Egyptian business delegation eyes Uganda investment opportunities

A delegation of Egyptian business community on Tuesday held talks with members of the Ugandan Private Sector, on the possibility of investing in Uganda.

The business forum, which took place at Kampala Hotel Africana, was hosted by the Mister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Amelia Kyambadde.

In her Key note address, Minister Kyambadde said Uganda is endowed with favourable climate conditions, has arable land and is home to a wide range of flora and fauna.

“It’s against this background that Uganda welcomes investors in the fields of Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, Banking and Tourism promotion among other”, she said.

She called on the Egyptian Investors to promote the ongoing Government campaign of Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU), to protect indigenous companies.

“Government discourages the importation of products whose raw materials are readily available in Uganda”, she said.

She gave an example of imported soft drinks, juice and construction tiles, as products whose raw materials are locally acquired.

She said once the Egyptian business community establish their investments in Uganda, their products will not be referred to as Egyptian but Ugandan products.

Ahmed Taha, Egyptian Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry and head of the Egyptian business delegation hailed Uganda, for her natural beauty and the abundance of natural resources.

He said the Egyptian business community is willing to work hand in hand with Ugandan Private Sector, to promote what he termed as: “A win win situation”.

“We have decided to make Uganda our first destination to promote investments, towards realising an economically strong and self reliant Africa”, he said. He said Egyptian priority is to facilitate movement of Goods and Services on the African Continent.

“In development, long-term investments are important, especially in industrial domain. We are able to work together by increasing number of investments”, he added.