The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) hosted the East African Community (EAC) secretariat to strengthen collaboration between the two parties and facilitate trade between Uganda and the EAC.

Patricia Bageine Ejalu, the UNBS Deputy Executive Director, acknowledged that harmonization of standards has strengthened a lot in addressing trade challenges in the EAC.

“We have made progress at the EAC, most especially on the EAC standards committee. More standards have been developed and harmonized, which has led to the growth of exports from Uganda,” said Ejalu.

Annette Mutaawe Ssemuwemba, Deputy Secretary General at the EAC Secretariat, highlighted a number of programmes that have been coordinated by the EAC Secretariat to boost trade and the development of the region.

She said  that one-stop border posts have been built, regional cargo tracking systems are in place, and there is a lot more being done to reduce these barriers.

“A couple of years ago, it used to take more than thirty days to move goods from Mombasa inland to Kigali or Kampala; it now takes only five days. If we can reduce the barriers, continue to infuse the technology, and improve our monitoring, the days will reduce further,” said Ssemuwemba.

She highlighted the major areas of focus in strengthening the trade collaboration: supporting newer partner states by bringing them up to speed, bringing together different capacities and technical capabilities, participating in international engagements like the International Organization for Standards ( ISO), Codex, and speaking with one voice as EAC partner states.