Uganda urged to sign free trade pacts with neighbors
XinhuaNet, China
Uganda urged to sign free trade pacts with neighbors
24 January 2006
KAMPALA, Jan. 24 (Xinhuanet) — Uganda has been urged to sign free trade agreements with Rwanda and Burundi in order to waive customs duties.
Ibnul Hassan Rizvi, chief executive officer of Mukwana Group of Companies, was quoted by local press as saying on Tuesday that the signing of the agreements would widen Uganda’s market for manufactured goods.
"If the government can not sign the free trade agreements, let it sign bilateral agreements or ensure that the two countries become members of the East African Customs Union," Rizvi said.
He said the majority of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) members like Rwanda, Egypt and Kenya havesigned the pacts.
"Other countries prefer to import goods from countries that have signed free trade agreements. If we are to export goods to Rwanda, we pay the tax, but it is the customer who pays this tax at the end of the channel," Rizvi said.
He said Kenyan products enter Rwanda tax free.
Mukwano Group of Companies exports goods to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and southernSudan.
