President Museveni has appointed Moses Sabiiti, the former Country Director of Trademark Africa (TMA), as the Senior Presidential Advisor on Exports and Industrial Development.
Sabiiti, who recently completed 12 years at Trademark Africa, has been serving as Vice Chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID).
He was appointed together with Richard Byarugaba, the former Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
During his time at Trademark Africa, Sabiiti led several major trade facilitation projects that improved cross-border trade. These included the construction of One Stop Border Posts at Malaba, Elegu/Nimule, Mutukula and Kagitumba/Mirama Hills, as well as the 37-kilometre Ntungamo–Mirama Hills road.
He also supported the private sector and oversaw the upgrading of customs systems. Using $100 million in donor grant funding, Sabiiti implemented projects such as the Gulu Logistics Hub, Busia One Stop Border Post, Ntoroko Port, Goli–Mahagi OSBP, and laboratories for the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
Other projects included the automation of trade portals for institutions like the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Coffee Development Authority, Uganda Free Zones Authority, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the National Electronic Single Window Project.
Before joining TMA, Sabiiti worked at the Uganda Revenue Authority as a senior manager in charge of customs, where he led reforms to improve border operations and trade processing.
He is also a farmer and exporter of Hass avocado, green chilies and coffee, and is involved in livestock farming.
Welcoming his appointment, Sabiiti thanked President Museveni for entrusting him with the role, saying it is a great pleasure to serve his country.
“I thank H.E the President for the recent appointment to the role of Senior Presidential Advisor on Exports and Industrial Development. It’s a pleasure to be given an opportunity to serve my country in this capacity.”
He also thanked the PACEID chairperson Odrek Rwabogo, for his ability to spot trade opportunities.
“I thank Chairman Odrek Rwabogo for his great leadership and stewardship of the exports sector. He is very good at identifying trade opportunities for the private sector and identifying talented people who have the required technical expertise and passion for particular tasks.”
Commenting on the appointment, the head of the PACEID Secretariat, Mathew Bangonza, welcomed the move.
“We thank the President for giving us the right person who will support the chairman PACEID’s work of promoting Ugandan exports. Because of his past works at Trademark East Africa and his trail of work like the construction of infrastructure like the One stop Border posts, and his works with the private sector, I believe he is the right person for this job,” Bangonza said.
He added that exporters will benefit from Sabiiti’s expertise.
“From him we expect more expertise to grow our exports. As an expert in skilling exporters, more exporters will be skilled on what is needed in exports like standards and also research and innovations that will make our exporters competitive,” Bangonza added.
