The Senior Presidential Advisor to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), Odrek Rwabwogo, has assured Chinese entrepreneurs of the best investment climate in Uganda.
Rwabwogo who was in China recently also rooted for market for Ugandan products in the Asian country.
During his tour, Rwabwogo toured various plants including one of China’s largest integrated textile plants and asked the owners to channel part of their operation in Uganda.
Rwabwogo and his team toured the Kamhing textile company which is owned by the Tai Chin Wen family and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. It has an annual revenue of $600m and processes 100 million kilograms of cotton from lint, yarn, fabric including knitting, printing and dying.
“We do not know much about Uganda and Africa and how to invest there especially in a delicate product like cotton fabrics. We are not sure of water because we use a lot of steam, the levels of electricity stability and overall safety and security of the continent. If you can guarantee these things, we would consider a visit to explore the possibility of partnership with Government to source cotton and produce fabrics for the market there,” Tai Chin said.
In response, Rwabwogo said: “Uganda is at a critical stage of production with increases of all agricultural commodities, a young and highly educated labour force and electricity provision at only USD5cents for manufactures.”
“Next year, when we begin production of oil, we anticipate the beginning of a thriving petrol chemical industry that will provide us with dyes for printing for the cotton industry. If you invest today, you are an early bird and President Museveni will offer you all fiscal and market protection to give the country scale in this sector,” Rwabwogo added.
Statistics indicate that Uganda’s per capita consumption of fabric per annum is 6 meters and total consumption is about 276 million square meters, spending substantial amounts of foreign exchange importing used clothing.
President Museveni recently reiterated the need to support local manufacturers instead of “slaving for foreign countries” through a huge export bill.
Earlier, Rwabwogo and his team rallied several Chinese agro-industrial companies that are product off-takers and investors in Guangzhou, Guangdong province of China, to focus on Uganda as a source of good agricultural products.
During a meeting which was attended by over 80 product buyers and investors in agriculture, mining, electronics, logistics and education services, Rwabwogo said Uganda has the world’s best quality agricultural produce.
“We are improving the phytosanitary standards for our food products, modernizing our laws and regulations and their enforcement and also establishing trade representation in key markets. These are some of the new measures President Yoweri Museveni is applying to remove doubts from buyers of our food,” Rwabwogo said.
“We are creating critical awareness about Uganda as a good source of products because of the reforms we are making in infrastructure such as energy, roads and water to reduce production costs for firms and improve the business environment,” he added.
He praised the leadership of China since 1949 for providing a good example to developing countries on how to restore a nation, make it rich and strong saying, “city of Shenzhen which began experimentation with the Free zones export idea in the 1990s has led China’s economic resurgence and growth in the last 40 years”.
