The ministers present and government officials

The Ugandan entrepreneurs

The visiting business delegations of sisters and brothers from the USA

Uganda Trade Representatives

Ladies and Gentlemen who came to participate in the Pan African Congress Business Summit

It was in the middle of winter, December 2022 when Uganda first hosted three back-to-back business summits in one week – in the cities of London, Washington DC, and Chicago. At that time, we were figuring out how to deal with the twin issues of post covid economic recovery and crafting a new message for the country on how to deal with trade and exports as the oxygen that would underpin this recovery. As some of you might know, Asian countries recovered faster on manufacturing than Africa given what many thought would be a difficult return to the old manufacturing and distribution chains the pandemic had disrupted. There was an estimate that up to USD4.9trillion (McKinsey, August 2021) worth of manufacturing, food, pharmaceuticals and transportation, would shift from China to regional centers, East Africa among them. This shift didn’t happen because China had done some good industrial capacity preparatory work and we all returned to them for industrial inputs and consumer goods, instead of taking advantage of this crisis.

We wasted a good crisis; a very important inflection point at which Africa’s regional manufacturing capacity would have been strengthened to endure further shocks and give us better industrial capabilities. Even for America, there was a survey of about 346 firms on whether they would be willing to leave China and return to their home ground even with incentives and subsidies at home. The survey turned up 79% of the companies saying they weren’t prepared to leave China! It shows that economies are planned like raising a child. What you put in early, it will show up later in good or bad ways. Africa hadn’t prepared and we missed an opportunity in this crisis.

Anyhow, after these marathon business summits in December of 2022; we kept up much pressure on the US market. We held several mini events in Washington DC; we tried to work with some airlines for a possibility to land in Chicago, New York or Atlanta at a future date, reduction of cargo charges to flights in parts of middle east and Africa; we kept up media engagements (Mark Pursey and BTP Advisors are in the room) including meetings with several US based thinktanks, business groups, the House of Congress, State department and many others. This was in order to consistently make a case for our country to be restored to the AGOA opportunity; to deliberately create more understanding with our allies as well as those who tend to misunderstand Uganda and Africa. We have been in Chicago a number of times to find African America allies and work with them, Detroit, Michigan to find off takers of coffee, dried fruits nuts, and banana flour.

I am happy today that we gather in Kampala to begin this annual event (we hope to do this every July) and work under the Pan African umbrella, given the last time we held the Pan African congress was April 1994. We feel strongly that a home is built by both those who travel and learn (the diaspora) and the citizens who (remain and produce). There couldn’t have been a better time to visit Uganda than when we celebrate 62 years of independence and the return of our sisters and brothers’ home!

Why do we do all this and more? Because in a massive global trade of more than USD32 trillion, Africa’s share remains only 3% and even in many areas, productivity of firms and exports has fallen, yet we are surrounded by a rising young population and immense natural resources.

The market of the US for which we are gathered here to build bridges with, is USD18 trillion worth of consumption.

It imports over USD3 trillion in products and services. For a developing country like Uganda to succeed, we got to have presence on this market. To ignore it or simply connect with it only on politics, diplomacy and other areas of partnership, is to miss a good place to begin mindset change on enterprise building. Our SMEs can learn much by having elemental interactions with US firms; our youth and their growing creative and business acumen could be built to an international level and give us future companies with scale. This is why we don’t give up on this market even if politics often interferes. There is no time in life when all is clear; Instead, life teaches us to keep pushing on for what we believe is good for the country and for our enterprises. If you take a look at Uganda and its USD200m worth of trade or the EAC at USD1bn, this is small for the US market. Even all our annual trade as EAC block with the world standing at USD62bn, (equivalent to three financial year budgets for Uganda), all of us are punching below our weight. We can do more and better. This is why we bring our allies this week to have a mature and informed discussion on the possibilities of working together for a better positioning for Africa starting here in Uganda.

I should tell you Africa hasn’t been the same; we have been evolving and for better. It is good that we remain optimistic about the direction even if we might have questions about the pace of progress.

