In November 2018, the Ministry of Trade Industries and Cooperatives launched an informative and convenient trade information portal hinged on facilitating trade in and with Uganda. The trade facilitation platform provides access to transparent practical step-by-step guidelines to the licenses, pre-clearance permits and clearance formalities for the most traded goods in and out of Uganda.
The portal comes at a time when Ugandan traders decry challenges like their products being blocked from certain markets with claims of failure to meet SPS and other market requirements. They have often protested the lack of fairness and backtracking of some of the East African Member States. Many times, it’s because they don’t know the market requirements of their export destinations.
The trade portal directs the user where to go, who to see, what documents to bring, what forms to fill, what costs to pay, what law justifies the step and where to file a complaint in case of a problem. It offers real time information on trade, imports and exports in and out of Uganda and reduces the cost of doing business since most of the paperwork required to acquire licences can be done online.
Member states of the EAC are all implementing the trade portal, the latest to embark on its set up being Burundi. This will make procedures transparent across the region and cause comparison for traders seeking markets with easier procedures and requirements.
With transparency comes the elimination of hidden costs and time wasting tendencies as it is clear where one needs to go to obtain the relevant licenses. In tandem, this will help in reducing corruption and the use of expensive middlemen in trade transactions.
The Trade Information Portal is implemented by the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC) and the National Trade Facilitation Committee, in partnership with the East African Community Secretariat (EAC) and with support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and International Trade Centre (ITC).
For more information about trade information portal visit https://ugandatrades.go.ug/
Marketing support provided by the MARKUP programme, a regional development initiative for the EAC funded by the EU.
You must be logged in to post a comment.