Ugandan, South African Presidents Strive to Enhance Trade in Africa

Uganda is South Africa's second largest trade partner in East Africa, according to Pretoria's statistics. For instance, Ugandan imports to South Africa increased by around $10.7 million from 2017 to 2020, the South African government says.

During the Ugandan leader’s official visit to South Africa on February 28, both heads of state demonstrated their aspiration to bolster trade on the African continent, highlighting the importance of enhancing of bilateral economic ties.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni outlined a number of bilateral trade priorities, among them are coal imports from South Africa, which are used to transform Uganda's iron ore into steel, and also highlighted some challenges in that sphere of relations.

"Bringing steel products from China, India and Ukraine, in the past, is very expensive, the freight alone is bigger than even the cost of the product itself," stated Museveni. ''So it is very important that we develop an inland steel industry for Uganda and those areas around there. We need coal from South Africa."

Museveni emphasized that a key aspect of successful Inter-African trade is peace on the continent.

"This will be a free trade area only if it is peaceful. But now the whole place is in chaos,'' he said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also pointed to the necessity to strive for peace in Africa, mentioning the ongoing conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"As a continent we need to continue to work towards the peaceful resolution of conflict and emphasize dialogue over military confrontation. [...] South Africa remains deeply concerned about recent developments in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. We strongly condemn the upsurge of conflict, being fuelled by armed groups," Ramaphosa stated.

Ramaphosa also noted that South Africa sees Uganda as an essential partner in the region and praised Uganda's contribution to ''regional economic and political integration as well as regional peace and stability.''

Both countries' ministers signed a number of deals in various sectors, including agriculture, transport and tourism.

Uganda is South Africa's 15th largest trading partner on the continent and the second largest in East Africa, Pretoria's data shows.

Uganda exports cotton, gold, fish fillets, tobacco, coffee and fresh flowers to South Africa, while the latter exports machinery, motorcars, plastics, chemicals, electronics, petroleum and many other commodities to its East African partner.

Overall trade between the two nations increased between 2017 and 2021, hitting a peak of $162 million.