Martin Luther Oketch
10 May 2005
Kampala — Uganda wants developed countries to remove stringent immigration restrictions and visa requirements to have market access in the services trade, through easy movements of natural persons.
Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry officials says that although Uganda grants favoured treatment to its entire World Trade Organisation trading partners, it does not receive a similar treatment especially for goods and services.
A senior commercial officer in the ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Mr Laurean Bategana, told The Monitor on April 19 that Uganda's current negotiation in the WTO is that the developed countries streamline the visa requirements for temporally movement of natural persons to work abroad in the spirit of liberalisation.
"It is therefore important that while Uganda opens up and offers market access to other countries' service suppliers, reciprocal market access is offered for Uganda service suppliers in order for the country to benefit from any commitments whether bilateral or multilateral," he said.
Bategana said services are very important to Uganda's economy because of the significant role the sector plays in facilitating numerous other areas of the economy, creating jobs and generating tax revenue.
The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Roundtable negotiations to provide for the extension of multilateral trading systems to services trade.
Remittances from Ugandans living abroad have increased tremendously and its tracking and quantifying has also improved.
In financial year 2000/01 remittances were $50.61 million but has since increased to $219.49 million in 2001/02; to $235.09 million in 2002/03 and to $395.12 million in 2003/04.
But these foreign-based workers and professionals have used different reasons for their stay abroad and not necessarily market access through liberalisation under GATS.
"In many of these countries, stringent immigration and visa requirements still denying many Ugandans the opportunity to access their markets for economic gain," Bategana said.
He said Uganda is negotiating for a mechanism to be put in place under the WTO for mutual recognition of qualifications. For instance doctors, engineers, lawyers trained in Makerere should not be subjected to sit another exams in the US or in the European Union.
Uganda, he said, also wants the WTO to agree with the International Labour Organisation Charter, because it provides for broader market access to trade in services even for those who do not have qualifications but offer casual labour (nkube kyeyo) are catered for under ILO charter.
Bategana said since 1990 services have continued to contribute an ever- increasing percentage of Uganda's gross export earnings reaching a peak of almost 28 percent of GDP in 1997 and currently the foreign exchange earnings are rated at 60 percent.
In 2003/04 earnings from export of services totalled $299.30 million up from $219.10 million in 2000/01.
These include earnings from transport, travel, communications, insurance and other services.
"Most of these are income earnings remitted by Ugandans national providing services directly, from abroad. Many of such people enter these markets under disguised conditions due to immigration restrictions and stringent visa requirements," he said.
He said: "Like many other developing countries, Uganda's highest competitive as well as comparative advantages lies in her human resource, as they are comparatively cheaper. China and Japan needs English teachers from Uganda".
Recognising the growing importance of trade in services for the growth and development of the world economy; developed and developing countries established a multilateral framework of principles and rules for trade in services with a view to expansion of such trade under conditions of transparency and progressive liberalisation as a means of promoting the economic growth of all trading partners.
Four models have been agreed on regarding trade in services; cross-border trader, consumption abroad, commercial presence and movement of natural persons.
Bategana said that while developing countries have undertaken fewer commitments on average, other members have implemented sweeping reforms in recent years.
Uganda received request for liberalising the trade in services sector from European communities, US, Japan, Egypt and Mauritius, but officials say Uganda has done enough liberalisation.
Current evidence suggests that large developed countries have circulated requests to almost all other members, covering a wide range of services, and that most economically advanced developing countries have actively participated in this process.
However, Bategana said that to develop domestic regulatory and institutional capacity to cope with the current and emerging challenges of the global trade and regional competition is still a stumbling block for Uganda's effective participation in services trade.
"That the current situation seems to be taking a different direction. It is the stakeholders (the private sector) to come up with a strategic frame for necessary actions," he said.
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