Africa wants to export finished products to the world, Ramaphosa tells AGOA Forum
President Cyril Ramaphosa says African countries want to produce and export finished products to countries all over the world.
Africa is the largest source of the world's gold, platinum, diamonds and uranium, among other minerals.
It is also the source of tea, coffee, cocoa, and grapes.
However, due to a lack of resources and skills, these minerals and products are shipped off to Europe and sold back to Africa as finished products.
Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address on day two of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Johannesburg on Friday.
The 3-day summit on trade relations between Africa and the United States kicked off in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Ministers from about 40 sub-Saharan African countries benefiting from AGOA are to hold talks with US envoys.
“Africa is an important source of critical raw materials, but we do not want to be defined as simply being the producers of commodities. The great industrial opportunity lies instead in the transformation of the rocks that we mine and the metal that we produce into the sophisticated industrial and consumer goods that societies across the world need,” said Ramaphosa.
“Gone should be the days when Africa is just seen as the source of rock, soil, and dust being exported out of our continent. We now want to produce the products that are finished or near finished, that are utilised in other parts of the world. We want to earn full value for our products.”
Ramaphosa said trading is part of Africa’s DNA, and partners are needed to help modernise its trading processes.
“We value the relationship with the United States, the world’s largest national market and a country with which we have relationships that go well beyond just trade. AGOA has served as the cornerstone of the US-Africa commercial relationship for more than two decades. While the legislation’s unilateral trade preferences have provided economic benefits for countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, AGOA remains underutilised. I hope that in your discussions today, you will explore ways and means in which we can fully utilise this great opportunity.
“An early renewal can also help to strengthen trade and investment, a process that our continent needs greatly in order to improve the lives of the 1.3 Billion people on our continent. While all 35 eligible Sub-Saharan African countries stand to benefit from AGOA, utilisation rates vary quite widely.
“Kenya and Lesotho have had some of the highest AGOA utilisation rates, 88% of Kenyan exports and 99% of Lesotho’s exports to the US quailed for a zero tariff treatment, and we are grateful for those two countries that they have been able to reach that high level of utilisation of AGOA.
“This continent is the next best story of economic growth not for itself but in the whole world because Africa is on the move.”
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