African Civil Society Organizations want bigger voice in U.S.-Africa trade relations

Civil Society Organizations in Africa have said that they wanted to have a bigger say in any discussions related to trade relations between the United States and Africa because they represent the voices of the "voiceless".


The organizations believe that any trade preferences were meant to benefit the locals but noted that the agreements signed by African leaders such the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) were lopsided because they was no voice from the grassroots.


"AGOA is a top down. It is a given process and it was not negotiated for by our governments and that is why Civil Society Organizations are saying they need to be involved in future processes," Savior Mwamba, Executive Director of the Center for Trade Policy and Development in Zambia, said.


Speaking at a Civil Society Organizations meeting at the ongoing US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, Mwambwa said Africa has not benefited much from the AGOA initiative because the people who were supposed to get the benefits such as smallholder farmers were marginalized from the start and were not able to penetrate the American market because of supply constraints and other stringent measures imposed.


"The marginalized people do not have a voice and that is why as Civil Society Organizations we need to speak for them. We need to rediscover the gap between policy makers and the marginalized," he added.


Percy Makombe, Programs Manager for the Economic Justice Network based in South Africa, said participation of Civil Society Organizations on trade agreements between African and Western governments was cardinal because they speak on behalf of the marginalized.


He said Africa has not benefited much from the AGOA initiative and other international agreements because all the stakeholders were not involved in the formulation of these agreements.


"While countries that (produce) oil such as Nigeria and Angola are among the top five beneficiaries of AGOA, poverty levels in these countries are still high. We need to interrogate conditionalities imposed under AGOA," he said.


He further said the levels of protectionism and subsidies in international markets were still high, adding that Africa will continue to suffer in the global trade as long as trade-related infrastructures such as roads were not tackled.


Jane Matunga, Director of the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute said AGOA was a gift which was given to Africa by America which the African governments did not understand properly.


"AGOA is a gift and in Africa, you don't say no even if you don't know the gift," she said.


The AGOA initiative came into effect in the year 2000 and provides for duty free entry of products from 37 sub-Saharan African states into the American market. The eligible countries were eligible to export about 6,000 products to the American market duty free.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)