Let’s take a look at these maps:

Map one: Africa has no agency, no decision making and it is a society of Four classes:

-Sons of chiefs and priests who would be instrumental in strengthening the colonial state,

-Illiterate soldiers commanded by colonial officers who carried out coups and caused instability

-Few Afro-Asiatic and Lebanese entrepreneurs on the coasts and in some pockets in the hinterland

-Massive numbers of peasants, in Uganda more than 96% when I was born in 1969.

Map Two: An Africa beginning to understand where the drivers of prosperity come from – The Market and reducing trade barriers, removing suspicion and letting the private sector speak directly to each other on the market.

Map Three: An Africa optimistic, aiming at USD30 trillion worth of GDP by 2050. Uganda aims at USD100bn worth of exports by this time as we approach a century as a country.

Yes, we still have very high transaction costs on account of:

Land borders – 107 that require 57,000 kilometers of roads, bridges and highways to connect 54 countries. Only 60% is complete in various shapes and forms and 40% including power lines, interest cables, all needs funding of up to USD100bn for some years to come in order to make this a competitive infrastructure compared to Asia, EU and USA. This too is an opportunity in infrastructure funding on pay per user basis.

Rail of 75,000kms for a land surface of more than 30 million square kilometers translating to 2.5km per 1000sqkm of population density of population. Asia is 23km for every 1000 square kilometers of population. There is work to be done but as more clarity becomes available to many of our leaders these days, we will get there.

These numbers are rapidly changing for better. You can tell this from the trade numbers with some of our partners worldwide by the end of 2019:

China -USD259bn

UAE -USD159bn – ports and infrastructure even more

EU -USD150bn

Intra Africa -USD100bn-USD150bn

USA -USD70bn

Therefore, our allies and our diaspora would like to hear and see more work done on trade integration in Africa, productive capacity integration (joint border processing zones), infrastructural integration (work between Uganda and eastern DRC for 100kms inside stopping insecurity and pulling in USD600m in sales) and free movement of the people of Africa (labour and travel without limits and visas) and their trade allies. This should be a rallying cry for all of us – the private sector, civil servants and our mutual friends from the US who hope to invest in Africa. The US FDI into Africa stands at only 13% largely because of these weaknesses.

This is why in Uganda under our teams who we call combat commanders given this mental, philosophical and cultural battles for unity around trade in Africa, are making interventions at three levels we hope to drive this change:

At the market level, we insist on research where we don’t have data, better preparation, trade representation, trade hubs, on customer level engagement, retail level engagement etc. The Serbia and Balkans model as you will hear later today (thank Trade Representative Bratislav Stoiljkovic represented by Boris and Bragan), has processing at home of some 6000MTs of our coffee as part of the 40,000MTs we import as replacement, retail outlets, including restaurant level distribution, storage level, technology for tracking products and transactions and assembly of equipment. We combine this with Bilateral negotiations on rates and air travel. This is to help our firms and products get to regional and international value chains in a sequenced manner so we can learn what to do. Markets can also get the taste of our products and in the end invest at source in Uganda. There is no way to do this differently because we would need more than USD2bn to invest in global promotion, money we don’t yet have.

At Firm level, we meet companies as they are not often what we expected them to be. We are a young country and continent with few large size businesses. We got to be conscious of the fact that large size businesses that we compete against were initially supported by their governments in foreign markets. We too are building a model to support these SMEs through export orders, working capital and some grants. We have partnered with a fund called Uganda Exim Ltd and I hope the team is here to speak later about this. The fund is in its early stages and has given one grant so far but hope by end of October, more loans and grants at very low rates will be given. The Fund now has more than 46 applicants and it is building capacity to serve export businesses better. In the month of November, we have two grants for DET imports in Detroit Michigan and in Chicago once they demonstrate orders have been picked and warehousing and distribution set. They can also apply for low fee loans at Ug Exim.

