President Yoweri Museveni has urged Indian entrepreneurs and business executives to come and invest in Uganda, saying it is more profitable than in India or many other countries.
Addressing the India-Africa Business Forum at the Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi, the President said prosperity could be done through trade and investment as a strategic goal for India to promote partnerships with Africa.
Museveni is in India on a four-day working visit during which he will also address the 3rd India – Africa Forum Summit currently underway at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.
President Museveni identified trade, infrastructural development, tourism and collaboration in scientific cooperation and research as areas that can be exploited to create prosperity sustainably through production.
He said the first stimulus for prosperity is trade because the producer, and the buyer mutually support each other.
He however pointed out that whereas Uganda has been supporting the prosperity of India by buying Indian products, India has, over the years not reciprocated in equal measure, thus the trade imbalance between the two countries. He explained that India’s exports to Uganda are worth US $1.6 billion, but only imports Uganda’s unprocessed coffee worth US $16million only; thus creating unbalanced prosperity through trade.
He invited them to come and invest in the agricultural processing sector to add value to agricultural products for export.
He also identified other areas as mineral processing, fresh water products, oil, gas and energy.
President Museveni called for ‘the elimination of trade barriers so that Uganda’s products such as textiles, tea and dairy products can gain access to the Indian market’ but only blocked by consumer action. “It was trade not aid that leads to sustainable prosperity,” he said.
The President had earlier met a number of investors who included those from the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Hinduja Group, and the Tata Group Chairman Cyrus P Mistry, who called on him at his hotel residence.
The meetings were attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s High Commissioner to India Elizabeth Paula Napeyok and Uganda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and African Union Mull Katende.
