Due to what the United States ( US) refers to as “human rights violations,” Uganda stands a clear risk of being removed from the list of nations eligible to participate in the African Growth and Opportunity Act ( Agoa ).
In addition to offering an Agoa checklist, Ms. Geraldine Ssali, the permanent secretary of the industry ministry, is well-positioned to explain what the nation stands to lose if the US breaks away.
Coffee, cut plants, fish, garments, and clothing have been among Uganda’s main exports under Agoa, which provides more than 6, 000 available products. According to Ms. Ssali, agricultural goods were a major source of Uganda’s Shs39.8 billion in export earnings from Agoa in 2022.
Although the precise numbers are currently unknown, some jobs will be lost, particularly in the labor-intensive industry like textiles, and somewhat fewer in agriculture. She continued,” Other costs could be in the form of USAID’s trade and investment support for Agoan nations and probable foreign investment into the nation that is aiming for the US duty-free quota free market.”
According to PS Ssali,” this is the problem of coercive trade agreements like Agoa.”
Geraldine Ssali, industryPS. PHOTO/FILE
Since punitive trade agreements like Agoa “are not negotiated, they can be withdrawn formally,” according to the best accounting officer of the Trade ministry.
Used clothes
The grape has been rife with rumors that, in addition to the “human rights violations,” President Museveni’s decision to forbid the import of used clothes offended Washington. Ms. Ssali refused to participate in the rumors. She does concur that mivumba, or used clothing, is essential to some Ugandans.
As with most American nations, Uganda has a long history of importing large quantities of used clothing, providing some consumers with an affordable alternative to more expensive new products. According to reports by Reuters, more than 70 % of clothing donations to charities in Europe and the United States end up in Africa, she told Monitor.
The government immediately launched a study to release data on the local textile capacity to support the execution of the restrictions on used clothing in response to President Museveni’s directive. The study’s findings are almost finished, and we will let you know when they are available. But, statistics so much indicate that Southern Range Nytil and Great Spinners are the only two businesses operating vertically integrated textile mills in Uganda whose processes begin from spinning to garmenting. These mills have a combined spinning capacity of 26, 900 spindles, 125, 000 meters of weaving per day, and an 8.2 tonnes/day knitting capacity. They consume an average of 5 % to 10 % of the total lint produced in the nation.
Mr. Museveni has repeatedly stated that Uganda is undercut by factors that force it to trade the vast majority of its cloth in semi-processed form. A ban on used clothing should preferably be implemented by all nations covered by the East African Community’s customs coalition.
According to PS Ssali, Uganda is not changing its tariff rates on the prohibited clothing ( stay of application ), but rather ceasing the importation, so the ban on used clothing does not fall under the purview of the Common External Tariff ( CET ).
Rwanda was the only nation to begin implementing the full ban on imported used clothing, which the East African Community ( EAC ) agreed to in 2016. Because the EAC Custom Union Protocol grants scheme place through the so-called principle of variable shape, which enables companion states in an inclusion bloc to employ integration projects at various speeds, this is permitted in regional integration. According to her, states in an inclusion design are permitted to advance with integration activities while allowing others to join later.
exterior areas
Worries about the form and shape of Uganda’s negotiations for foreign markets have long been present. Who is in charge of the conversations? Is it the Export Promotion Board of Uganda? The Uganda Investment Authority, maybe? Or is it Ssali’s personal government of trade?
Following new revelations that President Museveni established what he believed to be a business hub based in Serbia in July, these queries have gained additional value. According to anecdotal evidence, the Uganda Connect business hub is a complete bar.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives is the home of the External Trade Act, an Act that establishes rules for the rules of physical trade and other things related to it. As a result, according to PS Ssali, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives is in charge of negotiating with foreign businesses.
She continued by saying that because deal involves crosscutting, work cannot be done in silos. Serbia, the center of commerce, was created by Uganda’s Coffee Investment Consortium Initiative. The Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development ( PACEID ) also supported it.
Since the hub’s beginning in July, the espresso consortium has no exported any espresso to Serbia, according to experimental data from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.
” Serbia provides a special gate to businesses in the Balkan nations and the surrounding nations.” She claimed that because of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs ) with the EU ( European Union ), Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, Serbia is a good entry point for Ugandan goods like coffee, fruits and vegetables, beef and cocoa.
locating her legs
The Trade agency’s final judgment is a work in progress. What needs to be done, according to Ms. Ssali, is to create a transport gateway between the two nations.
To establish a direct website for commercial and cargo roads from Africa to Europe and then onward to all of Serbia’s business hubs, Air Serbia and Uganda Airlines have announced their intention to enter into codeshare agreements next year, according to the statement. Why does experience still have that sinking sensation if Serbia is a river and local businesses like Kenya, Rwanda, and South Sudan are rivers and lakes that Uganda is used to?
According to Article 75 ( 5 ) of the Treaty, the EAC partner states “agreed to remove all existing non-tariff barriers (NTBs ) on the importation into their territory of goods originating from the other partner States, and thereafter to refrain from imposing any further nons tariff barriers.” The Customs Union Protocol Section 6 ( 2 ) and the EAC Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers Act 2017 both include provisions for the removal of non-tariff barriers, according to PS Ssali.
Through this process, where NTBs are identified, tracked, and fixed, the government interacts with EAC companion states. NTBs are never resolved through the internet. For instance, among the NTBs that were resolved were a 25 % tax responsibility imposed by Kenya on Ugandan table egg and an 8 % work that went into effect on July 1, 2022, on garlic, onions, corn biscuits, and chips from Uganda.
A ban on imports and a rejection of market entry by Kenya due to the non-issuance of import permits for Ugandan powdered milk were likewise resolved. Due to the competitive nature of business, the removal of NTBs is a continuous process rather than an isolated event. You fix one and another on plants up, but EAC companion states have pledged to deal with any new NTBs that appear, she said.
But, are Uganda’s new markets, such as those in China, Algeria, and Serbia, a reaction to the constrained conditions challenges that the nation is opening up to?
” As a department, we have the duty of expanding and diversifying exports by product and place,” Ps. Ssali said. So, rather than being a knee-jerk response to the NTBs in the area, our efforts to reach different areas are an effort to expand and diversify our export markets.
” The inhabitants of the EAC is just about 480 million folks,” she said. So, it makes financial sense for us to expand to larger markets like China, which has 1.4 billion citizens, the AfCFTA ( the African Continental Free Trade Area ), and others.