President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has emphasized economic independence for Africa, saying this can only be achieved once the continent is united.
While addressing the sustainability week summit in Abu Dhabi early this week, President Museveni said creating one big market for African products will efficiently spur the region’s economic progress.
“I salute our African brothers and sisters in East Africa and in the whole continent. With clear vision, we agreed that when you produce a good or a service, you need to sell. The more you sell, the better for our prosperity. The internal market of Uganda, of 46 million people, is not enough to support large-scale, sustained production of goods and services, especially when their purchasing power is still low,” President Museveni said.
Museveni said African countries should prioritize industrialization, which will enhance job creation for their citizens, and also invited investors from around the world to invest in Uganda.
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The audio clip of President Museveni while delivering his address during the Sustainability week in Abu Dhabi.
According to the President, Uganda is now classified as a lower middle-income country, and it will, however, rapidly grow into a high middle-income country and, eventually, into a first-world country.
He emphasized the need to add value to the large spectrum of Uganda’s agricultural raw materials (coffee, bananas, fruits, cotton, oil seeds, cassava, maize, tea, dairy, beef, poultry products, fish, forest products, sugar, etc.) and mineral raw materials (gold, iron ore, phosphates, lithium, uranium, petroleum, gas, etc.).
“The efforts of value addition to raw materials are part of sector two of the economy—manufacturing. The other sectors are commercial agriculture that will generate some of the required raw materials; services (tourism, hospitality, transport, professional services, etc.); and ICT,” the President explained.
He assured investors from outside Africa that the continent has established lucrative markets, adding that there should be a forum to discuss the squandering of human potential by those he described as parasites.
“When you invest in Uganda or any of the brother African countries, you have the assurance of this huge and growing market. We believe in win-win solutions to human problems. The population of Africa will be 2.5 billion people in the next 25 years. The population of Uganda will be 106 million people by that time,” he said.
President Museveni also used the opportunity to deliver tough messages to the Western countries, saying African countries will continue to resist neo-colonialism by the West.
“We are tired of the parasitism of some of the actors, because if you are not fair, people will resist you, and that’s what Africa did. I am here as the third-generation fighter of Africa.
He said, “People had colonized us. Imagine colonizing Africa, and are you thinking properly or what? You leave your home and you come to my home. The ANC was founded to fight colonialism. Therefore, we are saying that these endless philosophical, ideological, and strategic mistakes are not necessary; one can be very prosperous when we work together.”
A short video clip of President Museveni during the Abu Dhabi sustainability week in which he rallied investors to boost Uganda’s rapid transformation.
President Museveni recently addressed the CAADP Summit in Kampala, which focused on enhancing agricultural productivity and food security in Africa, urging the continent to adopt the famous four-acre model farming strategies.
