South Sudan Uganda Trade Hits $1.18 Billion

(JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN) – South Sudan and Uganda have signed a one stop border crossing deal aimed at reducing travel time and the cost of cross border business, an official has said.

The Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Ayok Anei, said the agreement, signed in Kampala last week, also aims to promote trade through efficient movement of goods, people and services between the two countries.

“It will also enhance women’s trade program to promote inclusivity and equality between women and men,” Anei told reporters in Juba on Monday.

“That means small businesses like those of women who come to sell bananas or vegetables from Uganda have to be empowered – make life easy for them to cross the border.”

Once constructed, the border post will reduce the number of stops in cross border trade and other transactions by combining border control activities at a single location in each direction.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by officials from both ministries of Foreign Affairs.

The initiative was facilitated by the Ugandan Foreign Ministry with support from an aid organisation called Trade Mark East Africa.

Uganda is South Sudan’s major trade partner in the region. Its exports have reached an estimated $1.18 billion since 2008, according to data from the Ugandan Ministry of Trade.

In related news, the Central Equatoria State Minister of Information said the Ugandan government has promised to protect South Sudanese living in Moyo District in the northern part of the country.

Suba Samuel Manase said the Ugandan government also promised to protect South Sudanese children studying in different parts of Uganda, both in boarding and day schools.

Manase told reporters that both governments have expressed commitment to protect civilians living along the border between the two countries.

“We must use joint security patrol to keep the South Sudan business men’s properties in Uganda and also the lives of the children at school in Uganda. The following day when we were coming out from there we got the information that each school was guarded by two policemen to provide security for our children and even shops and business were guarded,” Manase said.

The Information Minister urged people not to panic because the governments of the two countries have formed a border verification team to demarcate the real border between Uganda and South Sudan.

Last week the Police Inspector Generals from both countries met in Moyo District in northern Uganda to discuss the issue that led to clashes between two border communities.