Uganda has called on Turkish businesses and companies to invest in the East African country especially in the area of agriculture, saying that the Uganda Government has embarked on agricultural modernization and industrialization to realize the dream of helping the Ugandan people to get out of poverty and attain middle-income country status.
The call was made by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, John Mulimba at the official celebrations organized by the Ugandan Embassy in Ankara, Turkey to commemorate 60 years of Uganda’s independence.
“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 Turkey in the area of agriculture in order to benefit from Turkey’s experience and expertise. We also invite Turkish companies to invest and do business in Uganda,” he said.
Mulimba added that the recent Uganda-Turkey Investment, Trade, Industry and Tourism Summit held on 12th-13th May 2022 in Kampala, which culminated into the launch of Uganda – Turkey Industrial Park and Trade Centre, is a clear indication of the commitment of the Uganda Government to attract Turkish investors.
The Centre, he said, is meant to promote opportunities in four priority sectors; namely, agriculture, manufacturing, ICT and services.
The Uganda – Turkey relationship has been on a smooth path following the opening of resident missions in each other’s capitals in 2010 and 2011.
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 Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Uganda in 2016, and other high-level visits between the two countries, Mulimba said, 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.”
Uganda and Turkey 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.
The Minister of Trade of Turkey, Mehmet Mus said that the relations between Uganda and Turkey have been developing and deepening on the basis of a “sincere friendship” in every field.
Mehmet noted that the “historical” visit of President Erdogan to Uganda in 2016, marked an important milestone in both countries’ relations, setting forward an ambitious road map and defining new economic and commercial goals.
“In this sense, 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,” he said.
Mehmet noted that Turkey is reinforcing its cooperation with Africa not only on bilateral basis, but also at a Continental scale, saying that Turkey’s 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,” he said.
Mehmet said that while Turkey had only 12 Embassies in Africa in 2002, the number has grown to current 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, the Türkiye-Uganda trade reached the level of 72 million dollars.
“With regard to investments, we are 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.”
With Türkiye and Uganda, intensifying their cooperation, Mehmet said, can foster economic and trade relations and can generate wealth not only for their people, but also for the whole continent.