President Museveni, Uhuru Kenyatta commends Trade Mark Africa Busia OSBP Investment • 2018-03-05

Busia, Uganda. –Between 2010 and 2017, significant efficiency gains have been achieved at the ports and borders. On Saturday President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and President Uhuru Kenyatta officially commissioned the Busia One Stop Border Post which added another major entry and exit point between Uganda and Kenya.

Speaking at the event Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said there is need for African countries to open their borders more to the partner countries to make African Community more competitive on the global market.

“We should remove useless border barriers for our people and goods to move more freely. This is the only way we are going to develop as a community,” Uhuru said. The OSBP investment includes office buildings for all border agencies, cargo verification bays, immigration halls, passenger sheds, roads and parking areas, scanner sheds and warehouses.

President Museveni said the new establishment will facilitate easier trade between Uganda and Kenya. This kind of Integration ensures prosperity of our people through trade and services. This one-stop border will make it easy for trade to happen and this is what our people need

Trade Mark Africa CEO, Frank Matsaert thanked the Uganda and Kenyan government for making the trade project a viable one. “I want to thank the two governments for efforts put in to make this possible and we look forwards to working with them on other projects aimed at facilitating trade. This is one of the best performing OSBP and we are pleased of the difference it has made in border trading. We have seen an increase in cross border trade, the time and Money spent by traders in customs clearing has also reduced and an increase in customer satisfaction.”

Uganda’s imports from EAC have slightly dropped from $684.6m in 2014 to $530m in 2016. Uganda mainly imports salt, sulphur, lime and cement, iron and steel from the EAC region.

Government Initiatives to improve trade with EAC in partnership with TMA. Between 2010 and 2017, significant efficiency gains have been achieved at the ports and borders, and by revenue authorities in clearance of cargo, as well as agencies and firms involved in trade statistics through the following initiatives

The system handles electronic transaction for 16 border intervening agencies and economic operators. The system has cut clearance time for imports and exports by over 25%.

Speaking at the event, Amelia Kyambadde, Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives said ” With support from TMA, My Ministry has continued to implement a web based Non-Tariff Barrier Reporting System that has helped in easing and enabling the reporting and resolution of NTBs among trade facilitating institutions. This, in turn has reduced on the delays and costs of moving goods in and outside of Uganda across trading member states. 86% resolution of all NTBs reported through the system.”

Read Also: Minister Amelia Kyambadde gives Brief on the African Trade Development Forum 2018

Government with support from TMA has also launched a one stop portal for export, import and transit information in Uganda. It is an online platform where all the information regarding export, import and transit of goods in Uganda will be availed to traders, government agencies and all interested parties. The portal will address

While the Electronic Single Window allows traders to clear their goods online, the Trade Information Portal will provide the traders with all the necessary information to enable them undertake the transaction on E-Single Window. The two platforms are therefore complementary.

Source: The Investigator