President Yoweri Museveni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have held talks aimed at bolstering trade and development between their two countries.
The two leaders appreciated the very warm bilateral relations existing between the two countries and explored further areas of cooperation especially in areas of trade.
Museveni, who is in New Dehli to attend the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit, told Premier Modi that Uganda produces a lot of milk and processed diary products among other products that could be exported to India, and urged him to encourage more Indian businesses to invest in Uganda.
According to reports bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $728 million in 2010–11, with the balance of trade heavily in India’s favour. Ugandan exports to India accounted for only $16.7 million of the total trade. Uganda imports almost 30% of its pharmaceuticals from India while India emerged the second largest source of Foreign Direct Investments for Uganda in 2011.
The meeting at Hyderabad House was attended by the Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s High Commissioner to India Elizabeth Paula Napeyok and Uganda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, Ambassador Mull Katende.
Back to his Oberoi Hotel residence, President Museveni received the Chairman of Amos Dairies Ltd Mr Dewar Pruthi, accompanied by the Group Managing Director Mr Pundit Pruthi and Mr Surinder Chawla, the Joint Managing Director. The two sides discussed the development of the dairy sector in Uganda and how it could be expanded to target the export market.
Mr Dewar Pruthi further told the President that they have had a very fruitful one-year old investment in Uganda based in Kiruhura district, and that the group also wanted to venture into mineral salts, sorghum and maize production for making silage cattle feeds. He also said the group intends to venture into the production of cow seed crop for export market as well as the usage of cow-dung to produce biogas steam for power generation.
