State House, Entebber:– President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged Italian investors to provide support to Uganda by investing in the East African nation.
“What we need from Europe is capital, not from the government but from the private sector which needs money in the form of profits. It’s a win-win formula,” he said.
This approach, according to the President, would result in a mutually beneficial outcome.
He made the appeal during a meeting at State House Entebbe with a delegation from Italy, led by Ambassador Stefano Gatti, the Director General of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.
President Museveni also expressed his appreciation to the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, for promptly responding to his proposal of sending a delegation to Uganda to explore investment opportunities.
He informed the delegation that Uganda possesses abundant natural resources, sufficient labour, and numerous investment opportunities waiting to be explored.
“We can move faster if our cultural relatives; the Europeans join us,” the President said.
He urged the investors to establish manufacturing plants in the East African region to enhance the value of Uganda’s coffee.
“We now produce nine million bags of coffee and with irrigation, production will be more. We are moving although slower because of resources but once you come in, we shall move faster,” he stressed.
He also encouraged the Italians to invest in the manufacturing of veterinary drugs, vaccines and pharmaceuticals. “You can co-invest in the production of human drugs because we spend a lot on imports,” he added.
President Museveni reiterated the success story of Uganda’s dairy industry, citing transformative measures taken to connect rural producers with urban markets.
“When we took overpower here, we had to link the towns to the villages. We were able to make the villagers produce for the towns and milk production in Uganda jumped from 200 million litres a year to now 5billion litres a year and we are targeting 20 billion litres of milk. For the dairy, we have already moved on our own but we can work together also,” he added.
The President emphasized the significance of the climate fund project initiated by the Italian government, stating that it would assist Uganda in preserving the environment.
He additionally, highlighted the role of international wealth in promoting shared prosperity, encouraging European political leaders to acknowledge the advantages of fair economic collaborations.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja updated President Museveni on the delegation comprising of prospective investors eager to support Uganda’s growth.
“Your Excellency, I would like to once again thank you for giving me an opportunity to represent you at the Italy-Africa Summit that was held in Rome, Italy in January this year. During that summit, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni unveiled a new development plan for Africa. The plan will be implemented through five key policy areas such as education and training, agriculture, health, water and energy,” she added.
After the summit, Nabbanja mentioned that she conducted meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani and urged him to send a delegation of potential investors to Uganda to explore investment opportunities.
Additionally, she also met with several Italian investors who showed interest in investing in Uganda.
“I requested H.E Antonio to send a delegation of potential investors to Uganda to explore investment opportunities in our country and they are now here,” she added.
Ambassador Stefano Gatti informed President Museveni that Italy’s development cooperation has designated Uganda as a newly prioritized country.
“Uganda is a new priority area for us and our mission here is to first of all respond to your first priority which is the coffee sector. Uganda is a key coffee country in the world and already we have private companies in Italy that invest in Ugandan coffee,” Stefano said.
He noted that Italy has a climate fund available, and they have expressed their readiness to collaborate with Uganda under the initiative to address the impacts of climate change.
“We agree together that coffee is one of those sectors that have this challenge of climate change and Uganda needs a lot of investment to deal with this challenge. If we deal with climate change, we shall be able to increase the production of coffee. We are ready to invest,” he noted.
“We suggest that Uganda works with us on this regional project of the coffee sector. We are also focusing on value addition of coffee in Uganda, it’s our priority as the Government of Italy,” he added.
Stefano also noted that they want to collaborate with Uganda in the livestock and agro-foods businesses.
“Italy is one of the biggest producers of food connected to meat all over the world and we have advanced technology and solutions so we want to see how we can transfer technology and solutions to Uganda,” he noted.
He also revealed that they would like to invest in Uganda’s health sector.
“The health sector is something we would like to continue developing together with Uganda,” he said.
Present at the event were Dr. Monica Musenero (Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation), Matia Kasaija (Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development), and Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, among other notable individuals.
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