In a significant move aimed at streamlining regional commerce, Kenya and Uganda on Thursday signed a landmark Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Conformity Assessment on the sidelines of the 46th COMESA Council of Ministers Meeting in Lusaka.
The agreement, signed by Hon. Lee Kinyanjui of Kenya and Hon. Gen. Wilson Mbadi, the State Minister of Trade for Uganda, in the presence of the COMESA Secretary General Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, is expected to unlock immense efficiency gains, particularly benefiting cross-border trade in vital agricultural commodities.
Eliminating Duplicate Checks
The core function of the MRA is the mutual recognition of each country’s product standards and quality checks. This means that Kenyan and Ugandan authorities will now accept and recognise each other’s national procedures for: Product Inspections, Sampling and Testing Certification.
Crucially, this eliminates the need for duplicate checks at border crossings for key staple goods, effectively treating the exporting country’s certification as valid upon entry into the importing country.
The agreement, according to Hon. Mbadi, specifically targets essential commodities that form the backbone of intra-regional trade and food security, including: maize, soybeans, rice, beans, groundnuts, and sorghum, among others.
“If we cannot promote trade amongst ourselves, how can we benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA)? The elimination of non-tariff barriers is critical to achieving the vision of the East African Community Treaty,” Hon. Mbadi said at the signing of the MRA.
Boosting Trade and Empowering SMEs
The signing of the MRA delivers concrete economic benefits that directly support businesses across the East African Community (EAC) and COMESA region through:
Reduced Costs: Eliminating duplicate testing and certification drastically lowers compliance costs for traders.
Minimised Delays: The removal of repetitive border procedures significantly speeds up the transit of goods, reducing spoilage and inventory holding costs.
SME Empowerment: The efficiency gains are especially vital for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), which often lack the financial resilience to absorb the cost and time penalties associated with non-tariff barriers (NTBs).
Hon. Mbadi noted that the agreement builds upon the recent success of the Malawi-Zambia (MRA), showcasing COMESA’s growing momentum in actively dismantling technical trade barriers and fostering a more integrated African trade ecosystem.
The partnership between Kenya and Uganda is a strong signal for stronger, faster, and more seamless trade across the continent.