At Government level, we work on a Standards and compliance authority for our food safety (Food & Agriculture Authority) to match what FDA and other international protocols require, all under one roof. Our people are here to speak more on this later. We continue to work on infrastructure support on land, air and at sea to get better competitive rates for exporting firms. We also continue to make inroads for bilateral trade negotiations with a number of countries. This October, we will be in the southern Balkans and in DRC for these negotiations on off take of products and launch more facilities. The US/Uganda firms here can supply these markets too. This is why my brother Anni Bassey (Nigeria Trade Representative is here) and Justin Katoto (DRC Trade Representative is here too). Please reach out to them on this. Let us see what we can do together!

Our target for the US partners is twofold:

First, at industrial level, for investment in the various fields, education, cultural exchange and tourism. We think we can reduce the cost of industrial inputs and service skilling from outside if we work with the US firms. Industrial inputs or intermediate goods into Africa stand at:

Europe – 26%

China 15%

USA 7% (small)

Sadi Arabia 4%

India 3%

Africa 16%

Africa remains small in sourcing industrial intermediate goods amongst each other yet 45% of all our value-added goods are sold within Africa! This can be grown to 70% and Africa will industrialize and learn to work together as regional blocs and continent.

The Second need is Value addition to both food and minerals, refrigeration, transportation and firms’ partnerships. Just think of one sector of animal feeds. To produce 1m tons of fish as Uganda target, we require 800,000MTs of maize and 600,000MTs of soya. These will in the process, give us 100,000MTs of cooking oil we are importing at more than USD80m annually. Who can we get on land, investment, technology and we give supply connection to the two firms that are producing 100,000MTs of fish feeds beginning 2025?

This is the same for fertilizer production for maize. The current 2.3 million acres we use for maize production across the country gives us 1.5tonnes or less, an acre. Simply applying some basic NPK (and there is a firm here for example trying to separate hydrogen from Oxygen using an electrolyzer and add ammonia and even others using animal manure) we could raise to 3.9 tons per acre and earn USD1.7bn a year from maize alone. These projects need skill and capital and this is partly why we look to friends in the US to keep this conversation going. Yes, we need to move our country to the computing age and take advantage of the Generative AI tools and data, but we still have huge competitive advantage on production of food for the world that we aren’t using well. I need some support in this area.

Therefore, given Africa and Uganda is industrializing at a time when global value chains are highly fragmented post covid 19, there is increased protectionism in each country that wasn’t the case in the 1980 and 1990s when nations in the Far east were rising, there is rapid digitalization affecting low value commodities Africa is in, increased levels of sea costs on account of terrorism, threats of war, etc., I would like us to act with wisdom and haste when we have friends in the room who want to buy our products. This is because we face a vastly changed world that asks us for glass jars for fruits into Europe yet we haven’t even started making tins, it puts barriers in the way of our youth scaling their businesses when they give subsidies to the farmers in the west to keep our organic foods out of the market, the US allies become key in the battle for export knowledge and business growth.

Our team and our government will keep up with the following in order to support this work:

Build a pocket of excellence on the matter of trade and exports. We want to strengthen the work done so far and build a Uganda Trade and Exports negotiations center. This will give us a bridge between public sector and the actions you are taking to help us achieve targets on the US and other markets.

Keep directing attention to the layers of complexity of trade and exports with the world. This is so we can create cultural change, a mind shift of sorts to improve our society’s understanding of the exports and manufacturing as a driver to ending poverty. This knowledge once it tips over, it will be a way of life for the next generation just like we see in many Far eastern countries. This is how we can increase production, keep time and build trust and confidence on the markets you are giving us.

Thank you

By Odrek Rwabwogo

Chairperson, Exports & Industrial Advisory Committee.

The passing on of Mzee Ernest Kakwaano, 80, on Easter Sunday reminded us again of the sunset of a generation that stood for Uganda when few would; and even more poignantly, how much needs to be done to keep their example of humanness and patriotism alive as our country’s economy and politics continue to shift back and forth. The English language has no verb for the common adjective we use in everyday speech – the word ‘resilient’. If it had, I would perhaps use the verb ‘resele’ to describe this generation that we are fast losing!

