Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. What You Need to Know about President Museveni’s Tour to UAE
On 15th Sunday 2023, The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a three-day tour to attend the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit on matters of climate and social-economic development, and to strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations.
About Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW)
ADSW week is a global initiative Championed by UAE to accelerate sustainable development and advance economic, social, and environmental progress. Now in its 15th year, ADSW continues to drive the global debate around climate action. As the first major sustainability gathering of the year prior to COP28, it is leading the way toward a cleaner, greener future.
Priorities
President Museveni’s first engagement in the UAE was meeting a number of investors and other stakeholders whom he described as ‘friends of Uganda’ to discuss the investment opportunities in Uganda.
Museveni revealed through his Twitter handle that the discussions revolved around Uganda’s need for value addition to the raw materials produced in the Pearl of Africa.
Museveni has always put emphasis on the need for value addition, especially to agricultural products such as Coffee, maize, and leather.
He informed the UAE-Uganda Presidential Initiative on the Investment Summit that Uganda used to rely on agriculture and minerals; the famous 3Cs (cotton, coffee, and copper), and 3Ts (tea, tobacco, and tourism). These were largely destroyed during the 1971-1986 political conflicts. The National Resistance Movement (NRM) government launched a recovery of the economy and to date, coffee exports stand at 8.4 million bags per annum from a miserly two million bags per annum. And that Uganda’s economy is now growing at 6 percent per annum, and has the potential to grow even faster.
Strengthening between the two nations
During his visit to UAE Museveni had a meeting with the President of the UAE and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The two leaders discussed matters of mutual interest to both countries and their people, especially in the areas of investment and doing business together.
He also paid a courtesy visit to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and held bilateral talks aimed at cooperation in the areas of cultural exchange, science, economy, tourism, and environment among other fields.
The discussions
With his hosts in UAE, the President discussed the business opportunities in Uganda accompanied by the investment incentives offered by his government. He also proffered his gratitude to the business community in Abu Dhabi, saying they are ready to do business with Uganda.
President Museveni and UAE officials discussed Uganda’s need for value addition as well as shedding more light on the available incentives and pro-business conditions for the investors.
These are some of the proceeds of the high-level engagements between President Museveni and government officials, as well as the business community, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Wooing investors
Uganda’s head of state appealed to the business community to come and invest in Uganda and take advantage of many untapped opportunities available in the country. He described Uganda as a virgin goldmine with a number of business opportunities provided by its fast-growing population of more than 43 million people.
“Uganda is a goldmine and there is great potential with its 43 million inhabitants, set in East Africa with more than 300 million people. Therefore, Uganda’s investment opportunities are endless because the goal is diversification and transformation of the economy,” President Museveni said during the business forum on Monday.
To ease investors’ stay in Uganda President Museveni urged technocrats to provide fair treatment to investors who are coming to invest in the country’s economy, saying Uganda’s road to recovery and economic prosperity can only be achieved by setting pro-business conditions for the investors.
President Museveni also commissioned new facilities for the Uganda Petroleum Institute.
Signed agreements
The two countries signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs). On Monday President Museveni signed the tea and coffee agreements during the business forum and the second MoU was signed to boost the tea and energy sectors.
Uganda and UAE relationship
The relationship between Uganda and the United Arab Emirates is strong, strategically invaluable, and is developing further. Uganda has signed several agreements with the UAE and others are being negotiated.
The UAE is the most important crossroad country in the Middle East, linking Uganda with the Middle East and the most important hub for transiting to America and Europe, to the West Asia-China, and Japan to the East.
The UAE’s foreign direct investment in Uganda is at 400 million dollars and on an upward trajectory. In 2019 Uganda enjoyed a positive trade balance with export to the UAE at 1.2 billion dollars against 563 million dollars in imports, which shows that the trade relations between the two nations are growing so fast.
In 2020, the Middle East’s total imports were valued at USD 819 billion. Uganda contributed exports valued at USD1.9 billion, a 0.23 percent market share.
There are about 100,000 legal migrants Ugandans living in UAE. Official data from Uganda’s Ministry of Gender indicated that there are 200,000 Ugandans currently employed in the Middle East. Of these, Saudi Arabia is taking the lead with 156,281 Ugandans, with UAE at 20486 and Qatar at 10203 following in that order.
Every year the government of Uganda collects USD1.2 bullion (Shs 4.5 trillion) globally. The Middle East alone sends in USD600 million (Shs2.2 trillion) and USD200 million (Shs762 billion) from UAE.
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