The United States government has granted The Gambia a textile visa which allows the country to export textile and garment products to the US, duty free and quota free, under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

News of the much-awaited textile visa was contained in a letter sent to the secretary of state for Trade, Industry and Employment, Abdou Colley, from the United States trade representative, ambassador Susan C. Schwab, on April 28.

In her letter, Ambassador Schwab said her office had determined that The Gambia had adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful transshipment and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipments of textile and apparel articles to the United States. Therefore, she said, imports of eligible products from The Gambia qualify for the textile and apparel benefits provided under AGOA.

Implementation of the textile visa is guided by the bilateral visa arrangement agreed by the two governments which, among other things, requires producers and exporters of textile and garment products to retain appropriate records and provide 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 have qualified for the textile visa. The country now needs to acquire a Category 9 Certificate to export hand-woven textiles and ethnic printed fabrics.

In a May 2 meeting with the secretary of state for Finance, Mousa Bala Gaye, Ambassador Barry L. Wells congratulated the government and the people of The Gambia on the acquisition of the textile visa.

Ambassador Wells expressed his hope that the country's talented fashion designers and other apparel producers would try to make the best use of this great opportunity and assured the Gambian government that the US Embassy would continue to work with the relevant government departments to ensure that 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 US Congress in May 2000 as a new approach to US Trade and Investment Policy towards Africa. The program enables eligible African countries to export more than 6,400 products to the United States duty free and quota free.