Uganda has invited Kenya’s Agriculture and Trade ministerial teams to Kampala for dialogue in an overture to clear the trade tiff over Ugandan milk imports to Kenya.
Two months ago, Kenya slapped a seven percent levy on milk imports from Uganda, further straining relations between the two EAC countries.
Ugandan High Commissioner to Kenya and the Seychelles Dr Hassan Wasswa Galiwango while extending the invite said Uganda is supposed to export milk to Kenya but there is a problem that will be resolved soon.
Dr Galiwango said they have invited the government of Kenya to send a delegation to inspect Uganda milk factories, to ascertain Uganda’s capacity to produce exportable excess.
Galiwango was speaking in Nairobi during the Uganda Week in Kenya in commemoration of Uganda’s 59 years of Independence.
The dispute has been ongoing since July when Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries Frank Tumwebaze asked Kenya and Tanzania to allow Ugandan milk into their markets but due to Covid-19 effects, no meeting has been held between the countries.
Kenya’s Livestock Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said they had been ready to visit Uganda on a verification mission but the latter was struck by the third wave of Covid-19, hence the delay.
