Africans welcome US trade legislation approval

WASHINGTON – Sub-Saharan African nations expressed relief at the weekend at the approval of US trade legislation they said would save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the continent’s textile and apparel industry.

The swift action by the US House of Representatives and the Senate shows “that they care about Africa and also about the hundreds of thousands of lives that would have been devastated” if the bill had not been approved, Uganda’s Ambassador to the United States, Edith Ssempala, told reporters. “Nearly 200,000 people can sleep better tonight knowing they have a job tomorrow,” said Bernadette Paolo, vice president of National Summit on Africa, on behalf of a broad-based coalition of corporations, church groups and humanitarian organisations that pushed for passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration Act.Millions more Africans also will be helped by trade benefits extended under the bill, Paolo said.The Bill, which US officials said President George W.Bush would sign, addresses an immediate problem faced by many sub-Saharan clothing producers by allowing them to continue using third-country fabric in their products for an additional three years under a duty-free US import program.The third-country provision was due to expire in September without an extension, many textile and apparel companies were expected to pull their operations out of Africa, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said.The Senate approved the Bill late on Thursday on a voice vote, following similar action by the House last week.Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who was a driving force behind passage of the Bill, said the three-year extension of the third-country fabric provisions would give African countries the time to develop their own production.The Bill also encourages long-term US investment in the region by extending overall trade benefits that were set to expire in 2008 until 2015, Rangel said.Zoellick said he hoped US duty-free treatment for thousands of other products would help create more African jobs outside the textile and apparel sector.The United States hopes to build on the trade program by negotiating a free trade agreement with members of the Southern African Customs Union, which includes South Africa and four of its neighbours, Zoellick said.However, he gave no timeframe for finishing those negotiations, which are now in their second year.- Nampa-Reuters”Nearly 200,000 people can sleep better tonight knowing they have a job tomorrow,” said Bernadette Paolo, vice president of National Summit on Africa, on behalf of a broad-based coalition of corporations, church groups and humanitarian organisations that pushed for passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration Act.Millions more Africans also will be helped by trade benefits extended under the bill, Paolo said.The Bill, which US officials said President George W.Bush would sign, addresses an immediate problem faced by many sub-Saharan clothing producers by allowing them to continue using third-country fabric in their products for an additional three years under a duty-free US import program.The third-country provision was due to expire in September without an extension, many textile and apparel companies were expected to pull their operations out of Africa, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said.The Senate approved the Bill late on Thursday on a voice vote, following similar action by the House last week.Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who was a driving force behind passage of the Bill, said the three-year extension of the third-country fabric provisions would give African countries the time to develop their own production.The Bill also encourages long-term US investment in the region by extending overall trade benefits that were set to expire in 2008 until 2015, Rangel said.Zoellick said he hoped US duty-free treatment for thousands of other products would help create more African jobs outside the textile and apparel sector.The United States hopes to build on the trade program by negotiating a free trade agreement with members of the Southern African Customs Union, which includes South Africa and four of its neighbours, Zoellick said.However, he gave no timeframe for finishing those negotiations, which are now in their second year.- Nampa-Reuters