Role of the Department of External Trade

The mandate of the Department of External Trade of the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry is to develop appropriate external trade policies that consolidate and ensure expansion of Uganda’s export markets.


Strategic Objectives:



  • To ensure that international/export trade effectively and efficiently complements the domestic trade and production sub-sectors.

  • To ensure that what is produced domestically can be competitively traded at international/export level {To promote the competitiveness of Ugandan goods and services in international/external markets}.

  • To influence policies and practices of the country’s trading partners so that they are conducive to and supportive of the country’s development aspirations through trade negotiations.

  • To play a lead role in adapting Uganda’s economy to the trade and trade related policies and practices of the country’s trading partners in such a manner that Uganda increasingly benefits from international trade.

The major policy objectives for the Trade Sector are:


  • Improving the provision of trade facilitating infrastructure with the aim of enhancing the country's capacity to benefit from the preferential market access opportunities currently available under; AGOA, EBA, EU/ACP, Japan, Canada, Australia, and Morocco for selected African countries as well as what is offered by Russia and China.

  • Improving the capacity for trade negotiations on market access, including pre-negotiation preparations and analysis of post-negotiation implications and implementation.

  • Coordinating the implementation of multilateral trade agreements under the WTO.

  • Facilitating the Private Sector to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in bilateral and regional trade arrangements.

  • Enhancing private sector capacity to penetrate the soft markets in Middle East and North Africa.

  • Actively and effectively participate in the current WTO and ACP-EU EPA trade negotiations.

  • Facilitating the integration of domestic and international trade with a view to fostering the exploitation of linkages that exist between the domestic and external trade sectors.

\Trade Information/ Policies.

Please find attached the following documents for all the trade information relevant to your business.


  1. The PSFU Trade Platform for action 2009

  2. The National Trade Policy

  3. The National Industrial Policy

  4. The Highlights of the Post Budget Luncheon 2009

  5. The Post Budget Brief June 2009

    The Role of Uganda Investment Authority

    The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) is the agency set up by an Act of Parliament (Investment Code 1991) to promote and facilitate private sector investment in Uganda.


    The agency serves to:



    • Provide first hand information on investment opportunities in Uganda;

    • Issue Investment Licenses;

    • Assist in securing other licenses and secondary approvals for investors;

    • Help investors to implement their project ideas through assistance in locating relevant project support services;

    • Provide assistance in the acquisition of industrial land;

    • Help to obtain work permits and special passes for investors and their expatriate staff;

    • Arrange contacts for potential investors and organize itineraries for visiting foreign missions in the country;

    • Assist investors in seeking joint venture partners and funding;

    • Review and make policy recommendations to Government about investment.