Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has said the country’s climate is favourable for both tourists and investors who target value addition.
Museveni was on March 29 meeting trade representatives, the private sector and sector players from various ministries, departments and agencies at State House in Entebbe when he highlighted that the country was also peaceful without any security threat to investors’ establishments.
“Uganda’s climate is very good and favorable for tourists around the world especially now that Uganda is more peaceful than ever before,” he said.
The President added that the Government had made it a priority to improve infrastructure so as to make it easy for tourists.
“Setting up airfields in different tourist destinations is top on agenda. I have already told the government that we need to build more Airfields near the national parks,” the head of state said, adding: “This is because some of the rich people don’t have time to come and land at Entebbe and drive 500 miles to Kidepo National Park. So, we shall have to build more hard surface airports in Kidepo, Kasese, Kihiihi, Gulu etc.”
The Trade Representatives Forum which was organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), brings together Uganda’s trade representatives from various parts of the world to allow them to network, learn and strategise with the private sector for maximum output.
Value addition
President Museveni emphasized value addition as one of the major ways to make profits in Uganda using the available raw materials such as coffee, milk, cotton, tea, tobacco, fruits, beef, oil seeds, cocoa, bananas, leather, cassava and sugar.
The President added that government had already identified investors to set up an integrated steel industry for the inland parts of Africa rather than import from other parts of the world.
“I think we now have about four or five factories coming up to produce steel from our good iron ore, phosphates for fertilizers, cement, oil and gas, lithium (we need to produce electric batteries here for electric cars), copper, gold, tin, potassium,” he said.
The President hailed PACEID for identifying gaps within the export promotion drive and engaging young people to close the gap.
“The other day I was in Gulu district and I saw an exhibition by the young people who are engaged in processing all our precious products for the world market and we are ready to support them,” he said.
The Chairman of PACIED, Odrek Rwabwogo, said the meeting focused on strengthening coordination in order to move faster.
“If we are not coordinated in our institutions to deliver these targets, we’ll run around, our trade reps will get us orders that we won’t be able to fulfill. So, coordination is a lesson we have learnt and that’s why we have brought these trade representatives,” Rwabwogo said.
The forum was run under the theme, Coordination to drive Uganda’s Export Targets through better trade representation. It targeted about 150 participants including exporters, exporter associations, services providers (transporters, airlines, etc.), development partners supporting exports and PACIED committee members.
