Africa: Relax trade rules, US urged

NAIROBI: The US should rethink subsidies for American farmers and relax stringent market rules, among other measures, to encourage trade in agricultural commodities from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), says an advocacy group.

"For [President Barack] Obama's Aid for Trade concept to help the poorest people to plug into market opportunities created by AGOA [Africa Growth and Opportunity Act] - the US must remove the hefty subsidies... [and] tariffs on all products exported from African countries," said Brian Kagoro, Pan-African policy director for ActionAid.

AGOA allows SSA countries to export more than 6,400 products to the US without paying duty. It has, however, not been fully exploited, observers said before a key AGOA meeting that began in Nairobi on 4 August 2009.

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