Ugandan and Kenyan governments have signed a free trade deal aimed to eliminate or ease trade barriers and boost economic cooperation.
The deal, according to the Uganda-based, Monitor report, was signed last Friday. The two countries are agreed upon mechanisms to increasing bilateral trade, fostering investment and promoting economic growth in the region, it was stated.
The deal is supported by a directive signed by President Museveni of Uganda and his Kenyan counterpart,William Samoei Ruto.
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The two leaders met in Nairobi, Kenya and have had two days of discussions from July 30 to July 31, the Monitor reported.
The directive issued by respective ministers of trade convenes a meeting to resolve trade barriers between the two countries including congestion along borders where trade exchanges are common, particularly in Malaba and Busa areas.
Following the signing of the bilateral trade agreement, Kenya's Cabin ate Secretary for Investment, Trade and Industry; Lee Kinyanjui said that the two countries will remove trade barriers
"We have adopted that Kenya will treat products from Uganda as though they are from Kenya. So it will just be a transfer from Uganda to Kenya, or Kenya to Uganda, which means it will not attract any duties," he said.
The report remembers that last March Kenya imposed a ban on Ugandan powdered milk, saying it was to protect local producers, but lifted the ban a couple of weeks later.
In 2021, the Kenyan government also banned Ugandan eggs in a bid to protect Kenyan poultry farmers from what the government perceived as an oversupply of cheap Ugandan eggs. Kinyanjui said they have also agreed to remove logistical challenges that had resulted into long queues of cargo trucks at the border through use of technology and other measures.
"We want to ensure that nobody wastes more than two hours at the border for them to be able to come to Uganda or to go to Kenya so that our people can trade. On average a truck from Mombasa to Kampala would go like four trips if there were no delays, but they had reduced to two in one month," the report quoted the Kenyan official Kinyanjui.
From Ugandan side, Gen Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, the State minister for Trade, also said that the trade barriers have been affecting the movement of goods and services.
"We are now able to remove or break these non-tariff barriers that were coming through the levy of certain duties that go against the East African Community Treaty and Protocols," he said.
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In the agreement, the Ugandan government also committed to immediately address the issues related to the weighbridge operations along the major trade corridors as a measure to facilitate faster movement of goods.
Kenya's Kinyanjui further indicated that a joint team to handle trade-related concerns has already been formed.
