Rwandan beneficiaries of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade preference program of the US and select African counties, has called for easier access to US visas claiming that the rigorous process has kept them out of the market. The call was made when officials from the Trade and Industry ministry, Rwanda and US Ambassador to Rwanda, Erica Barks-Ruggles launched the renewed AGOA action plan a year after the US government decided to renew the free trade framework for sub-Saharan African countries by 10 more years, beginning 2015.

Although the number of Rwandan exports to the US remains relatively low compared to other African countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Kenya and South Africa, traders say there is need for more technical support from the Rwandan side and mitigation of the lengthy bureaucracy in acquisition of visas on the US side.

According to Gilbert Kubwimana, the Country Director of Songa Designs, a company that makes Rwandan-made jewellery for sale in the US, the cost of transactions and shipping has been a hurdle besides unreliable clearance freight agencies. Established in 2000, AGOA is the flagship of US trade engagement with Africa, the mandate of which was renewed by US executive despite calls by Congress to terminate it in the interest of the US economy.

However, according to Francois Kanimba, the Minister for Trade and Industry, re-launched AGOA Rwanda chapter will help traders unlock the potential of the US market although the priority has always been to first supply the local and regional markets.

Under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program, approximately 5,000 products from 122 developing countries and territories, including 43 least-developed countries, are eligible for duty-free treatment when exported to the US. Nearly 1,500 of these are reserved for duty-free treatment for only least-developed beneficiary developing countries.