U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
International Public Service and Outreach
International Trade Division-Small Business Development Center
East Africa-American Business Council, Atlanta
Uganda Investment Authority, Kampala

2006 UPDATES
	• Phase III Trade Delegation to Uganda, Photos and Report • "Organic cotton: Uganda's competitive advantage," China Daily, August 14, 2006 • UGA Helps Coordinate Participation of Ugandan Textile Industries at Las Vegas Trade Show • "Made in Uganda: Textiles from the Pearl of Africa" Web Site

Visit the Made in Uganda Web site.

On an April 2005 planning visit to Uganda textile producers and exporters, left to right: Glenn Ames (IPSO, UGA), Anant Parmer (Sigma Knitting, Kampala), Don Johnson (Dean Rusk Center, UGA), Ian Hardin (UGA Textiles, Merchandise and Interiors), and Job Dieleman (Small Business Development Center, UGA). The planning group visited seven companies including Texda Ltd. (United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Textile Development Agency, Uganda Integrated Programme), to observe hand loomed fabric production.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, this project will implement a program of training, technical assistance, and capacity building for Ugandan textile and apparel firms and entrepreneurs to expand their knowledge of the U.S. marketplace, build linkages with Southeastern U.S. textile firms, and ultimately initiate export sales to the U.S. Uganda has a competitive advantage in cotton production. Textile and apparel exports will generate income and employment by adding value to this important agricultural product. The project will build on Uganda's recent African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) successes by providing Ugandan textile and apparel firms with the tools to access and understand the U.S. market as well as creating opportunities to make lucrative business contacts in the U.S.

This project will build sustainable trade relationships between Ugandan and U.S. textile and apparel traders that result in export sales to the U.S. The project's goals are to: 1) develop Ugandan participants' understanding of the U.S. textile and apparel market and consumer preferences through trade missions to the U.S.; and 2) ensure sustainability by building the capacity of Ugandan trade associations and the Uganda Investment Authority to be resources to serve Ugandan entrepreneurs after the project is completed.

REPORTS AND SUMMARIES
	• Uganda and AGOA: A Focus on Value Added Textile Exports, Planning Trip Report to Uganda, April 17-23, 2005 (PDF)

The University of Georgia's Office of International Public Service and Outreach and International Trade Division-Small Business Development Center, the East Africa-American Business Council in Atlanta, and the Uganda Investment Authority in Kampala will implement this project. At the end of the project, at least four Ugandan firms will inaugurate exports to the U.S. The ultimate goal of this project is to increase income and employment in Uganda's textile and apparel sector through export growth while providing business opportunities for U.S. importers.