Exports Board starts registering exporters

In bid to increase and promote exports of the country better, government has started registering all people and companies involved in exports.
This on-going exercise is aimed at sieving out the genuine companies and people exporting.
In an interview with Prosper Magazine, Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB)’s executive director Elly Twineyo, said: “We have started a company and exporters diagnostics registry to see how many companies and exporters the country has and what challenges they experience”.
He said the move is aimed at looking out for the country’s image to understand what the exporting companies do.
Ms Brenda Opus, the UEPB’s marketing executive, said: “Any company to be registered will have to demonstrate that they’re into exporting and those which have never but are willing to start exporting will be given their first recommendation by UEPB on their maiden export trip”.
She added that once those recommended to export return, then they will be entered into the registry.
The exporters on the registry will enjoy access to market information from UEPB and training.
Already, about 500 companies have been registered and the exercise is going on countrywide.
“Those already registered come across the board in all sub-sectors ranging from manufacturing, services and agriculture among others,” Ms Opus shared.

Budget
UEPB has asked government for a budget of Shs12.3 billion to promote exports.
They also have plans of building an export demonstration centre and working towards having their presence in five regions.
“As we do the oil roads, we should not neglect the exports because when the oil comes we should have a fallback position which is agriculture and people will always demand for food,” Mr Twineyo said.

Performace
Uganda’s export performance for 2016 improved compared to the previous calendar year.
Goods exports grew by 10.3 per cent from $2.66 billion (Shs9.5 trillion) in 2015 to $2.94 billion (Shs10.4 trillion) in 2016.