URA’s Musinguzi, Congolese Envoy Discuss Strengthening Trade Ties

Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General John Musinguzi met with the Democratic Republic of Congo Ambassador to Uganda Jean Pierre Massala to discuss how the two countries can boost trade ties.

“I had a fruitful engagement with H.E Jean Pierre Massala, Ambassador of DR Congo to Uganda. We discussed a wide range of issues pertinent to strengthening trade facilitation and domestic revenue mobilization efforts in Uganda and the DRC,” Musinguzi said in a Twitter statement earlier today.

“Regional collaboration is integral to national and regional growth and economic independence.”

DRC is Uganda's second-biggest regional trade partner after Kenya.

In 2018, Uganda exported $221M worth of goods to DRC in formal trade, while informal trade stood at $312M making the total exports worth $533M.

A number of projects have been set in motion to facilitate more trade between the two countries.

In June, the heads of state of both countries launched Mpondwe Bridge to improve mobility between Kampala and Kinshasha.

At the same event, they also commissioned a road infrastructure connectivity project covering the Mpondwe/Kasindi-Beni Road (80km), the Bunagana-Rutshuru-Goma Road (89km) and the Beni-Butembo Axis (54km).

The two nations are also building three roads: Nebbi-Goli Mahagi-Bunia (190kms), Bunia-Bogoro-Kasenyi (55km) and Rwebisengo-Budiba-Buguma-Nyiyapandam, including Budiaba Bridge across River Semuliki (49km).

The projects will be executed by a Ugandan engineering company Dott Services Limited. Growth in trade means more collections for URA which posted a net revenue of Shs19.3 trillion in FY2020/21, failing to hit the target of 21.6trn despite growth in revenue of 14.99% in comparison to the FY 2019/20.

For the same period, customs revenue collections were Shs7.5 trillion against a target of Shs8trn.