Agence France Presse

Dakar, July 17:

The spotless production floor of Pecheries Frigorifiques du Senegal is a hive of women in white coats turning fresh-caught tuna into cakes that slide into sterile foil pouches gaily printed with the labels of their clients. With duty-free status under a five-year-old programme to boost trade ties between Africa and the US, tuna cakes like these could be appearing on grocery store shelves from Boston to Bakersfield, part of a different kind of effort to spur development on the world’s poorest continent. “The US market is extremely competitive and we are not blind to the difficulties we face in putting our product out there,” said Faycal Sharara, president of PFS, bemoaning the low-cost and high-volume capacity of Asian competitors, “But at least with African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), all African products, have a decent shot.” The AGOA was signed by US president Bill Clinton in 2000.