Ugandan officials have confirmed that they too are ready to follow in the footpath of their East African Community (EAC) counterparts, Kenya and Rwanda, and start trading under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative which was officially launched in October 2022.
The initiative launched in July 2022, sought to test the environmental, legal and trade policy basis for intra-African trade in a pilot phase that involved eight countries namely, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Tunisia, Tanzania and Rwanda.
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During a meeting in Kampala, Uganda, on Tuesday, March 21, the East Africa Business Council (EABC) Vice Chairperson, Simon Kaheru, said: "As Ugandan private sector we are ready to trade under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative and follow our counterparts from Rwanda and Kenya who have already started trading through the agreement.”
"The Implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area is projected to increase Intra-African trade significantly, especially in manufacturing.”
This was during the Private Sector Sensitization Workshop on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement on Trade in Goods Protocol organized by the EABC, the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU), and Uganda Manufacturers Association with support from GIZ as support to the bloc’s integration agenda.
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Kaheru expounded that the share of intra-Africa exports to total global exports will increase in Tanzania by 28%, Uganda by 29%, Rwanda by 33% and Kenya by 43%.
The EABC CEO, John Bosco Kalisa, said: "Uganda exports to Africa hit $1.77billion in 2021 increasing by 26% from $1.4billion in 2020 while imports stood at $2.47billion in 2021.”
Uganda has great potential to export coffee, milk, and sugar, beverages, iron and steel, cooking oils, and cement. Currently, Uganda's exports of sugar to the continent is valued at $99.8 million and there is an untapped export potential of an additional $53 million of sugar exports to the continent.
Lamech Wesonga, the economic policy advisor to the EAC Secretariat on AfCFTA, urged the private sector to take a proactive role by trading under the AfCFTA.
He reiterated GIZ's commitment to partner with EAC governments and the private sector to unlock opportunities in the 1.3 billion AfCFTA market.
The private sector workshop on AfCFTA convened 50 business leaders in Uganda who learned about the AfCFTA Trade in Goods Protocol and its annexes (especially Rules of Origin, Tariff Concession and Non-Tariff Barriers) and implications to businesses in the EAC bloc.
The AfCFTA Agreement is a clear testimony that the African states have committed to doing more trade and investment among themselves. The signing of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on March 21, 2018, in Kigali marked a historic milestone for economic integration in Africa with the intention of creating a market of 1.3 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at $3.4 trillion.
The Agreement envisages boosting intra-African trade through the gradual elimination of tariffs on over 90 African goods and the removal of non-tariff barriers and trade restrictions on goods and services, respectively.
The EAC exports of goods to Africa stood at $14.7 billion composing 36% share of EAC total exports of goods to the world ($40.3 billion).
Top EAC exports to Africa included precious stones, coffee, tea, cement, animal fats, mineral oils, copper, cobalt oxides and iron and steel.
East Africa as a bloc has great potential to export copper, cobalt oxides, cereals, vegetables, tea, coffee, sugar, textile products, soap, sesame seeds, edible oils, tubers and milk to the continent.