John Mulimba and Dr. Mehmet share a light moment during the anniversary celebrations in Ankara.
Dr. Mehmet MUS, the Minister of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye, Members of Parliament, Ambassadors, diplomats, senior military officers business delegation and members of the Ugandan Community in Turkey days ago convened at Sheraton Hotel in Ankara, Turkey to mark Uganda at 60.
The theme of the 60th Independence Anniversary was “A declaration of African interdependence and our shared destiny”
“As we declare the African interdependence and our shared destiny, we remain cognizant of the valuable relationship and partnership with our reliable friend, Türkiye, both at bilateral and continental levels,” Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs – John Mulimba said.
According to Mulimba, following the opening of resident missions in each other’s capitals in 2010 and 2011, the relationship between Uganda and Türkiye has grown from strength to strength.
The relations between the two countries are regulated by cooperation frameworks in the areas which include Trade and Tourism, Military and Defense, Security, Energy, Education, and Parliamentary democracy.
“The visit of the President of the Republic of Türkiye H.E Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Uganda in 2016, and other high-level visits between the two countries have given impetus to the existing vibrant bilateral relations. Both the Uganda Embassy in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy in Kampala have facilitated trade and investment between the two countries, and as a result, the bilateral trade volume has increased from US 32m in 2017 to US71m in 2021,” Mulimba added.
Mulimba told participants that in order to realize the dream of helping “our people to get out of poverty and attain middle-income country status, the Government of Uganda has embarked on agricultural modernization and industrialization, and as such, Uganda would wish to partner with Türkiye in the area of agriculture in order to benefit from Türkiye’s experience and expertise.”
“We also invite Turkish companies to invest and do business in Uganda,” Mulimba said.
According to the Minister, the recent Uganda-Türkiye Investment, Trade, Industry and Tourism Summit held on 12th-13th May 2022 in Kampala, which culminated into the launch of Uganda Türkiye Industrial Park and Trade Centre, is a clear indication of the commitment of the Uganda Government to attract Turkish investors.
“The Centre is meant to promote opportunities in four priority sectors; namely, agriculture, manufacturing, ICT and services,” he added.
Mulimba notes that Uganda and Türkiye share some roles in common in their respective regions.
“The two countries host the highest number of refugees in their respective regions, and also both countries have been at the forefront of fighting terrorism in their respective regions. On this note, Uganda Government recognizes and appreciates the contribution made by the Government of Türkiye in trying to bring about peace and stability in Somalia. I have no doubt that the relations between the two sisterly countries will continue to grow to greater heights,” Mulimba said.
On his part, Dr. Mehmet, the relations between Uganda and Türkiye have been developing and deepening on the basis of a sincere friendship in every field.
“The historical visit of our President to Uganda in 2016 marked an important milestone in our relations, setting forward an ambitious road map and defining new economic and commercial goals,” he said.
In this sense, he added that “the Uganda-Türkiye Trade and Investment Summit in May in Kampala was a strong confirmation of the willingness on both sides to develop relations.”
“And, as a strong testament to our ever-growing relations, I also welcome the visits of the Uganda National Defence College as well as the distinguished businessmen from Uganda to Ankara which coincide with this important reception. Türkiye is reinforcing its cooperation with Africa not only on bilateral basis, but also at a Continental scale. Our shared vision in global issues plays an important role in advancement of Türkiye-Africa relations.
Our African Partnership strategy based on what we call a “win-win” principle, proudly has yielded great success throughout the last two decades. The two major events, the Türkiye and Africa Economy and Business Forum as well as the Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summit we organized recently were important cornerstones for Turkish-African relations. While we had only 12 Embassies in Africa in 2002, today we have 44 Embassies. Our trade volume with the Continent, which was 5,4 billion dollars in 2003, increased to 34,5 billion dollars in 2021.
The total value of our business people’s direct investments across Africa has exceeded 6 billion dollars and the volume of the projects undertaken in Africa by the Turkish contractors is more than 83 billion dollars. In 2021 Türkiye-Uganda trade reached the level of 72 million dollars. In 2022, bilateral trade continues to grow steadily. As you would agree, these figures are far from being representative of the potential. And I believe we can easily triple the current trade in a very short period of time,” Dr. Mehmet said.
He said that Turkey is pleased to note that Turkish companies are already present in the Ugandan market and want them to actively contribute to the development priorities of Uganda especially in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, energy and transportation sectors.
“We believe that Türkiye and Uganda, intensifying their cooperation, can foster economic and trade relations and can generate wealth not only for their people, but also for the whole continent,” Dr. Mehmet said.
