Lesotho, US launch trade deal

The Lesotho government had launched a new trade and investment initiative with the United States, which would allow its products, especially in the clothing and textile industries, duty-free access to markets in America, Sapa news agency reported on Monday. Launching the initiative in the capital Maseru, Trade, Industry and Marketing Minister Mpho Malie said this was an exciting period which would boost the country’s industrial development. The programmes, according to the report, fell under the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provided preferential tariffs for certain textile and clothing products from certain sub-Saharan countries. Malie was quoted as saying that the AGOA was one of the “most proactive measures helping to integrate Africa into the global economy”. It would also build a sustainable commercial partnership between Africa and the US, and it would substantially increase Lesotho’s clothing exports to the United States, he was quoted as saying.