The future of Africa’s preferential status that allows for duty-free export of its products to the US now lies with the US Congress following an agreement in principle that the trade deal should be extended.

The Obama administration, the US Congress and African leaders appear to have reached broad consensus on renewing the 14-year-old Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) programme that has had minimal benefits for both sides.

READ: Obama admin looks to reshape, renew Agoa

Republicans in Congress have joined members of President Obama’s Democratic Party in supporting an extension of Agoa, which is set to expire in 13 months.

“It is in the interest of the United States to engage and compete in emerging African markets, to boost US-Africa trade and investment and to renew and strengthen Agoa,” a group of 16 key Republican and Democratic legislators said in a statement at the start of the August 4-6 US-Africa Summit.

The Obama administration is envisioning the next phase of the preferential trade initiative as an “Agoa Compact” with African leaders having taken a position that it should be extended unconditionally for another 15 years.

The proposal will now be tabled at the US Congress for a final decision, which is likely to be before September 2015, when Agoa is scheduled to expire.

The trade mechanism by the US government offers tangible incentives to African countries to continue their efforts to open up their economies and build free markets.

“The renewal and extension of the Agoa period is expected to give African countries ample time to build competitive capacity in global markets,” said Joseph Kosure, head of the Bilateral Trade Division and Agoa Unit in Kenya’s Ministry of Trade.

Michael Froman, a top US trade official, explained at a summit-related meeting that this compact would involve expanded involvement by government agencies in Washington and by private businesses in the US and Africa.

The objective, Mr Froman said, is to address “red tape, corruption and gaps in infrastructure [that] can make the cost and time associated with shipping a product twice that of similar products coming out of competitor countries in Asia or Latin America.”

The 16 Congress members who expressed support for an Agoa extension however complained of high tariffs and other “barriers” imposed by some African countries that limit US exports and investments.

Arguing in the interest of “reciprocity,” some lobbyists and lawmakers are pressing for African agreement to lower those barriers in exchange for Agoa reforms that would allow more products from the continent to enter the US duty-free.

Business analysts also argue that extending the Agoa period is a good thing, but so far only a few firms, mainly garment and oil product industries, have benefited from the agreement.