Kakwaano became my friend in 1994, a couple of years after he left the Coffee Marketing Board (CMB) back into the private sector. The private sector is where he had horned his skills as an entrepreneur in Kenya in the 1970s, running a Japanese motor vehicle franchise in Nairobi. When we met, he had been dropped from CMB, removed from the property he occupied with his family, and shoved out of the limelight. It was the days of liberalization of the economy, and the end of marketing boards for commodities. It was also the peak of the IMF/World Bank Structural adjustment programs that emphasized getting the government out of social services in return for technical and financial support from the West.

Why I am reminded of this word ‘resilience’, for which I prefer the verb ‘resele’ if it ever appeared in the English lexicon, is that Kakwaano and a number of people like him, who would have had a sense of entitlement for the work they did in exile for the Movement such as saving lives, publicity, treating the wounded, rescuing families of those being persecuted, hiding rebel fighters in transit, etc.; they remained resilient and humble in the face of what often looked humiliating treatment. Kakwaano would have had a ‘legitimate right’ of sorts given he used his car business along with Alice, his wife’s time, to fund some of the NRM external wing activities. He, along with others, genuinely believed he should have been ‘perennially rewarded’ than many newcomers into the system. And in Kakwaano’s calm demeanor, through it all, lies the answer to some of today’s NRM problems. In Kakwaano’s death and his having remained silent about some of his misgivings, we understand the irony of growth and the need to keep certain principles alive. Growth brings change and often that very change can sweep us away. We are called to remain principled as leaders.

When the Movement was still small, the original organ of the National Resistance Council (NRC) of 38 people and even the expanded one in 1989, there were two principles that many of us admired then, when we were in high school. One was the idea of constructive criticism which stipulated that one could contend against the reigning view with good facts, and present a compelling case against a leading position, all in the confines of comradeship, without fear of being misunderstood or losing their job. Constructive criticism saved the young organization from corrupt elements and liars within as they were exposed internally. This method also gave meaning and significance to the value of the Movement’s ideology even to those who were opposed to it at the time. This is why the Movement largely won over people with the power of argument not money or use of intimidation and brute force.

The second idea was collective decision-making by consensus without subjecting key decisions to a vote. A vote would be the last resort if something was deeply controversial and endlessly divisive with a possibility that the public could misconstrue it. That is how many of us young then supported the arrest of Col. Kiiza Besigye, Maj. Gen. David Ssejusa, Gen. Henry Tumukunde, and many other army officers when they dabbled in politics. We understood well that the 1966 crisis that introduced Idi Amin into Uganda’s politics was the genesis of much trouble the country went through. That kind of consensus was an underlying generally accepted way to approach controversial public issues so that our country could heal from the past. And even when consensus failed and a vote was taken, there would be steps taken to heal the side that would have lost the argument and bring them back. The main idea was to convince people to see the correctness of a particular line of thinking and not political posturing. Those who opposed a particular stand in a meeting would be given all the time to speak plainly without fear and if they didn’t convince the majority, they (the minority) would never step out of the room and speak ill of what had been collectively decided on.

These two tools in our work methods were slowly abandoned after 2001 and even worse after 2005 with the pressure to return to party politics. To expand our support base, we dropped or perhaps I could say, watered down, the key values that partly gave us the initial support from intellectuals, workers, and peasants. These groups had been the bulwark of defense against infiltration. The reason the death of Kakwaano reminds me of all this is that the ones who loved the Movement most when these principles were shaken, decided to go silent in respect of the founding principles. The newcomers with limited teaching and awareness, took over and often confused leadership with the titles and positions they came to occupy. They weren’t schooled in these principles and were in a hurry to get to the top. They didn’t understand that leadership is not a job. It is having a burden on how to move society forward. In the watering down of some of these principles and more, we now see results in the quality and depth of leadership in the public sector. Yes, Expansion is good but principles are greater at keeping that expansion within a prescribed growth trajectory that retains values for an organization’s future. If you sacrifice principles at the expense of growth, an organization will struggle to cope with changes in the economy, demographics, and the much-needed thinking on how to organize for tomorrow. I believe that we can remain democratic and still enforce discipline and a standard of leadership for the young people who have joined the Movement over the years.

