Stephen Otage
9 November 2009
Kampala — The European Union Ambassador to Uganda Vincent De Visscher has said the Ministry of Trade should expedite the revision of the trade laws in the country.
Speaking at the first joint sector review meeting for the organs under the ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry on Friday, the ambassador said the formulation and implimentation of the would help the country meet the international trade guidelines set by the World Trade Organisation. He said this would provide a useful regulatory instrument thta would transform the informal sector and build their competitiveness, which will pay off in terms of tax revenues and employment to the youth.
"It is not surprising that you find a food vendor operating in unhygienic conditions but with trading licenses hanging on the walls," he said.
"We need to review many of these areas which significantly undermine Uganda's competiveness."
"Currently, local governments issue trading licenses as sources of revenue instead of regulatory instruments for trading." He added that a transparent and predictable environment framed by coherent and enforceable regulations provides an incentive to attract investments from within the country and overseas. He said Uganda had shown improvement in its global ranking on the global competitiveness index and a perception survey conducted by the World Economic Forum ranks it at 108 out of 133 countries, which he said is still poor and signals the need for further reforms.
In his address to the participants, the Trade Minister Kahinda Otafire castigated the persistent presence of non tariff barriers in the trade subsector, frail regulatory frameworks especially the commercial laws, weak institutions and a young and weak private sector, and absence of trade opportunity response strategies. "The overall objective of the technology sub-sector is to build a modern, competitive and dynamic industrial economy which will be a key in-put in the transformation process and enhance our competitiveness to create employment," he said.
This was the first joint sector review meeting the tourism and trade industry ministry has organised. It brought together organs, implementing ministry's activities reviewing programs which were implemented in the previous year and is also the beginning of the Ministry's budget making process.
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