The presidential advisory committee on exports and industrial development (PACEID) hosted a Delegation from the Republic of Korea at a dinner in Kampala yesterday along with other private sector players operating in Uganda, to discuss the different investment and trade prospects between the two nations.
According to Odrek Rwabogo, Uganda and the Republic of Korea are exploring areas of mutual economic prospects through the PACEID. Export is a huge undertaking that focuses on behaviour change and forces institutions to respond and act differently.
“People think you should focus on trading in the neighbourhood; I like trading in the neighbourhood; we really want to learn from the best; export is a huge undertaking, which forces institutions to behave differently; it also teaches farmers to think and operate differently, like knowing that they are not growing pineapples to be massacred in Kampala, but think of parking, packaging, labelling, and labs differently,” said Rwabogo.
In his speech, Ambassador Sung Soo Park, Special Envoy to South Korea, delivered an invitation to President Museveni from his counterpart in South Korea, H.E. Yoon Suk, Yeol, to attend the Africa-Korea Summit in May 2024 and appreciated Uganda for its beauty and lovely people.
President Museveni has already accepted the invitation and will be there for the Africa-Korea summit in 2024.
Some of the business participants at the dinner said Africa is the next available market for trade as long as the environment is right; some shared that they have been carrying out trade in Uganda for the last 20 years and that they started small but are millionaires now.
Uganda’s exports stood at 6 billion dollars in the last concluded financial year, but it’s targeting 12 billion in the next financial year, with the Republic of Korea being the prospective Market for this share.
Currently, Uganda’s Key trade areas are tourism and Agro- industry, whereas Uganda is a consumer of Korean products in Samsung technology, LG technology, and Hyundai automotive.
