The President of Senegal, Macky Sall, has promised to buy Uganda’s powdered milk in a bid to further improve the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Sall who is in Uganda for a two-day state visit arrived in the country on July 18 and held talks with host and counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
After the talks, the two presidents addressed a press briefing at State House, Entebbe.
Sall hailed Ugandans for their hardwork, saying it was time for Senegal to import from Uganda what they do not produce.
“What does Uganda produce in excess to export it? We import things from New Zealand and Brazil. Powdered milk for example, we need to see how we can come and buy your milk,” Sall who was visiting Uganda for the first time said.
“We also produce many things in Senegal. Groundnuts, for instance, we don’t know whether Ugandans like them,” he wondered.
“Therefore a lot of possibilities to exchange ideas on food stuffs,” the president said.
He said there were more ways through which Uganda and Senegal could cooperate.
Earlier, the two presidents agreed to share military intelligence and jointly fight terrorism.
“We have exchanged ideas on cooperation in security and the struggle against insecurity in ways it could be more efficient. The Africa of today has become a fighting ground for many terrorists,” Sall said.
“In West Africa there is a lot of terrorism activity, the Sahel region, Lake Chad area. Different groups terrorise the people and nations. We see the same in East Africa and southern Africa,” the visiting president added.
“We must work together, mutualise our common understanding of this problem and also put together our means and resources.”
“Uganda exports security in many places. It can be made a valuable product to export security and intelligence,” he said.
Museveni said there were commodities which need a global market like coffee, minerals, tea or oil but also there are those for a smaller spectrum.
“If you look at Uganda’s trade with the neighbours, building materials like cement, steel products, and food, we sell more to the region. Yes, there are those we sell abroad like gold and coffee but what we sell in the region is much bigger,” Museveni said.
He said the prosperity of one African country depends a lot on how the neighbours respond.
“We should take regional peace seriously as part of our internal matters …as if it is our internal problem,” Museveni said.
