The Minister of Trade, Amelia Kyambadde, has called on the Government of Namibia to strengthen trade relations with Uganda through the various regional trade blocs and at individual country level.
Kyambadde said while meeting Netumbo Nabdi-Ndaitwah, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of Nambia and Vice President of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO).
She is leading a delegation of 11 persons on a four day visit with a focus on enhancing the bilateral relations between Uganda and Namibia.
“Uganda is a potential investment area that the people of Namibia could exploit Uganda’s priorities for trade and investment are focused on value addition in a number of sectors such as Agriculture, Information and Community Technology, Infrastructure- Transport and Logistics, Energy, Tourism among others. She indicated that Uganda is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa with a GDP growth rate averaged at 6.5 per cent and in a strategic location within the region.” Amelia said
According to Statistics, in 2018, Uganda exported only sesame oil seeds to Namibia valued at US$27,000 and imported goods worth US$210,000 which mainly included worn clothing, Machine tools for working metal and grapes.
Netumbo applauded the Government of Uganda for cordial relations and re- emphasized the need to further harness regional value chains across the African continental free trade area.
“Government of Namibia prioritizes investments in the fisheries sector and tourism among others.” She said
The two Ministers agreed to explore developing a MoU on enhancing trade and investment; the need for infrastructure connectivity across the continent; cultural and education exchange programs.
The Republic of Namibia is an economy with a 2.5 million population, GDP Growth Rate averaged at 1.19 percent from 2004 until 2019 and member of the Southern Africa Development Community and Southern Africa Customs Union.
Uganda and Namibia have enjoyed cordial relations since the early 1990s. Trade between the two countries is governed under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Tripartite and the Continental Free Trade Areas. However, trade between the two countries remains very minimal and skewed in favour of Namibia registering a deficit of US$ 183,000 for Uganda as of 2018.
