Museveni invites Italian investors to produce in Uganda
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Nile Post
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni asked a delegation of more than 80 Italian officials, investors and partners gathered in Entebbe to invest in agriculture, mineral processing, coffee and electric vehicles in Uganda. He called for investments that produce locally instead of exporting raw materials, according to the Nile Post.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni invited Italian investors to come and produce in Uganda in agriculture, mineral processing, coffee, electric vehicle manufacturing and technology transfer. He was speaking to a delegation of more than 80 Italian government officials, investors, business representatives and development partners gathered at State House in Entebbe, the Nile Post reports.
Museveni gave the example of coffee: Uganda earns a little more than 2 dollars a kilo from exports, whereas a processed product sells for much more on the European market. "That kilo in Europe is 40 dollars or more," he said, arguing that processing plants set up on site would allow the country to retain more value. "For coffee, we are going to build factories here. You are welcome," he told interested investors.
The head of state called on European countries to support Africa's industrialisation through investment in production and processing, rather than through the export of raw materials. "Why would you want to do business with a poor man?" he asked, pleading for a prosperous trading partner.
The meeting is part of a series of appeals by the Ugandan president in favour of investment and local production, after his invitation to Ugandans to contribute to the country's development on 8 October and his call to farmers in Sheema to develop irrigation on 24 October.
