The Minister for ICT, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi has said Uganda will hope to tap into Japan’s aged population in a bid to create jobs for her youthful population.

“Japan and other developed countries have an ageing population and yet they have factories and other jobs that don’t have a work force. Through technology, it is possible that our graduates can be employed in Japan and they work from here through the business process outsourcing. It is what we are looking at,” Dr. Baryomunsi said.

He was on Friday speaking during the closing ceremony for a week- long study tour for a delegation of renowned Japanese ICT companies to Uganda.

The minister explained that with Japan’s population growth rate at -0.5% per annum and for Uganda being at 3.2% per annum, this indicates the population for the East African country grows at a faster rate than their Japanese counterparts, noting that it is an opportunity for Uganda to reap.

“Since the coming of the NRM government to power, we invested in health and education among others which have seen many graduates from universities all over the country every year but most of them lack jobs. It is high time we explored opportunities in Japan to see how we can create jobs for our young people but relying on ICT,”Baryomunsi said.

The minister said government set up the BPO council to realise this dream , adding that the cooperation is specifically between Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese government.

He noted that a team from ICT companies in Japan that concluded the week –long  business and investment tour to various institutions in the country  that will be a basis for the cooperation between the two countries in regards employment opportunities for Ugandan youths.

“One of the other areas we shall collaborate is technology since they have advanced in that area. We are to cooperate in Artificial Intelligence, block chain technology and robotics so that these technologies are extended to Uganda and integrated in the different sectors to ensure they can move fast. If you want health care, agriculture, education or tourism sectors to grow fast, you must build them on technology. It is what we are trying to do.”

The Ministry of ICT Permanent Secretary, Aminah Zawedde said whereas Japan has an ageing population, it is an opportunity for Uganda with a youthful population to provide the energetic workforce for them.

Zawedde noted that  by allowing Japanese ICT companies to tour Uganda, government aims at reaping through growth of the country’s ICT sector.

“With this tour, we are most certain that Japanese companies have been able to build a connection with the Uganda ICT- related companies, government agencies and private sector and we hope that these engagements will yield potential growth of the ecosystem in order to understand and appreciate the BPO and innovation landscape,”Zawedde said.

“Our goal is to promote locally homegrown innovations that can help solve societal challenges within our country and across the world.”

According to Prof. William Bazeyo, the chairperson of the BPO and Innovation Council, they hope to create over 30,000 jobs for Ugandan youths through this cooperation with Japan.

The JICA chief representative, Inoue Yoichi said the partnership between Uganda and Japan will move both countries to greater heights.