Uganda and South Sudan sign trade pact to address cross-border barriers
Uganda and South Sudan signed a trade memorandum in Kampala to promote trade and investment and improve information sharing. Joint technical committees will work to address cross-border barriers that persist despite both countries’ East African Community framework.
AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 5 outlets' reporting · Full text read from 2 of 5 outletsHow it's made
View timeline · 1 entryWhat happened
Key facts
- Uganda and South Sudan signed a trade memorandum during the second Uganda-South Sudan Business Forum and Exhibition in Kampala.
- Uganda's Minister of State for Industry, David Bahati, and South Sudan's Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Labanya Margaret Mathya, signed the agreement.
- David Bahati said trade between the two countries was skewed toward Uganda, which exported goods worth $524 million to South Sudan, compared with $22 million in South Sudanese exports to Uganda.
- David Bahati said Uganda had a population of 46 million and South Sudan 12.4 million, attributing part of the trade imbalance to the difference.
The brief
Uganda and South Sudan signed a trade memorandum in Kampala, with officials pledging joint technical committees to address barriers to cross-border commerce.
Uganda’s Minister of State for Industry David Bahati and South Sudan’s Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Labanya Margaret Mathya signed the agreement during the second Uganda-South Sudan Business Forum and Exhibition at Mestil Hotel.
The memorandum covers trade promotion, information exchange, investment facilitation and follow-up on agreed commitments, according to the account in independent.co.ug. The AllAfrica report says officials intend the committees to oversee implementation and address delays, high costs and other obstacles affecting trade.
The two accounts describe the same broad mechanism, with AllAfrica emphasizing the barriers the committees are meant to tackle and independent.co.ug detailing the agreement’s stated areas of work. Bahati said Uganda’s exports to South Sudan were worth $524 million, compared with $22 million in exports from South Sudan to Uganda.
He described the trade relationship as skewed toward Uganda. Bahati also linked part of the gap to population size, citing 46 million people in Uganda and 12.4 million in South Sudan. Those figures and that explanation were attributed to Bahati in the AllAfrica report; the independent.co.ug account does not provide separate export or population figures.
Uganda’s Ambassador to South Sudan Brigadier General Ronnie Balya said the committees were intended to ensure “there is no laxity” after delegates returned home, according to independent.co.ug. The AllAfrica account identifies the committees’ proposed role as supervising implementation and addressing cross-border obstacles.
The reports therefore describe both the practical remit of the committees and the concern, expressed by Balya, that follow-up should continue after the forum. The signing took place on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, according to independent.co.ug. AllAfrica dates it to Wednesday and places it during the same forum in Kampala.
The ceremony followed discussions at the business forum, but the accounts do not describe a specific earlier event that triggered the agreement or establish that the memorandum has already changed trade flows. The figures cited by Bahati underline the imbalance the memorandum is meant to address, while the agreement sets out cooperation areas and an implementation structure.
The reported commitments are plans: officials pledged committees, and the agreement covers follow-up on commitments. The accounts do not report that the committees have begun work or specify a schedule for their meetings. The immediate test is whether the governments establish the joint technical committees and carry out the memorandum’s follow-up work.
Their stated remit includes trade promotion, information exchange, investment facilitation and addressing barriers; no further implementation milestones are reported.
Why it matters
- Ugandan exporters and South Sudanese importers are directly implicated by the reported trade imbalance: Bahati put Uganda’s exports at $524 million and South Sudan’s exports to Uganda at $22 million.
- South Sudanese exporters face the practical barriers identified in the reports—delays and high costs in cross-border trade—which the proposed committees are meant to address.
- The memorandum’s stated mechanisms—trade promotion, information exchange, investment facilitation and follow-up—set out areas where both governments could coordinate, while the export figures show the relationship is uneven.
What to watch next
- Whether Uganda and South Sudan establish the joint technical committees officials pledged.
- Whether those committees take up delays, high costs and other cross-border trade obstacles.
- Whether the governments carry out the memorandum’s follow-up commitments on trade promotion, information exchange and investment facilitation.
How it's being covered
Coverage analysisShow details5 source articles · 5 unique outletsCoverage mix: Too few rated· 1 CenterWhere the outlets are based: Unknown 80% · Africa 20%
- Coverage is currently concentrated among outlets based in Unknown (4 of 5 geographically-identified sources).
How outlets' accounts compare
1 framing difference · 2 uncorroborated claims · 2 information gaps- AllAfrica foregrounds delays, high costs and other cross-border barriers and reports Bahati’s export and population figures; independent.co.ug emphasizes the memorandum’s areas of cooperation and Balya’s concern that follow-up continue after delegates return.
- Ronnie Balya said the committees were intended to ensure “there is no laxity” after delegates returned home.
- Bahati attributed part of the trade imbalance to the countries’ population difference.
- The reports do not quantify the economic cost of the cited trade barriers or explain their specific causes.
- The reports describe the committees as planned or pledged; neither establishes that they have been formed or begun work.
Timeline
Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.- South Sudan’s accession to the East African Community in 2016 gave Uganda and South Sudan a regional framework for trade, but did not remove practical barriers between them.Background · from our historical context
How we got here
South Sudan’s accession to the East African Community in 2016 gave Uganda and South Sudan a regional framework for trade, but did not remove practical barriers between them. South Sudan signed the EAC Treaty of Accession on 15 April 2016 and became the bloc’s sixth member on 5 September that year.
The framework rests on the EAC Customs Union Protocol, signed in 2004 and in force from 2005, which established rules for trade among member states. The EAC Common Market Protocol, signed in 2009 and effective from 2010, set out commitments on the movement of goods, services, capital and people.
Original sources
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