The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda Jacob Oulanyah has asked the USA to put aside the ‘America first’ mantra, saying it is frustrating trade and commerce between Uganda and Africa, a continent economists refer to as the next frontier for investment.
The Deputy Speaker urged the Americans against sticking with the now-controversial campaign days ago while speaking at a conference dubbed ‘Reset America, Reset Africa 2018’ in St Louis Missouri, USA. He said countries should instead use legislation and policy-making to enhance trade.
“We use the process of legislation, policy making and budgeting to focus on trade, but how can we talk about this when you have a campaign of America first without helping other countries,” said Oulanyah.
Oulanyah, whose keynote address focused on using legislation and policy making to ease commerce and trade, stated that trade only makes sense when there’s mutual benefit for all parties involved.
He urged countries break barriers in transportation, accommodation and protectionism to open space for trade.
He said all barriers to trade and commerce are a threat to all countries, and that instead of mounting more barriers, legislation should seek to break the existing ones. “The laws and policies that we make can render these trade barriers meaningless, can make distances something of the past,” he said.
Oulanyah also discussed student exchange programs with universities in Missouri.
