Peter Kaujju
23 January 2008
Kampala — IN a bid to remove barriers to effective taxation like smuggling on the 400km border with DR Congo, Uganda has signed an agreement with its neighbour.
Allen Kagina, the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), who signed on behalf of Uganda, said the memorandum of understanding would lead to information sharing and formulation of strategies to remove trade barriers along the route.
"There are many barriers to doing business along the border and many of them are within our control. The memorandum will lead to overcoming these barriers because lack of information sharing partly contributes to these barriers," Kagina said during the signing at the URA headquarters this week.
She said the different procedures followed by the tax bodies of the two countries were also a barrier and she asked the technical officers to harmonise them.
"Being landlocked, Uganda and DR Congo face similar problems. This calls for cooperation. The institutions should not be barriers to trade and the agreement we are signing today should not remain on documents."
Peter Malinga, the URA Commissioner for Customs, said the memorandum was a follow-up of a meeting that took place between the presidents of Uganda, DR Congo and Tanzania last year. The meeting was aimed at promoting cooperation in various aspects including trade.
"There is a lot of smuggling along the route, especially sugar from Uganda to DR Congo. There are many stolen vehicles crossing to Congo. Many products from DR Congo, especially paraffin, are smuggled into Uganda. The memorandum seeks to address some of these issues."
Many goods destined for DR Congo pass through Uganda. Malinga said unscrupulous people claim the goods are destined for DR Congo and then they offload them from Uganda.
He said the memorandum would play a big role in the fight against such practices, which have cost the two countries a lot of revenue.
Samuel Simeni, the deputy commissioner for customs in DR Congo, said the memorandum would lead to maximisation of revenue collections of the two countries after closing the information gap.
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