Government of Uganda has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the existing conducive business environment and supporting investors who choose to invest in the country.
Officiating at the 4th Uganda, United Arab Emirates Business Forum in Kampala under the theme” Unlocking Opportunities, Building Bridges through Trade and Investment Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja encouraged friends from the UAE to explore Uganda’s natural beauty, vibrant culture, and tourist attractions and invest in the country.
She commended the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Uganda Mission in the UAE for utilising this Forum to promote Commercial and Economic Diplomacy.
“I appreciate the Chambers of Commerce from the UAE for their regular trade missions to Uganda aimed at identifying investment and partnership opportunities for the private sectors of our two countries,”Nabbnaja stated.
She noted that the theme of this Forum, “Unlocking Opportunities: Building Bridges Through Trade and Investment,” was both timely and relevant to ugandas tenfold growth strategy.
“It reflects our shared ambition to create prosperity by fostering a conducive environment for investment and by expanding the value and volume of trade between our nations,”she stressed.
Commenting about strengthening Uganda-UAE relations ,Babbanja said Uganda and the United Arab Emirates continue to enjoy strong bonds of friendship, economic cooperation, and a shared vision for sustainable development.
“Over the past three years, our bilateral relations have deepened significantly. This cooperation has been reinforced through three visits by H.E. the President of Uganda to the UAE – once this year and twice last year – as well as the visit to Uganda by His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, in May this year,”she explained.
“His visit culminated in the signing of six Memoranda of Understanding between our two countries, covering critical areas, including investment, capacity-building, energy, transport, ICT, and the waiver of visa requirements. These MoUs are indicators of our deep economic cooperation and a shared commitment to sustainable development and socio-economic transformation,” Nabbnaja added.
According to Nabbanja,The UAE has now become Uganda’s largest export destination, with bilateral trade reaching USD 2.85 billion. In addition, the value of UAE investments in energy, infrastructure, healthcare, agribusiness, oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate, and tourism in Uganda has reached USD 3.5 billion.
Explaining Why investors should come to Uganda Nabbanja cited Peace and Stability adding that Uganda is among the most peaceful and secure countries in Africa.
According to the IMF, Uganda ranks 7th among the fastest-growing economies in the world.
She further said that Uganda Shillings remains one of the most stable currencies in Africa, favourable Investment Climate mentioning Uganda offers a range of tax and non-tax incentives to investors and high returns in terms of private investment averaging 14% per annum higher than an average of 5.2% in Europe by 2022.
.She further said government recently adopted a Tenfold Growth Strategy with the goal of growing the size of the economy from USD 61.3 billion to USD 500 billion by 2040. To achieve this strategy, our NPD4 has identified four key areas for investment. They include Agro-Industrial Development – which is expected to be achieved through: Commercial agriculture, Tourism Development, Mineral-based Development, including and Science, Technology and Innovation,
“I therefore, invite you, our partners from the UAE, to join us on this transformative journey as we progress from lower-middle-income to upper-middle-income status by 2040.
I am confident that this Forum will achieve its main objective of promoting dialogue and building partnerships that will generate new investment opportunities for the mutual benefit of Uganda and the United Arab Emirates,”