Zimbabwe Should not be Denied Economic Benefits: S. African MinisterSouth African Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said on Friday that excluding Zimbabwe from the benefits of the U.S.' African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) will frustrate efforts for regional development in Southern Africa.He told a seminar of the United States' influential black National Bar Association (NBA) in Cape Town that the U.S. is punishing Zimbabwe's masses by taking such a position against the Zimbabwean government. "It would be very helpful if we were allowed an opportunity to handle Zimbabwe, together with them (the US government), totally and differently, said the official. "It's not to our benefit for Zimbabwe to be excluded from the benefits, the opportunities and the projects of the AGOA," he said. AGOA, signed into law by U.S. ex-president Bill Clinton in May last year, allows duty and quota-free entry for a range of African goods into a US market worth almost 10 trillion US dollars. |
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