Presidents Yoweri Museveni and John Magufuli of Tanzania will Thursday officially open Mutukula as a one stop border (OSBP).

Already the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) has reduced transit time by more than 50%, available statistics indicate.

Records show that an average of 542 vehicles, 310 of them cargo trucks, pass through Mutukula border every month, showing how important the border post is in handling cargo.

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The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU) in partnership with the East African Microfinance Network and Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, has organised the Third East Africa Microfinance Summit 2017.

According to AMFIU’s Programmes Manager, Robert Ntalaka, the summit to take place in Kampala from November 16-17, will run under the theme, ‘Digital Financial Inclusion: a Reflection on the Perspectives, Pros and Challenges for Various Stakeholders’.

The Summit is an annual regional event that brings together various microfinance stakeholders to share experiences, introduce innovations and facilitate networking amongst various stakeholders.

According to Ntalaka, the third summit follows earlier ones hosted in Kenya and Tanzania in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

“The past summits have attracted over 300 participants from Central Banks from the East African region, financial services providers, academic institutions, wholesale lenders, social investors, donors and development partners among others,” Ntalaka said, adding that the summit in Uganda is expected to attract over 400 microfinance stakeholders.

The Summit will be a key platform for stakeholders to debate the trade-offs, make the case for digital financial inclusion, and examine aspects of traditional service to improve service delivery.

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First Deputy Prime Minister Ali Kirunda Kivejinja has said that local ICT innovations will transform Uganda from a predominantly peasant society to a middle income country.

Al hajj Kivejinja made the remarks today while officiating at the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the National ICT Innovation Hub at the Nakawa Institute of Information and Communications Technology.

“ICT is one of the key pillars for societal transformation,” he said, adding that it will propel Uganda’s growth as government establishes more infrastructure, especially to enable the youth acquire skills for job creation.

Speaking at the same function, ICT Minister Frank Tumwebaze said that the building to cost Shs5.6 billion will provide space for young innovators to share ideas with mentors as they develop ICT products and solutions for sale.

“Without ICT innovations, Uganda cannot reap from the investments in the ICT infrastructure,” he said, adding that local ICT innovations are critical in attracting foreign companies to establish their activities in the country.

Minister Tumwebaze said the ICT hub, the first one to be constructed, falls under the National ICT Initiatives Support Programme whose overall goal is to create a sustainable ecosystem for the ICT innovators and application developers. He also said government is willing to buy innovations that are created locally by local innovators.

“Government will support successful innovators financially to develop and market their products,” Mr. Tumwebaze said.

The hub, which the Minister said will be built by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Engineering Brigade over a six-month period, will cost a third of the money that the private contractors had asked the ministry to pay.

“Some asked for Shs30 billion, the least one asked for Shs15 billion,” he said, urging government agencies to give more construction work to the UPDF. He said the UPDF will finish the project in six months.

Defence State Minister Charles Okello Engola said UPDF Engineering Brigade is well equipped in terms of equipment and human resources to deliver the project.

Meanwhile, Minister Tumwebaze disclosed that Gulu and Mbarara universities have applied to host the ICT hubs, which government intends to establish in every financial year.

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Officials from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) have appealed to their Sudanese counterparts to reasonably relax the regulations on Ugandan coffee entering their market.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting held at Serena Conference Center in Kampala held between Ugandan coffee processors, exporters, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and Sudan Standards Meteorology Organisation (SSMO), the Director of Quality and Regulatory Services at UCDA, Edmund Kananura revealed that the regulatory agency  had requested their Sudanese counterparts to allow them conduct a ‘single inspection annually’.

“When our colleagues reached us in 2015 informing us about their new regulations regarding the pre-shipment inspection of commodities imported into the Sudan which included coffee, our worries at first was how to engage private investors whose labs were outside the country (mainly in Kenya). The cost was high. However, this was achieved through building capacity of UCDA,” Kananura said.

“During our engagements yesterday with the Sudanese delegation, we requested for a single annual inspection because inspection of every consignment will be very costly for the country,” he added.

Zakaria Suliman Salih, the deputy director general of SSMO, who led the Sudanese delegation, said their new regulations were aimed at protecting their consumers. “We want to protect the consumers of coffee in our country. Get to know the challenges when exporting. Doing this, we are not creating barrier to trade but instead want to facilitate the smooth flow of trade between the two countries,” he noted.

He also commented about the overwhelming hospitality they have received in Uganda, saying: “Ugandans are very hospitable people. We have enjoyed our meetings with the coffee processors, traders and regulators. We are happy to see that they are complying with our new regulations.”

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Christopher Kibazanga assured the Sudanese delegation that government was committed to meeting the new regulations.

“Our engagement with SSMO dates when officials from UCDA had a meeting in Khartoum following the new set standards. As minister of Agriculture, I’ll ensure that our coffee meets the set standards,” he said.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, indicates that the ministry appreciated the grace period that was given to Uganda to meet the new standards.

“Thanks for the enough grace period that was given to us. We are also thankful for collaboration between UCDA and UNBS in making sure these standards are met. Sudanese market is extremely important to our country: at an economic and political level.”

The Sudanese delegation is in Uganda for a week tour to check all the coffee supply chain from the farmers, standards officials, UCDA and all stakeholders in the sub-sector.

Uganda exports about 4.6 million 60- kilogramme bags of coffee a year and 20% (920,000) go to Sudan, the second biggest consumer of Uganda’s coffee, only beaten by the European Union.

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