While I look back reminiscing over the old days, I recognize that every season has its good side and a bad one. There is no neutrality in life. I see that we will not be able to return to the past. We have to build afresh with humility, which is what Mzee Kakwaano’s example reminds us all. In 1994 when I took an evening job at his industrial graphics company, I understood him as a man of few words but a large warm heart. We would work with him on stories to very late in the night for a newspaper he founded called, the Market Place. He would edit the paper with us before it went to press. At about 1 am, he would take us out for a drink and a warm meal in the small corner restaurants of Entebbe town.

There I would pester him with questions about his life, family, work, and how he ended up in exile, and what motivated him as a businessman after losing a job in government. He was always open and we remained friends till he passed on.

While I am saddened by the fact of my not being able to see him on his deathbed given the heavy pressures now placed on our days at work, I have no sense of guilt or shame with him. This is because last year, he made it to a coveted list of mentorship awards that President Museveni gives to those in advanced age who have served our country well. We were able to speak about him among his friends in his hearing and he got to know us younger people and how much we recognize his work for the Movement and the country. On that February day at Sheraton last year, I unburdened myself of any guilty feelings about these old people by saying thank you to them publicly. In one year, three have left us and gone in peace. They include Honorables Henry Kyemba and Cecila Ogwal, now joined by Ernest Kakwaano. They were all on the honor roll for the year 2023.

God keep your soul in peace Mzee Kakwaano.

Mr. President

The visiting speaker of the House of People’s Representatives of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, the Honorable Tagesse Chaffo Dullo.

The elders who will be awarded today,

Cabinet Ministers

Members of Parliament,

Young people, who joined us at this year’s mentorship luncheon

I thank you very much Mr. President for allowing to host this luncheon and to award the crop of old people we chose for 2024. Last year, you were kind enough to send us the retired PM Hon. Amama Mbabazi (who is here) to preside over the mentorship dinner at Sheraton.

I thank the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hon. Ahmed Abiy whom Your Excellency sent us to, for in turn sending us Speaker Tagesse to be our keynote speaker today.

Some of the yardstick we use to arrive at cohorts to award annually include the following traits:

1. The years of service a person has put into work for Uganda,
2. The quality of decisions they made when they had authority,
3. The depth, intensity, and character of the person,
4. The kind of changes or reforms they instituted
5. The impact they have even in retirement

As you might notice, the categories we choose cut across science and technology, art and culture, enterprise and manufacturing, politics and religion, and many other areas of life. Uganda has many good people who have laid foundations for our country but few are known and even fewer are celebrated. I got to know this when we began with nominations last year that ran into 60 + people yet we wanted few. We were not sure who to pick and who to leave out.

That gave me hope to know there are many people out there who build in silence but in the end, our country keeps united, stable, and growing.

To mentor is to guide; to illuminate a path for a young person by an elder, a sort of apprenticeship in life by the older to the young. Often it can be reversed given where one has knowledge and the young can mentor the old too. Mentorship is a good classroom for young people in leadership but sadly we haven’t been deliberate at it. We have not been intentional in creating seedbeds of leaders to guide institutions and the country in a world so competitive and set against Africa.  I woke up to this reality years back when I would be teaching and young people ask questions that show they are unhinged from the reality of what it takes to build a home, a business, an institution, or a country. Many come into leadership without preparation and they often confuse leadership with positions and titles.

There are about four mental architectures I get from young people especially because of the changes wrought by the internet and social media.

The first category is Avoidance. Young people severely reduce quality relationships for fear of opening up to causes that are bigger than them. They do not want to be hurt; they pretend all is well using clean-cut social media images of themselves; they appear strong on the outside but pretty weak inside; they do not want to be vulnerable by consulting elders on what they don’t know. They assume they know it all. In the end, they do not fulfill their purpose, and their potential remains underutilized. This category I meet regularly and they are full of criticism and less knowledgeable on what to do.

