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The United States Government has granted The Gambia a te xtile visa which allows the country to export textile and garment products to th e U.S. duty-free and quota-free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGO A ).

News of the textile visa was contained in a letter sent to the Secretary of Stat e for Trade, Industry and Employment, Abdou Colley, from the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Susan C. Schwab, on 28 April.

In her letter, Schwab said her office has determined The Gambia has adopted an e ffective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful trans-shipment a n d the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipments of textile and a p parel articles to the United States .

Therefore, she said, imports of eligible products from The Gambia qualify for th e textile and apparel benefits provided under AGOA.

Implementation of the textile visa is guided by the bilateral visa arrangement a greed by the two governments which, among other things, requires producers and e x porters of textile and garment products to retain appropriate records and provid e such records on request by the government of The Gambia.

The Gambia has now become one of 26 out of the 37 AGOA eligible countries that h ave qualified for the textile visa, which allows eligible countries to export ma n ufactured apparel to the U.S.

The country now needs to acquire a category 9 certificate to export hand-woven t extiles and ethnic printed fabrics.

In a 2 May meeting with the Secretary of State for Finance, Mousa Bala Gaye, who is currently overseeing the Department of State for Trade, Ambassador Barry L. W ells congratulated the government and the people of The Gambia on the acquisitio n of the textile visa.

Wells expressed hopes the country’s talented fashion designers and other apparel producers would try to make the best use of this great opportunity and assured t he Gambian government the U.S. Embassy would continue to work with the relevant government departments to ensure the country proceeds rapidly to acquire category 9 certification.

The Gambia became an AGOA-eligible country in December 2002.

The AGOA law was passed by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 as a new approach to U. S. trade and investment policy towards Africa .

The programme enables eligible African countries to export more than 6,400 produ cts to the United States duty-free and quota-free.