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After almost ten years of exclusion, the Democratic Republic of the Congo will once again be able to take advantage of the trade preferences offered by AGOA. This decision was taken by the outgoing US President Donald Trump, as the US appears to be one of President Tshisekedi’s privileged allies.
On 19 May 2020, Constance Hamilton, US Deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Trade for Africa, formally wrote to the Congolese authorities to discuss the conditions for the restoration of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the AGOA program, the US Law on Growth and Economic Opportunities in Africa.
At that time, the country lived to the rhythm of the beginning trial of Vital Kamerhe, chief of staff to the president, accused and then convicted of embezzlement, while Washington had called for efforts in the fight against corruption.
It will be necessary to wait until November for the procedure to really start again. Kinshasa then highlights progress from the Tshisekedi era in various fields, the release of political prisoners, the return of exiled personalities, the creation of the anti-corruption bureau or even free access to primary education. But among the advances mentioned are also some of the oldest, from the Kabila era, such as membership in OHADA that harmonizes business law in Africa or the creation of a one-stop shop.
New economic opportunities?
The Congolese head of state welcomed this decision, of course, and the US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo praised Félix Tshisekedi’s efforts to “open up important economic opportunities”.
For his part, a former official minimizes. He assures that the DRC of Joseph Kabila had protested against his exclusion, because it looked “bad”, but that the country had not lost anything. “This does not apply to mineral resources, we did not export anything to the United States except a little coffee,” he explains confidently that this is a purely political announcement. According to him, it could also be about President Trump’s desire to impose on this US government this restoration and maintain the status of the new Congolese head of state as a privileged partner.
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For the Foreign Minister who has just joined the Tshisekedi camp, the exclusion from AGOA had really punished the country. Jean-Lucien Bussa talks about more than 623 million dollars in exports to the US, mainly agricultural products, 2011, compared to only 21 million in 2019.
It will benefit local and foreign economic actors. And at the same time, it will allow our economy to change its export structure, for example to the United States.
Jean-Lucien Bussa, Minister for Foreign Trade at the DRC’s return to AGOA
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