Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, and his accompanying delegation, which included Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, Foreing Minister Sam Kutesa and scores of other senior officials, met with prominent Qatari businessmen at Sheraton Hotel Doha yesterday. The meeting was jointly organised by Qatar Chamber and Qatar Businessmen’s Association.
During the meeting, President Museveni provided a detailed overview of the fast growing economy of Uganda, highlighting the “endless business and investment opportunities” in the African nation.
Museveni invited Qatari businessmen to his country to explore promising business opportunities, especially in the areas of food processing, mining and tourism sectors.He also announced to open an office in Qatar very soon, which will be promoting investments and tourism between the two countries.
“Uganda is a land of opportunities. It has climatic conditions suitable to grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables on earth. We grow bananas, cotton, cocoa, tea, sugarcane, and almost all kinds of crops and cereals. In addition, we have a lot of minerals like iron ore, copper, tin, cobalt and others. Investing in food processing sector and mining-based industries can be highly rewarding,” said the President.He added: “We do not wish Qatari investors to take part in growing food and crops. We want you to process food and produce items, such as steel, copper, and other finished and semi-finished products that can be consumed locally as well as exported to Africa, Europe, America and the Indian subcontinent.”
He highlighted that Uganda is endowed with both types of iron minerals (hematite and magnetite) which can be exploited for domestic and industrial purposes in the downstream industries.
Museveni expressed his keen interest to promote Islamic banking and financial services in his country. He invited Qatari banks, especially the Shariah-compliant lenders, to explore opportunities in his country, which, according to him, have strong appetite for interest-free banking.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the meeting, said that both countries are working closely to enhance bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas. And there are two more MoUs to be signed in the coming days which are related to avoiding double taxation and cooperation in aviation sector.
“We have taken a lot of measures to attract foreign investments, such as tax holidays for a period of up to10 years, capital mobility, opening of all sectors of the economy for 100 percent FDI, and constitutional provisions for the protection of private businesses and investments,” added Kasaija.
