Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa with a total estimated population of about 48.2 million people. The country is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and on the south by Rwanda and Tanzania.

The Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) has established itself as one of the prime trade events in East Africa. Held every year, the DITF is an ideal platform for companies to showcase their products on a pan-African platform. The DITF has grown in stature over the years and attracts more than 1,000 companies from all over the world to participate annually. In addition to companies from Tanzania and the rest of Africa, one can find a large contingent of overseas companies from as far away as the United States, Europe, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

Djibouti has had tremendous investment promotion success over the last five years and is now one of the leading FDI areas in Africa. Its government has decided to use its Red Sea position and proximity to Ethiopia to the West and the Arabian Gulf to the East, as the driving theme for major investment promotion. But it also recognised that location alone is not enough, so over the past five years it established a Djibouti Free Zone (DFZ), and a new, more modern, foreign investment regime that would support new direct investment into that Zone.

Addis Ababa loosely translated means a ‘new flower’ and the capital city of Ethiopia is in many ways blooming like a flower. Known as the home to the African Union, formerly the Organization of African Union (OAU), Addis Ababa is the largest city in Ethiopia with a population of over 2.5 million and is often referred to as the capital of Africa because of its historical diplomatic and political significance to the African continent.

The East African Community (EAC) is the regional intergovernmental organisation of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The EAC aims to create a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united East Africa; and the Mission is to widen through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments.The EAC countries established a Customs Union in 2005 and a Common Market in 2010. The next phase of the integration will see the bloc enter into a Monetary Union and ultimately become a Political Federation of the East African States.

For exporting goods to Tanzania, there are some formal governmental procedures to be taken into consideration. The following document will describe the procedures that have to be passed and it will also state what is required from you at the different stages. Unless the following guidelines are cautiously and timely followed up there will most certainly be delays in shipment of goods which will consequently result to late clearance and delivery of the goods to the final customer.

Rising transportation costs to ship goods between Kenya and Uganda have historically been an acute problem for the business community of East Africa. To combat this, Ugandan traders have aggressively pushed to empower the National Trade and Facilitation Forum (NTF) and regional shippers’ councils to fight soaring transport costs on the country’s vital Northern Corridor. The NTF aims to reduce logistics costs through the removal of non-tariff trade barriers and the harmonization of transport policies across the corridor, which also serves the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan.

East Africa is a region overflowing with potential. From high-tech agriculture and critical mineral mining to eco-tourism and renewable energy, investment opportunities abound. With the aim of harnessing this potential to promote robust economic growth and development, the eight partner states of the East African Community (EAC) have agreed to cooperate extensively in the areas of Investment and Industrial Development, as outlined in the EAC Treaty.

Tanzania is fast emerging as the financial hub for East Africa and consistently ranks among the top countries on the continent assessed for their aggressive efforts to expand and improve access to digital financial services.

Smart investors, savvy analysts and individuals familiar with emerging markets know that South Sudan has the potential to become Africa’s next best bet. So says David Raad and Associates (DR&A) who helps businesses explore and undertake opportunities in southern Sudan.

Kenya is the logistical hub for the East African region. Through its strategic geographical location, Kenya has emerged as a significant player in regional trade, investment, infrastructure development and general economic growth. Despite many of its social and economical problems, Kenya can be described as one of Africa's post-colonial success stories: relatively prosperous, comparatively stable and host to many international organisations. Few could have imagined that Kenya would have achieved so much given the violence and terror which marked the country's struggle for independence. Today, Kenya continues to maintain a stable government and a free-market economy with a vibrant private sector, and, through the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative, the country is in a strong position to maintain its significant role in regional trade, investment, infrastructure development and general economic co-operation for the region.

Kenya has further consolidated its status as the gateway to East Africa and a leading trade hub in the region. The country tops the list of highest exporting countries in the 19-member COMESA trading bloc, emerging as the top performer in the regional East African market. In recent years, Kenya has also been labelled as a viable business hub in the East African region and many foreign companies have set up assembly plants in Kenya to penetrate the lucrative markets in the region. By manufacturing in Kenya, the businesses are able to transport their goods within COMESA member countries without paying taxes, thereby adding to their profit margins.