President Yoweri Museveni has encouraged the American business community interested in collaborating with Ugandans to initially partner with local entrepreneurs or consider establishing their own enterprises in Uganda.
He emphasized the importance of processing and enhancing the value of the country’s abundant yet predominantly perishable organic products.
Museveni stated, “Engage with our Ugandan entrepreneurs or, if you prefer, establish your own businesses here to process and add value to our perishable organic commodities, including coffee, cotton, tea, grains, fish, bananas, dairy products, beef, fruits, and vegetables.”
“Our ministries of Agriculture, Trade, the investment authority; and the exports and Industry Advisor, Odrek Rwabwogo and his team, will tell you about the huge quantities available and how to get round to ensure you can set up your operations successfully,” he added.
He observed that Uganda possesses significant tourism potential.
He said that if they choose to follow this path, they should anticipate returns of approximately 20% or higher, especially when considering the development of the nation’s rich mineral resources, such as iron ore, gold, phosphates, lithium, and tin.
“The country gives a highly facilitated incentive regime to processing and value addition that removes taxes from investments, offers land and in some cases, if you buy our products, Uganda provides you with grants in crop finance and working capital, to ensure you can source easily from Uganda,” he said.
He elaborated that Uganda has collaborated with the private sector as partners by establishing an export fund that offers very low interest and fee rates.
This initiative ensures that anyone with an order or a proforma invoice for any of our products can avoid the need to rely on commercial banks.
He encouraged them to seize this opportunity, noting that in 2018, Uganda, along with 53 other African nations, committed to establishing a unified market for the continent to eliminate fragmentation and varying trade systems.
“I am, therefore, glad to hear that the business community in America have worked with their allies in Uganda in the private and public sector, to conduct the first Pan African Business Forum in Kampala,” he noted.
His remarks were delivered by the Vice President Jesica Alupo at the opening of the Pan-African Business Forum at the Speke Resort Munyonyo.
He stated that East Africa has already made significant progress with a common customs union, a unified market, and is advancing towards a shared currency and a political federation encompassing the eight countries. Additionally, he noted that Africa is now functioning as an open single market.
He emphasized that this represents one of the most significant opportunities for the continent to operate and collaborate as a unified market since the year 1900, when it was colonized.
“Some problems here and there still remain on how to quickly activate the market but Uganda is resolving them progressively. In this regard, I have directed the Trade Advisor and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to jointly act quickly on the issue of the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) so that Uganda can lift some of her first consignment under AFCTA to West Africa,” he said.
He informed the congregation that Uganda Airlines has commenced flights to Lagos and that the country has established one of the largest diplomatic missions in Abuja.
He said Uganda has collaborated with its regional partners on the initiative, stressing that even the African market is expanding rapidly, and by 2045, it is projected to become a consumer market valued at $16 trillion.
“You need to process products here and sell them within the Africa market. You are in the right place at the right time,” he said.
Museveni stated that African cultures and their people are among the most resilient globally and represent the essence of the future.
“I want to encourage you to strengthen cultural exchanges, the film industry to tell African stories to a wider audience, increase tourism arrivals to Uganda given the fact that we are soon working on the flights to key US cities, investment in science and technology, build data systems for tomorrow’s economy and lift the current knowledge economy in Africa,” he noted.
Appreciating US government
He expressed gratitude to the US government for their longstanding collaboration with Uganda on essential issues related to security, health, education, and diplomacy.
“I understand that some of you who arrived early for this meeting had the opportunity to visit the banana project in Bushenyi, engage with coffee processors, and connect with producers of fruits and vegetables, even placing orders,” he noted.
He expressed appreciation to a company named DET based in Detroit, for their support.
“I thank a company called DET from Detroit and I thank them for the 600,000 sachets of processed coffee they are lifting. They add on to the efforts of our trade representatives in Southern Europe who are beginning to ship some roasted coffee and our country appreciates these kinds of partnership,” President Museveni added.
He urged those involved in computer assembly and parts manufacturing, as well as those interested in developing data systems with the country’s National Information Technology Authority – Uganda (NITA-U), to move forward with their initiatives.
“We have all it takes; we simply need partnerships to add value and build the manufacturing capacity and provide jobs,” he said.
He has pledged to meet with the forum members this Thursday (October 10), during which he will also share local names as a sign of “our hospitality and lasting friendship.”
The President said the first African congress held in Kampala since 1994, was notable for uniting influential figures such as Stockley Carmichael, who later adopted the name Kwame Ture, and W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent leader in the African liberation and African-American civil rights movements who passed away in the 1960s. Additionally, it featured the poet and activist Amiri Baraka, along with civil rights icons like Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcolm X.
He emphasized the importance of business leaders responding to the call for African unity, both within the continent and among the diaspora, to enhance trade, foster cultural exchange, and address the challenges of underdevelopment in Africa.
“I commend the efforts of the organizers and express gratitude to our visitors who answered the invitation to be in Kampala today,” he added.
He stated that after over 500 years, Africa currently boasts a stable, youthful, and expanding population, along with an economy that is increasingly thriving with fewer conflicts.
He observed that numerous conflicts, both historically and to some degree in the present, have been instigated by external influences in collusion with internal traitorous leadership.
President Museveni stated that Africa’s primary concern is the prosperity and dignity of all its people, regardless of their location or past dispersal across the globe.
He stressed that Uganda is actively collaborating with the US government on geo-security issues to enhance infrastructure aimed at safeguarding lives and property across Uganda and Africa and it is now essential to engage with private individuals regarding trade matters.
“We know our cardinal role to Africa and to humanity is to give ground to forces of growth and prosperity and to end the dehumanizing spirit of poverty,” he noted, saying this can’t be achieved minus peace.
Economy stability
He observed that Uganda’s economic stability has been highlighted as a significant achievement, with the assertion that it is now among the most stable nations both regionally and globally.
“This is because we understood when our generation was young, that dealing with political stability requires building an independent, integrated self-sustaining economy that lifts all the boats as they say; that you must respect the rights of the citizens and build a free-market economy that rewards hard work and enterprise and end subsidies of the 1980s,” he said.
Museveni highlighted that this has led to a strong annual GDP growth rate of 6-7% for Uganda over the last 35 years, saying that presently, Uganda has the capacity to produce all goods except for aircraft.
