By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Ugandan traders could soon start trading internationally and deepen their market after the country met the requirements to start trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The revelation has been made by Johnbosco Kalisa, Executive Director of the East African Business Council (EABC) during the media engagement on the upcoming East African Community Business Summit and Expo, 2023 at the ministry of East African Community Affairs headquarters, Kingdom Kampala on Tuesday.
“I am reliably informed that Uganda will also join the African Continental Free Trade Area at the end of this month because it has met the requirements to start trading under AfCFTA,” he said.
At least three countries from the East African Community region are already trading in the AfCFTA including Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Kalisa says that trading under AfCFTA will provide Ugandan traders a wider market when the existing barriers are eliminated.
He said the country’s exports could increase by deepening international trade through regional arrangements, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
About AfCFTA
With a secretariat in Ghana, AfCFTA is an ambitious program of regional trade integration spanning 54 African states, which have signed the agreement, with 1.3 billion people and a combined potential GDP of $3.4 trillion . The AfCFTA seeks to remove obstacles to trade in Africa to boost intra-Africa trade across all sectors of the continent’s economy. It covers goods, services, investment, intellectual property rights, and policy on competition. Some trading of goods under AfCFTA started in January 2021. Various protocols are still being negotiated to culminate into full operationalization by 2035.
Uganda was among the first 44 countries to ratify AfCFTA on November 28, 2018. The AfCFTA is expected to substantially increase Uganda’s exports and imports by the time it is fully implemented in 2035.
A recent report by the World Bank showed that by joining the free trade area, Uganda’s total exports could exceed their pre-pandemic value of $4.15 billion in fiscal year 2020 by as much as $2.55 billion in fiscal year 2035, while imports could increase by about $3.10 billion over the same period.
“Uganda could also benefit from the AfCFTA through other channels, including gains in employment, wages, poverty reduction, and economic output. Ugandan businesses will be able to access a wider range of productive inputs from abroad, and households will have greater access to food and agricultural products as the population grows,” World Bank reported.
Under the current level of Guided Trade Initiative, 54 interested countries in the continent are matchmaking businesses and products for export and import in coordination with their national AfCFTA implementation committees.
EAB and Investment Summit 2023
The East African Business and Investment Summit and Expo, 2023 is a two days event that will be held at Speke Resort Munyonyo between 31st August and 1st September, 2023 under the theme: “Private Sector Driven Regional Integration for Increased Intra-African Trade and Investment”
The summit seeks to provide a platform for private sector and governments and other key stakeholders from the East African Community and the continent to come together and discuss the success, challenges and opportunities in trade within the East African Community and a wider continental free trade area.
According to Kalisa, Uganda was chosen to host this summit because of the remarkable development that it is recording after the devastating impacts of COVID-19.
