The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says that the second sitting of the South Africa-Uganda Joint Trade Committee (JTC) which will be taking place in Pretoria from 29-30 January 2018, will be reviewing progress achieved since the establishment of the JTC in Uganda in November 2015, and to also map out areas of future cooperation between the two countries going forward.  

The JTC was established for the primary purpose of strengthening bilateral economic relations between South Africa and Uganda. The JTC will culminate in a ministerial meeting which will review and adopt the outcomes of the senior officials’ discussions.

Davies outlines that both SA and Uganda have since agreed on the importance of fast-tracking and implementing joint-projects under the JTC agreement. This, he says, will be achieved through sharing and exploration of new trade, investment and technical cooperation opportunities, as well as removing obstacles to equitable trade.

“It was at the first sitting of the JTC where it was found that even though South Africa and Uganda enjoyed cordial trade relations, there existed certain areas that required improvement in order to conform to standards to enable for an increase in exports between ourselves,” says Davies. 

Davies adds that it was due to a need to improving these areas that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between SA trade and investment facilitation institutions and their respective Ugandan counterparts in order to strengthen bilateral trade relations.

“This two-day programme will comprise of a review of interventions undertaken and progress reports from South African trade and investment facilitation institutions and their respective Ugandan counterparts. There will also be discussions surrounding activities of the Forum of South African Business in Uganda (FOSABU) and a Programme of Action for the Joint Ministerial Meeting,” says Davies.

Investments by South African companies in Uganda will also form part of the discussions as this is a priority of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), through its Trade Invest Africa division.