The second category is those who suffer from what psychologists call Deprivation. These were raised by self-centered caregivers who showed them that their needs do not matter. They develop an inner critic that tells them, ‘You don’t matter to the world, you are on your own’. These youth often have unworthy feelings and they struggle to fit in. This category is easily abused by peers and led into alcohol or drugs because deep in their hearts they have a yearning to fit in.

The third category is the ones we call overreactive youth. Often, they were abused when they were young and threatened by circumstances. Those thoughts stayed with them through life. They see no neutrality in anything. Everything that doesn’t take their view is menacing and should be fought!

The world to them is a dangerous place and there should be no compromises. They overreact and lash out at small inconveniences. They don’t want to wait. They are impatient and confuse time with seasons. (Cronos versus Kairos). These miss the calling on their lives and rush into instant gratification and kill their tomorrow.

The fourth category I meet is passive aggressors. This group has repressed anger over the years, probably against parents or their caregivers and peers. They sidestep open communication to avoid conflict and confrontation even when this confrontation might heal them of this anger. They have trouble dealing with negative emotions; they turn this passive aggression into a subtle power play. They manipulate others so that they can make them feel guilty and in return get their affection.

All the above categories need mentoring because these are the young people who will come into leadership with these emotional, social, and political deficits. These mental frames are the raw material a country has to produce leaders of tomorrow. It is the reason we use these mentorship sessions annually to create a bridge between the young and the old. A bridge is a good metaphorical example in life. It helps you cross to the other side so you can understand it better. If you keep this side of your river, you will never know that life has to be lived on both sides for a sense of maturity and leadership to emerge. These old people have crossed that bridge of life and returned and they are good examples to study from. Mentorship isn’t just verbal. It is also watching the actions and reading the thoughts of those ahead of you and discerning what to do for your time.

Take Mzee Kintu Musoke as an example. At age 14, he watched his uncle Simeoni Kintu, arrested in 1949 simply for asking to be allowed to go in his cotton farm. He saw a force of Turkana men imported by the British to quell the Katwe riots, descend on fellow Africans, and beat them badly. Kintu Musoke would join Ignatius Musaazi as a young boy to campaign for independence. When he got to India for his studies, he mobilized two other young men – Kirunda Kivejinja and Bidandi Ssali and; together they forged a bond that helped them deal with the politics of Uganda over the years, as a team. They remained committed to Uganda and each other’s ideas. Why don’t you as young people ask them the questions of life, parenting, ideology, and how to keep a country united even if there are political pressures from all corners, internal and external to not work together?

These values of commitment to something higher are partly why we remember Jacob Oulanyah too today. I thank his family for allowing us to use him as a point of connection to illuminate the path for young people and to celebrate the life of these old people when they can still hear and see us. Every time we celebrate the life of old people when they are alive, I feel a burden lifted off my shoulders, a sense of relief. This is because speeches at funerals aren’t helpful to the ones you would have told when they were alive so that they can know you value(d) their life.

Jacob Oulanyah and his first wife Jennifer, were my friends and I know they cared much about the quality of institutions for the country. They also had a deep sense of fairness and justice. Jacob in particular knew how to suspend judgment and hold two opposing opinions and still walk gingerly through life. He had a sense of commitment to what he chose to do. Commitment to something higher than self is what brings true meaning and significance to life. When you commit to something, you are not just making promises. You are re-ordering your life to fulfill this commitment. Jacob understood that choices mean depth and not superficiality and that each choice we make has costs.

For example, when he left one side of the political spectrum, he was not liked where he left. Some members of the group he joined were suspicious of him preferring to keep a distance. It is standing at half-way house and not knowing who to trust. He moved on nevertheless. He was also a peacemaker and without him in the Juba peace talks, perhaps, we would have missed the very compelling voice of some diaspora groups that didn’t understand the war in northern Uganda yet kept pushing for its continuation out of selfishness. He spoke plainly and convincingly when he took a stand on an issue. This is why we use his example this year as a connecting bridge between the young and the old.

