Don’t mix business with politics, Museveni tells Europeans
President Museveni has asked the European Union to invest in Ugandan instead of lecturing the country, saying the latter is a non-trade barrier to business.
“The is a non – trade barrier created by wrong politics where people mix politics with business. You need to advise governments in Europe to get out of that mistake. Down with ideological chauvinism. Don’t bring your ideas to waste our time because this has been the mistake for a very long time. It is responsible for the problem in Israel between Jews and Arabs which was made worse by the Romans,” Museveni said.
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The president was on Wednesday addressing the third edition of the Uganda-European Union business forum at Speke Resort hotel in Munyonyo.
He said that business should not be mixed with business, noting that one kills the other.
“We end to end this arrogance. It should not be in trade. I buy your product because I need it. Don’t try to impose any of your thinking on me. I know how to think and if anything is right , I will see it myself. “
“The Bible says let your light shine so good that the people will see the good deeds and praise your father in heaven. Influence people by example. If you think you are right, do good things and people will admire you because of your example but not bringing politics which is a non trade barrier.”
Investment
Museveni told the business forum that Uganda is ripe for investment, noting that doing business in Uganda is a no brainer.
“Business means an enterprise that makes profit. It is what business is all about. The higher profit, the better. Therefore, when talking about businesses you need to look at the level of profitability of businesses in this part of the world compared to Europe, Asia and other investment destinations,” Museveni said.
He told the business forum that the return on investment in Uganda is high compared to other destinations, adding that the good infrastructure in terms of transport, electricity and communication in Uganda make it the best investment destination.
“Therefore, European businesses coming to invest in Africa is common sense and good strategy.”
The European Union Ambassador to Uganda, Jan Sadek said the past two business forums have bore fruits for Uganda as for the first time, the country ‘s volume of exports to Europe and European investments in Uganda have gone up.
“I can now confidently report that our trade and investment has developed in a remarkable way in the last few years. When you look at statistics, there is doubling of Ugandan exports since 2020 and the EU’s share of foreign direct investments in Uganda was a year ago more than 40% or more than shs5 trillion. I would want to believe that these business forums have contributed somewhat to these impressive figures,” Sadek said.
“On the trade side, we had a very health turnover on the Ugandan side worth shs6.2trillion and I congratulate Uganda because for more than a year, the country had a positive trade balance with European Union.”
Sadek said in 2022, Uganda exported goods worth 800 million Euros to the European Union but imported goods for worth 700 million Euros.
