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US seeking to improve US/Africa trade programme— Official

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A United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai has said that the country is in search of a “more useful and effective” trade programme with Africa.

Tai said on Saturday that talks were underway to update a two-decade-old duty-free initiative. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows duty-free access to the US market for exports from eligible nations, is set to expire in September 2025. Discussions are currently underway regarding potential renewal and reform.

Tai is in Johannesburg, South Africa today concluding three days of discussions with African trade ministers regarding the future of the programme and a potential third reauthorization after it has already been reauthorized twice, in 2004 and 2015.

“We would like to see this programme be more than just a symbolic one. We would like for it to be more useful and effective,” Tai told journalists.

Research indicates that in certain countries, particularly for women, AGOA has contributed to the reduction of poverty and the creation of jobs. However, between 2014 and 2021, just five countries accounted for over 75% of duty-free non-petroleum exports to the US under the programme: South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Ethiopia.

In the meantime, to calm business concerns and draw in new investors regarding AGOA’s sustainability, business associations and governments in Africa are pushing for an early, unchanged 10-year extension. But the Biden administration wants changes as part of a renewal.

“I don’t quite know how you would enhance it without doing it in the statute,” Tai said.

A recent push in the US Congress is in favour of expeditiously renewing AGOA. Gregory W. Meeks, a Democrat from New York, and Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, the chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, stated on Friday that they both believed AGOA could be enhanced.

To emphasise the importance of Africa and counter any threats China and Russia may pose to US interests in this important region, the US is eager to regain its declining influence in the continent.

Musings From Abroad

Prince Harry, Meghan treated to street-style dances in Nigeria as their trip winds down

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On Sunday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were treated to street-style dances in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where they announced a partnership between their Archewell Foundation and the non-profit Giants of Africa, which utilizes sports to empower young people.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are making their first visit to Nigeria, where they were welcomed by the country’s chief of defence staff. The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, where Harry participated in ball-bouncing drills and shot a hoop.

“What you guys are doing here at Giants of Africa is truly amazing,” he said. “The power of sport can change lives. It brings people together and creates community and there are no barriers, which is the most important thing.”

The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, and Harry stepped on the court for some ball-bouncing drills and to shoot a hoop.

Former Toronto Raptors star Masai Ujiri, president of Giants of Africa, wished Meghan a happy Mother’s Day and said his organization was uniting communities and uplifting young people through sport, especially. Archewell Foundation and Giants of Africa will construct a basketball court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

“Talk about full circle again – never did I think we would be able to be here all those years later supporting the expansion of this incredible organization,” she said.
Harry and Meghan were set to round off their Lagos trip by attending a reception for a local charity. The couple live in the United States with their two children after Harry gave up working as a member of the royal family in 2020.

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Musings From Abroad

Binance accuses Nigeria of setting dangerous precedent with detention of its executives

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After its executives were invited to Nigeria and subsequently arrested as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, warned that the African nation was creating a dangerous precedent.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, and two of its executives are being tried separately for tax evasion and money laundering, charges that the business is contesting.

CEO Richard Teng declared in a statement that it was time to voice opposition to the imprisonment of a US citizen and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.

Former executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan who works as a regional manager for Africa, escaped detention in Nigeria last month. While in Nigeria, Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), after arriving on February 26, after which the country banned several websites that traded cryptocurrencies.

In a follow-up meeting on February 26, he stated that the authorities had declared the Binance concerns to be matters of national security and that they wanted the exchange to remove the naira from its site and disclose “granular-level” information on every Nigerian user. After that, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken into custody.

“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” Teng said, in his strongest comments yet since the case started in February.

“For spurious reasons,” Teng said that Gambaryan had been detained in Nigeria for almost two months. Early in March, Binance declared that it will no longer be accepting any new naira transactions.

“Our hope when we took this drastic step was that our colleagues would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” said Ten.

He stated that Gambaryan ought to be permitted to return home while Binance and the Nigerian government work out any kinks. “We will continue engagement with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities,” he said.

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