In his opening remarks, the Director of the Cabinet of the North Kivu Provincial Minister of Trade, Mr. Joseph BAYINGANA, on behalf of the Provincial Minister of Trade, welcomed the Ugandan delegation to GOMA. He reminded, among other things, that this meeting was an opportunity for the experts not only to evaluate the implementation of the MoU that Uganda and DR Congo signed in Kasese, in April 2018 but also to update the two countries the status of the implementation of the recommendations of the 7th session of UGANDA-DRC Joint Cooperation Commission.
On the other hand, the head of the Ugandan delegation, Eng. Samuel SSENKUNGU, Director, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperative, thanked the Government of DR Congo for accepting to host the meeting. He further expressed hope that this technical meeting would lead to constructive recommendations aimed at increasing cross-border trade, eliminating non-tariff barriers and promoting cooperation and trade facilitation between the two countries. He also pointed out that the value of the Republic of Uganda’s annual exports to the DRC is on average US $ 400 million and noted that the cooperation will help increase the trade between the two countries