LUSAKA: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived Friday in Zambia for African trade talks to encourage nations to clear trade barriers within the region and with the United States.
Her visit raised the profile of the annual US trade talks with Africa, where 1,600 government officials, business leaders and activists from 31 countries began meeting on Thursday.
Clinton’s trip here is another sign of growing interest in African economies, which the International Monetary Fund expects to grow faster than the global average in the coming years.
Six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies were in Africa last year, and the African Development Bank has signaled the rise of a middle class of more than 300 million people on the continent.
The first US chief diplomat to visit Zambia since 1976, Clinton is attending the ministerial forum of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an 11-year-old deal that gives African exports duty-free status on the US market.
A senior US official accompanying the secretary said Clinton will encourage ministers to lift trade barriers between their countries, cut red tape, fight corruption, as well as invest more in roads and ports.
Clinton will also promote closer US-African business links and stress US help for Africans wanting to launch or expand businesses, the State Department official said on the customary condition of anonymity.
The law grants 37 African nations duty-free access to the US market, with a handful of countries like Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe excluded because of conflicts, coups or political turmoil.
Last year, AGOA-eligible countries sent $44 billion worth of exports to the US market, but only $4 billion dollars of that was in non-oil products.
The State Department official said nonetheless that non-oil products — such as apparel, footwear, processed agricultural products, and other manufactured goods — have increased four-fold since AGOA was launched in 2000.
Most of Africa’s manufactured exports come from regional powerhouse South Africa, with the rest of the continent dividing the remainder.
One provision of the law, which allows many countries to export clothing made from imported fabrics, has ironically helped the growth of Chinese-owned factories in countries like Swaziland.
China has overtaken the United States as Africa’s top trading partner, after trade soared more than 40 percent last year to $126.9 billion.
"Generally speaking, I think the Chinese have been more aggressive in terms of trade into the region. The trade that has been there between the US and Africa, it’s long term," said Mupelwa Sichilima, of Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies, a South African think-tank.
Some African nations have leaned toward China because Beijing makes no demands on human rights or democracy.
But Sichilima said that in practice, other restrictions hinder African trade with both the United States and China — mainly practical considerations like safety standards for food products.
"Even though the markets are open, most exporters cannot meet the stringent rules that are required both in AGOA and also in China," he said.
"China is just an alternative market that has come on board, but it doesn’t mean it will swallow everything from Africa."
The US trade talks come ahead of a free trade summit Sunday in Johannesburg, where 26 African nations will launch negotiations to pull down barriers in countries stretching from the Cape to Cairo.
