Kenya and Uganda have agreed in principal on a bilateral agreement that could put an end to the persistent trade dispute in sugar, fruit juices and pharmaceuticals between the two neighbouring countries.
The EastAfrican has learnt that under the agreement, Kenya has agreed to a demand by Ugandan authorities to allow more Ugandan sugar in the country in exchange for relaxation of duty on Kenyan exports of fruit juices and verification fees on pharmaceuticals to Uganda.
Kenya’s Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Trade Johnson Weru told The EastAfrican that a Kenyan delegation led by the Ministry of Trade will be visiting Uganda in April to seal the deal that will increase the amount of Uganda’s sugar exports to Kenya beyond the 11,000 metric tonnes per annum the country has been allocated by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) council of ministers.
In return, Kenya expects Uganda to abolish duty on Kenyan juices and pharmaceuticals that have made these products uncompetitive in the Ugandan market.
“On sugar we have sorted out the issues they (Uganda) notified us about and most likely there will be a government delegation going to Uganda to check a few things.
We have been invited and we are now constituting ourselves to go. This was a mutual invitation,” Mr Weru told The EastAfrican in an interview last week.
“There was a question of the sugar quota that they (Uganda) have been allocated by Comesa to export to Kenya. Now they seem to have more sugar to export than the quota they have been allocated.
But you see the quota is allocated by Comesa and not by Kenya. So they (Uganda) have invited us and we are going there as friends and they are saying you guys (Kenya) are our neighbours and you see we have been allocated less than what we have, come and we discuss so that you (Kenya) can take slightly more than what is allowed in the quota and we have said yes we shall come and we shall agree on how much additional we shall take.”
Uganda has about 11 functional sugar mills producing about 510,000 metric tonnes, with local consumption estimated at 360,000 metric tonnes per annum with a surplus of about 150,000 metric tonnes, reserved for export. Last year, Uganda reached an agreement with Tanzania to start exporting sugar to East Africa’s second largest economy after months of negotiations since 2019.
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/
