The recent state visit by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta served to keep communication lines open between our two nations, which is critical for our mutual economic and development fortunes.

While here, he discussed progress on key infrastructure projects such as the oil pipeline and the standard gauge railway that the two countries are committed to developing.

The oil pipeline will help both countries evacuate our oil in coming years while the railway line will reduce transportation costs on the key route to the sea for the two countries. By accident of history, our two countries are bound together at the hip and despite past attempts to force a wedge between us, the mutual interests of our peoples mean we have always found a way to resolve our differences.

Ever since the British got it in their heads that they needed to control the source of River Nile for strategic purposes, our two countries have become each other’s largest trading partner. During the hard 1970s and 80s, many Ugandans sought refuge in our eastern neighbour and recently, after the post-election violence in 2007-08, some Kenyans fled here for safety.

A few days ago, Kenyatta, in defending an initiative to import sugar from Uganda, reported that his country exports $700m worth of goods to Uganda while importing goods worth $150m from the same. He argued that he would rather import sugar from Uganda than from Brazil if we (Uganda) have the surplus to bridge their shortfall.

At the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI), we were gladdened by this show of solidarity. One: because some of our members will definitely be involved in filling those orders either in manufacturing or transporting of the merchandise.

Two, and more importantly, we believe that for the East African Community to work, we need more than flowery speeches but for such trade links to be activated and sustained. It is true that Kenya has a more mature, diversified and larger private sector.

Fears that this capacity could threaten the growth of our own industrial capacity have their merits. But we recognise that cooperating rather than competing will ensure that we all benefit from our interaction. What is good for us can be good for Kenya and vice versa.

In light of this, we have seen some reduction in the number of non-tariff barriers on the Kenyans’ side. The turnaround speed at the Mombasa port continues to improve as does the safety of the lives and property of our businessmen operating through Kenya.

A lot more needs to be done and we are in constant touch with the Kenyan authorities to ensure a reduction in red tape and general impediments to trade.

Beyond the loosening of bottlenecks to trade, Ugandans would do well to learn from our Kenyan counterparts on how to run our businesses, and become more formal and more durable; our businesses should be able to transcend generations like many Kenyan enterprises have already done.

We at UNCCI welcome any attempts to strengthen the ties between us and to increase the efficiency of our transactions. It is a good thing for us and a good thing for the region as a whole. Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania benefit as we do if their relations within the region are streamlined.

The global economy is in a constant state of flux. However, one thing remains constant: those who will be able to take advantage of the vast markets forming out of this dynamic environment are those nations which have organised into bigger economic units to leverage economies of scale and to serve as a launching pad into external markets.

The EAC, with a population of 130 million people and a land area of 1.8 square kilometres, is well positioned to lead this thrust out of Africa into the world.

However, a lot has got to be done to bridge our deficiencies in human capacity and physical infrastructure. That is why the frequent interaction between our politicians such as President Yoweri Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta for the benefit of our respective nations is a development to be celebrated.

Source: All Africa

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