Uganda tapped to host East African Procurement Forum 2023

December 24, 2022 in Business by Editor

Uganda’s procurement watchdog, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority PPDA will host the 14^th edition of the annual East African Procurement Forum slated to take place in Kampala from March 23-26, 2023 at Kololo Independence grounds. The inaugural East African Business Expo will also take place on the sidelines of the forum at the same venue.

This follows the selection of Uganda as the next host by the PPDA’s regional peers.  Partner procurement regulatory bodies expected to attend include, The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) of Kenya, The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) of Tanzania, The Rwanda Public Procurement Authority, Agence de Regulation des Marches Public (ARMP) of Burundi, Agence de Regulation des Marches Public (ARMP) of DRC and the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Southern Sudan, who together regulate over Two hundred thousand (200,000) suppliers with a procurement market size estimated at over 100 Billion USD annually.

The East African Procurement Forum EAPF, is an annual gathering of the heads of public procurement regulatory bodies from East African Community member states. The event and the East African Business Expo which will be staged for the first time, is seen as an opportunity to share experiences and challenges as a way of improving national procurement systems against a backdrop of ongoing efforts to deepen East Africa’s economic and political integration.

Running for four days, the EAPF and Fast African Procurement Forum and East African Business Expo will include Business Meetings, Conferences, Innovation, Networking, and generate sales leads and building of valuable relationships, under the theme “Open Contracting as a vehicle for Sustainable Development.”

The forum will run around seven sessions covering the breadth of the legal and commercial landscape of the region. Doing business across East Africa will take participants through the rules, regulations and opportunities for suppliers to do business across the East African member states while sustainable procurement will explore how businesses can identify and reduce the environmental impacts of their supply chains.

Diversity and inclusion will unpack opportunities for Women and youth in procurement across the region. There will also be a presentation from East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the scope for partnerships with CNOOC and Total Energies under the oil and gas sector.

A Buyers meeting with suppliers will bring together international agency buyers such as the African Union, UN agencies such as UNDP, UNHCR UNICEF UNGM UNIDO, OCHA, UNFPA, WHO and multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF, and EAC Secretariat among others. Representatives will meet suppliers from the region to guide them on governing policies and procedures.  Member states will also pitch investment opportunities while the last session will be on bid support and using innovation to support procurement across the region.

The East African Business Expo which will attract procurement professionals and key industry suppliers from the seven East African community member states, is billed as an opportunity to share knowledge, best practices, network as well as avail opportunities for suppliers to showcase their products, goods and services.

Exhibition space and sponsorship opportunities will also be available for procurement service providers, suppliers of goods and services, consultants, institutions and special interest groups. are invited to participate as exhibitors or sponsors. The East African Business Expo provides an unrivalled opportunity to showcase products and services directly to key decision makers involved in procurement and purchasing.