Coffee is one of Uganda’s largest export commodities.
President Yoweri Museveni has called upon developed countries such as Russia, China and India to open their markets more for products made in Africa.
Museveni said this would be a gesture of good will as many African countries have opened their markets to products made in China and India among others.
“We have the internal market of Uganda, the market of East Africa and the one of African Continental Free Trade Area but we also need other markets like the market of India, China and Russia,” the president said. “And Russia also needs markets. If they sell products to us they get the advantage. The Chinese, they sell a lot of products in Africa as do the Indians. So, the question of market access is to everybody’s advantage -mutually beneficial to all of us.”
Museveni also appealed to developed countries like Russia to cooperate with Uganda to initiate specialised education in areas such as nuclear energy and Artificial Intelligence.
“Now after the liberation of Africa, what we need is economic development and transformation,” he noted. “Here we need four factors: Human resource development, infrastructure development, investment, the production of goods and services as well as markets.”
Museveni’s made the remarks while addressing a virtual discussion at the IX International Forum – Primakov Readings held at World Trade Center, Moscow under the theme “Post Globalization Horizons.”
The virtual discussion moderated by Irina Abramova, the Director of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, had prominent participants who included the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, Mikhail Bogdanov, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Ibrahim Kamel, among others.
The discussion majorly centred on the cooperation between African countries and other countries outside Africa in various fields.
Museveni, who took the participants through the journey of the liberation of African countries, pointed out that after the liberation, the most important factor was to cooperate in the areas of education and health.
He added that the infrastructure like roads, railways and electricity were equally crucial, noting that African countries could cooperate with sister nations like Russia and China in the development of these sectors.
-URN
