweaters, socks, and pantyhose from Africa are eligible
for duty-free entry into America. The amendments also seek a
doubling of the size of the tariff rate quota (TRQ).
They further seek to correct the mistake in the merino wool
provision so that sweaters made of yarn of 21.5 microns or finer
would be eligible for the duty-free scheme, as well as include
the right to use third country fabric through 2004.
In the US-Africa Trade Report issued in February, President
Africa Coalition Trade (ACT) Paul Ryberg Jr said it now seemed
almost certain that the senate trade package would include both
the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill supported by Democrats
and the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) measure insisted upon by
the Republicans.
"Beyond those two components, however, it remains unclear what
other measures would include," he averred, adding "if the ATPA
bill is included, it will certainly be the senate version, which
does not include the AGOA II provisions."
The report says that efforts in support of AGOA II during
February focused on trying to convince the senate Democratic
leadership and the Finance Committee to include the AGOA II
amendment in the omnibus trade package.
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| Kampala - 20/03/2002 |
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