Perhaps Jacob picked his reconciliation and forgiveness pathway through his suffering as a student and beyond – both mentally and physically. I know very much that those who suffer forgive most. The playwright Thornton Wilder in his short poem from the play, ‘The Angel That Troubled The Waters’, says “Without your wounds, where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service, only the wounded soldiers can serve”.

I am glad we celebrate you, old people and remember Jacob on a day just before Good Friday. May the example of unity of generations we see today, mend our broken areas and keep us strong as a country.

Now to you, young people who came to witness this occasion, keep doing the right thing even if you are under pressure to digress, to join the crowd of wrongdoers in your offices, farms, or the private sector. Last night I was listening to a country singer called Johnny Cash, who died in 2003. Its words say, “No, I won’t back down, there is no easy way out, I will stand my ground, I won’t be turned around, because, I know what is right. I got just one life and, in a world, pushing me around, I will still stand my ground. You can stand me at the gates of hell but I won’t backdown”

I ask that you look at those who have done well by serving our county and learn from them. Don’t back down from doing the right thing.

And to our elders, it is in the sunset of our lives that we get tired and make mistakes. We ask you to remain a shining example to our young people to the end in your word and deed. It is in your good example that together with young people, we can create a RAFT to help us cross to a brighter future for all of us as a country and a continent.

Once again, I thank H.E. the President for allowing us to do this here and for gracing this event with his presence

Speaker Tagesse for being with us

Speaker Anita Among who came to the airport to receive our gest with us

The state house team that helped us with this work

PACEID team of young people

Thank you and the Lord God bless you all.

Africa in 2019 just before COVID-19 induced lockdowns exported USD421bn and received USD31b in development assistance and USD40bn in FDI. Uganda lies somewhere small in these figures and it shows you how much exports dwarf aid only if we can focus. This export level is still so small for a group of human beings (Africans) who constitute 17% of the world population. Even worse the concentration of these exports is just simply commodities – minerals, oil and agricultural products that are unprocessed. This is why we keep awake driving export growth for Uganda and we will go anywhere, meet every criticism and work with joy; for we are called in our time to fix some things not to lament.

This is why I thank the partnership we have developed with Serbia and the Balkans to ensure that processing of coffee, handling of fresh fruits and vegetables and other products is done at the entebbe free zones area and make it easier to ship in bulk. The Hon. Ivica Dacic, foreign minister for Serbia and its former PM, came to the free zones to inaugurate the start of the hub at entebbe and called on the free zones authority. I thank Bratislav Stoiljkovic, our trade representative who is opening a third Uganda connect trade hub to make our products known and accessible from Uganda. Mr. Mark Pursey, our Trade Representative in UK will too be opening a hub in London this year as we prepare for the Africa- UK summit.

These efforts make our country come out of woodworks on trade and export matters. We are way behind in how nations compete and are instead locked in shallow peripheral political conflicts instead of focusing on what builds us as a country. PACIED target is 25 trade hubs across the world in the next ten years. This will attract technology and skills, capital investments and develop better supply chains for our products.

In the last decade exports of agricultural products that are of high value have grown only one percentage points yet the continent grows at 3% of GDP and her population at 2.5%! If this doesn’t shock people into reality, what will in terms of what needs to be done to keep Africa stable and growing?

So yesterday we articulated Uganda’s trade policy to the Serbian government delegation as:
1) We will offer tax and infrastructure incentives in return for removal of taxes on Ugandan products into Serbia and the Balkans.
2) We will insist on assembly and manufacturing of agricultural equipment such as coffee machines and processing of juices instead of export raw products to them.
3) We will help with the logistics and supply chain improvements, packaging and packing materials in return for them to process portions of the products here.
4) We will appoint an Honorary consul who will drive trade and not the ones who drink champagne and sell hardware to our country. We will be intentional on growing this trade relationship by signing a new bilateral agreement this year to capture these elements.

Thank you.