*Administration of Barack Obama, 2015 *

**Message to the Congress on Terminating the Designation of Seychelles as a Beneficiary Sub-Saharan African Country Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act Program **

*September 30, 2015 *

*To the Congress of the United States: *

I am providing notification of my intent to terminate the designation of Seychelles as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program.

Section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the "1974 Act") (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)) authorizes the President to designate a country listed in section 107 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3706) as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country eligible for the benefits described in section 506A(b) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(b)), if the President determines that the country meets the eligibility requirements in section 104 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703), subject to the authority granted to the President under subsections (a), (d), and (e) of section 502 of the 1974 Act.

Pursuant to section 502(e) of the 1974 Act, I have determined that Seychelles has become a "high income" country and its designation as a beneficiary sub-Saharan country is no longer within the authority granted to the President under section 502 of the 1974 Act. Accordingly, pursuant to section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)), I have determined that Seychelles is no longer eligible for benefits as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for the purpose of section 506A of the 1974 Act, effective January 1, 2017.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House,

September 30, 2015.

*Categories:* Communications to Congress : Seychelles, African Growth and Opportunity Act program, message on terminating designation as beneficiary country*.*

*Subjects:* Africa : African Growth and Opportunity Act program; Seychelles : African Growth and Opportunity Act program, U.S. termination of designation as beneficiary country.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD201500680.