Africa-Press – Tanzania. UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni has lauded Tanzanian government for allowing smooth import of sugar from his country, as part of efforts to cement ties between the two nations.
Mr Museveni made the statement in his inaugural speech, acknowledging the support from his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan who was among the dignitaries who attended his swearing-in ceremony.
“I thank President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania for allowing her country to import sugar from us,” he said, while also commending Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for doing the same.
He said Uganda produces over 600,000 tonnes of sugar annually, but their domestic consumption stands at 300,000 tonnes per year.
“That is why, it’s necessary for us to export the surplus sugar,’’ said President Museveni, while assuring the heads of state attending the ceremony of Uganda’s full cooperation in business and other spheres.
Last year, Tanzania experienced a scarcity of sugar that the government attributed to coronavirus pandemic, noting that virus had disrupted the importation schedules.
Equally, the government noted that some dishonest traders had hoarded sugar to create a false scarcity and in turn sell at raised prices.
In the same vein, the government also imposed price controls for sugar in April last year after a decline in local production due to poor weather conditions.
While in Kampala President Samia met and held talks with the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde on how to strengthen cooperation between their countries.
In the discussion, President Zewde expressing confidence on her leadership commended President Samia for being sworn in as Tanzania’s sixth Head of State following the death of President phase president of Tanzania on March 19 this year.
Her first visit to the country was early last month, when she held talks with her host and both witnessed signing of three key agreements to kick off the construction of what is set to become the world’s longest East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
The pipeline will be 1,443km long with the capacity of carrying 200,000 barrels per day and has a total cost of 3.55billion US dollars.
The 3.5 billion US dollars project will have short and longterm economic benefits for the two neighboring countries, specifically during the construction phase.
According to some official reports, the huge investment of the 1,444-kilometer EACOP construction will be the major source to increase direct foreign investment in both countries by 60 per cent.
Tanzania is expected to earn an estimated 3.24bn US dollars once the project becomes operational with more than 18,000 jobs set to be generated over the next 25 years.
President Samia after witnessing the signing ceremony said the project would not only benefit Uganda and Tanzania alone but the entire region. She said the EACOP will unlock the regional potential and attract more investors to east Africa.
“Our region is well-endowed with abundant resources. In order to fully and effectively exploit these resources, we need infrastructure,” she said.
Before leaving Kampala President Samia invited President Museveni to attend the signing ceremony between Tanzania and investors of the crude oil pipeline from Hoima to Tanga that will take place on May 20th this year.
