President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is optimistic that Uganda’s rich raw materials base will make it a first world economy once they’re fully exploited, now that the country continues to attract investors who are willing to support his value addition strategy.
H.E Museveni made the request on Wednesday 22nd March, during the Lohana Indian Investment conference, a gathering of international investors in Uganda.
“This economy can quickly become a first world economy. It is now entering the middle-income level, but it can easily go faster, why? Because the raw material base is vast,” President Museveni said.
He added that coffee is currently fetching 900m dollars with potential to bring in $10bn and that Uganda is also doing well on steel production.
“For a long time, we didn’t have investors in steel but now they’re rushing to develop a steel industry inside the African continent so that we don’t have to get steel from China, Ukraine or India,”he added.
The president emphasized seven (7) key clusters of raw material base in Uganda ready for value addition while speaking at the Lohana International Business Forum (LIBF) at Munyonyo Common Wealth Resort Hotel in Kampala.
These include, Agro-processing (fruits, oil seeds, agricultural products), minerals (iron ore, steel, copper, phosphates, cobalt, gold, Nicol, lithium and niobium), fresh water resources to facilitate fish farming, forest products (furniture, ceiling boards, paparr industry), knowledge sector like the automobile industry, the services sector and the Pathogenic economy.
Mahaparished Satish Vithalani, global chairperson of the Lohana Business Forum, and Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia, chairperson of the Lohana community in Uganda, told the President that with his good leadership and policies in place, Uganda now offers a tremendous amount of stability, security, and confidence for long-term development, and thanked him for returning the Asian properties.
Evelyn Anite, Minister of Finance and Economic Development in charge of Investment, thanked President Museveni for always being available to talk with investors, noting that Uganda now has over 1900 factories owned by Indians and 900 by Chinese.
The Lohana International Business Forum dubbed “Africa Calling” attracted over 750 business elite and investors from 139 cities, representing 22 countries and from 29 businesses and services sectors from the influential global Lohana Indian Community.