Establishing Well Functioning National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs)
In the OIC Member States
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4.2.3. Case study from the African group: Uganda
4.2.3.1 Introduction
This case study will first describe the public and private NTFB stakeholders, then focus on the
general characteristics and current state of the NTFB, identifying success factors and obstacles to its
creation and functioning, and finally highlighting some of the best practices and solutions
encountered during the study.
4.2.3.2 Description
Although there is not an official NTFB in Uganda, there is a similar mechanism that deals with Trade
Facilitation issues, which is called National Working Group on Trade Facilitation (NWGTF). The group
was formed following the trade facilitation needs assessment done in December 2007.
In the public sector, the most relevant stakeholders are Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry
(MTTI); Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED); Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (MoICT); Ministry of Works and
Transport; Uganda Revenue Authority (URA); Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB); Uganda
National Bureau of Standards (UNBS); and Uganda Investment Authority (UIA).
- Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI)
The MTTI was formed through a merger of the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities, the
Ministry of Cooperatives and Marketing, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Industry and
Technology. The mandate of the Ministry is summarized as follows:
"To formulate and support strategies, plans and programs that promote and ensure expansion and
diversification of tourism, trade, cooperatives, environmentally sustainable industrialization,
appropriate technology, conservation, and preservation of other tradable national products, to
generate wealth for poverty eradication and benefit the country socially and economically."
BOX 3. National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee of Indonesia
The legal framework is a document that establishes the official recognition of the Task
Force. The Task Force is part of the National Group Trade Facilitation (NGTF). It is in the
process of ratification.
Main tasks of the NTTFC are:
There is no institutionalized Trade Facilitation Body, but there is a Task Force in the WTO
TFA context. The main reasons that motivated the establishment of the TF body were to
facilitate the negotiation of TFA, to promote dialogue and discussion of issues between
public and private sectors, and to facilitate import and export processes, thus reducing the
number of documents required and optimizing times.