President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the early renewal and lengthy extension of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“We would like you to look at the extension or renewal of Agoa for a sufficiently lengthy period for it to act as an incentive for investors to build new factories on the African continent.
“We believe there is great value in retaining all beneficiary countries to build on the emerging regional value chains making a significant contribution to the industrialisation of the African continent,” Ramaphosa said on Friday.
He was addressing about 2,000 delegates attending the three-day meeting in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Friday. During their deliberations they will explore ways of enhancing the partnership which, among other things, allows duty-free access to the US market, and will discuss possibly renewing it for another 10 years. It is due to expire in 2025.
Speaking to media after opening the sitting, Ramaphosa said: “Many businesses would like to have forward planning and many of them have five-year plans, and so it’s not inconceivable that we should think about an Agoa that could be extended for much longer rather than to be reviewed every year.”
He said businesses would then be able to make long-term investment plans.
“They can build factories with confidence that they will have offtake agreements because what often happens with business is you know you have a market, your offtake agreement becomes a lot easier to build more capacity, factories and more products.
“We are addressing the energy challenges and security we face and I have spoken to some of the manufacturers that produce steel and aluminium and they have said they have been able to recalibrate their manufacturing processes within the constraints.”
As the country moves out of the energy constraints and challenges, there will be more electricity available on the grid, he said.
“They will then find it much easier to produce goods and beneficiate because we want our continent to be able to mine, produce minerals and beneficiate them on site and manufacture products that are needed and can be bought in any part of the world.”
Ramaphosa said South Africa was already on that journey.
“The level of awareness and consciousness is rising and it’s good that many leaders have been raising this issue. The more we talk about it, the more the world will awaken to it and know that as a condition, we would like as they extract minerals, they must be accompanied by beneficiation.”
Incentivise investors to build factories with lengthy Agoa deal, Ramaphosa urges
Presidency reporter
Image: Amanda Khoza
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the early renewal and lengthy extension of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“We would like you to look at the extension or renewal of Agoa for a sufficiently lengthy period for it to act as an incentive for investors to build new factories on the African continent.
“We believe there is great value in retaining all beneficiary countries to build on the emerging regional value chains making a significant contribution to the industrialisation of the African continent,” Ramaphosa said on Friday.
He was addressing about 2,000 delegates attending the three-day meeting in Nasrec, Johannesburg, on Friday. During their deliberations they will explore ways of enhancing the partnership which, among other things, allows duty-free access to the US market, and will discuss possibly renewing it for another 10 years. It is due to expire in 2025.
Speaking to media after opening the sitting, Ramaphosa said: “Many businesses would like to have forward planning and many of them have five-year plans, and so it’s not inconceivable that we should think about an Agoa that could be extended for much longer rather than to be reviewed every year.”
He said businesses would then be able to make long-term investment plans.
“They can build factories with confidence that they will have offtake agreements because what often happens with business is you know you have a market, your offtake agreement becomes a lot easier to build more capacity, factories and more products.
“We are addressing the energy challenges and security we face and I have spoken to some of the manufacturers that produce steel and aluminium and they have said they have been able to recalibrate their manufacturing processes within the constraints.”
As the country moves out of the energy constraints and challenges, there will be more electricity available on the grid, he said.
“They will then find it much easier to produce goods and beneficiate because we want our continent to be able to mine, produce minerals and beneficiate them on site and manufacture products that are needed and can be bought in any part of the world.”
Ramaphosa said South Africa was already on that journey.
“The level of awareness and consciousness is rising and it’s good that many leaders have been raising this issue. The more we talk about it, the more the world will awaken to it and know that as a condition, we would like as they extract minerals, they must be accompanied by beneficiation.”
TimesLIVE
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