The United States Embassy Charge Dâ?Affaires in The Gam bia, Cynthia F. Gregg, said her country was playing a key role in supporting and promoting Gambian women textile products into the US market, PANA reported from h ere Monday.
Gregg said this at the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade seminar, o rganised here by the US Embassy in Banjul and the West Africa Trade Hub (WATH) O f fice in Dakar, Senegal.
She said the seminar, with the theme: â?The Opportunities and Procedures for Ex porting to the United States under AGOAâ?, was meant to give the participants th e understanding and the need to improve the quality of their products with suffi c ient value-added services in order to penetrate the America market.
She observed that The Gambia had three sectors with great potentials to benefit from AGOA. These includes fisheries, the apparel or garment industry and special t y foods.
According to her, the event was part of the ongoing efforts by the US Embassy an d the trade hub to educate and motivate The Gambia’s private sector to access th e huge market opportunities that exist in the United States .
AGOA was passed by the United States Congress in May 2000, as a new approach to US trade and investment policy towards Africa, which Gregg noted is meant to pro m ote and increase trade and economic cooperation between US and eligible sub-Saha r an African countries.
She noted that the act is also meant to enhance political and economic reform in eligible African countries.
AGOA provides sub-Saharan countries the opportunity of exporting a wide range of products to America, both duty-free and quota-free and covers an expanded list o f more than 6,000 products from the continent, including fish and fish products,textile, apparel, handicrafts and footwear.
