Special-Report_Doing-Business-in-Uganda-East-Africa-and-Beyond_East-African-Business-Week_Trade-Report Mar. 2015 | Seite 4

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SPECIAL REPORT
East African Business Week I February 23 - March 1, 2015

MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES

Doing Business in Uganda, East Africa & beyond
East African Business Week I February 23 - March 1, 2015

Making a mark on regional prosperity
Q & A with TradeMark East Africa:

13
One-Stop-Border-Posts
technically
supported by TMEA in East Africa

Allen Asiimwe, the TMEA Uganda Country Director, leads top Dutch diplomats resident in the region around the Busia frontier post, which has been
revamped into a One Stop Border Post (OSBP).
What is the role of TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) in
facilitating trade and developing the competitiveness of Ugandan products?
TMEA is a specialist trade facilitation agency that
aims to grow prosperity through trade for all East
Africans.
We aim to increase trade by improving EAC
trade competitiveness that has three elements:
(i) improving physical access to markets, (ii) enhancing the trade environment and (iii) improving
business competitiveness.
We work with and support National Governments and agencies, the East African Community,
private sector and civil society organisations.
We work on a wide variety of areas that support
trade including trade facilitation, infrastructure
development, private sector advocacy and development and trade policy. You could therefore
say we facilitate trade by supporting the above
mentioned segments and by improving physical
access to markets, enhancing the trade environment and improving business competiveness.
Our key delivery targets by the end of 2016 are:
to increase trade by 10% for Uganda and the EAC
region, increase the share of intra-regional trade

by 25%, reduce time from ports of entry (Mombasa
and Dar) to points of destination (Kampala, Kigali
and Bujumbura) by 15% and reduce time through
borders by 30%.
What has TMEA done so far in this regard?
First, TMEA is helping with construction of OneStop-Border-Posts (OSBPs). OSBPs envisage a
scenario where all exit and entry formalities are
handled at one location, in the country of destination.
For example, a truck that is bringing goods to
Uganda from Mombasa, will clear at Busia, but
only at the Ugandan side and not the Kenyan side.
The basic concept behind the OSBP is to reduce
delays by allowing trucks carrying goods to stop
once, not twice, hence the term ‘one-stop’.
When a truck stops once, the officials from the
two countries share facilities on the incoming or
exiting side of the border. In addition the customs
and other border procedures involved in moving
goods (called ‘Integrated Border Management’ or
IBM) are streamlined, and electronic systems set
up to allow for faster border clearance processes.
Streamlining is also combined with better co-

ordinated management practices between the
(sometimes many) agencies at the border and
multi-tasking of officials at the border to reduce
on time. TMEA combines the infrastructure (or
‘hardware’) development of OSBPs to improve
the flow and efficiency of freight through borders
by working on the streamlining of procedures (or
‘software’).
The targets of these efforts are to reduce time
through borders by at least 30%, unleashing important time and cost savings for businesses in
Uganda and East Africa.
We support the hardware and software aspects
of 13 One-Stop Border Posts in EAC across seven
border locations. All OSBPs are being developed
in partnership with the relevant governments and
often in partnership with other agencies, especially the World Bank. The OSBPs include: Taveta/
Holili (Kenya and Tanzania); Mutukula (Tanzania
and Uganda); Kabanga/Kobero (Tanzania and
Burundi); Kagitumba/Mirama Hills (Rwanda and
Uganda); Busia (Uganda and Kenya); Nimule/Elegu
(South Sudan and Uganda), and Tunduma (Tanzania and Zambia).
It should also be noted that TMEA also is developing the Kagitumba/Mirama Hills Bridge and a 37

kilometre Ntungamo Mirama Hills road.
Secondly, TMEA supports the implementation
trade facilitation reforms such as the upgrading
of ICT technology at revenue authority headquarters. This improves efficiency at borders, such as
the TMEA support to the upgrading of Uganda’s and
Kenya’s customs systems that have reduced the
need for original paper copies of trade documentation.
Similarly Uganda Revenue Authority’s (URA) introduction of cargo tracking systems has improved
tracking of trucks which has reduced the need to
inspect consignments at borders and completely
eliminated the need for physical escorts. Furthermore, our work with URA on its Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) system has substantially
reduced the ‘at the border’ inspection of goods to
high risk freight only.
URA’s aim is to reduce inspections from 75% of
cargo to 15% based on pre-screening of risky consignments. Clearly these reforms have a big impact on the speed of cargo clearances at borders.
In addition, our support to the elimination of
Non-Tariff Barrier (NTBs) through support provided
to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to implement
an NTB monitoring system, and constitute an NTB
monitoring committee, that enables the general
public to report NTBs through SMS contributes to
reduction in transport costs along key corridors in
East Africa.
NTBs account for a significant proportion of the
high transportation costs in Uganda and the EAC
which are estimated to limit intra-regional trade by
approximately 15% (according to the World Bank)
and constitute significant limitations to foreign direct investment.
Finally, enhancing the capacity of Uganda National Bureau of Standards to simplify and increase the transparency of import/ export procedures; producers improve the quality of products
produced; bureau of 7F