Museveni, who made the remarks during the closure of the Uganda-South Africa Trade and Investment Summit held at Speke Resort Munyonyo recently, said that the investor's business involvement in Uganda will be beneficial to both Uganda and South Africa.
"When South Africa got freedom, I met Mzee Mandela, and I suggested that we work together with South Africa because it had some capacity at that time for more investors and some capital, and I wanted to take advantage of them, and they also took advantage of us to build a strong economy for Africa. That is how I proposed to Mzee Mandela that we start a wide-body joint airline, but it didn’t continue due to some challenges," Museveni said.
Museveni pointed out at the summit that the business partnership between Uganda and South Africa is an opportunity for Ugandan businesses to realise their maximum potential. He requested that the South African companies operating in Uganda, like MTN and Stanbic Bank, join the government’s efforts to help all Ugandans join the money economy in order to achieve the desired socio-economic transformation.
"You have heard that until recently, 68% of the population was out of the money economy. We had to bring in the army to distribute coffee seedlings for these people to join the money economy by growing coffee. Now the figures for those outside the money economy are 39%, and we want everybody to join the money economy. If all these join the money economy, will it not benefit the telecom industry? If all these people join the money economy, won’t they have more money in the bank?" he inquired.
Museveni further rallied the investors to add value to Uganda’s raw materials so that the country could build an independent, integrated, and self-sustaining economy.
"If we add value, for example, to coffee, instead of getting USD2.5 per kilogram, we shall get USD40 per kilogrammeme, and when the economy of Uganda becomes much bigger, we shall all benefit," Museveni asserted.
He added: "So, I’m very glad that now, in our small battle here, we are working together to solve this problem. That means more Ugandans who are outside the money economy will join the money economy."
The summit, which was running under the theme "Accelerating Uganda-South Africa Trade and Investment," attracted over 40 companies from South Africa, people from both the Ugandan and South African business communities, and officials from the Government of Uganda.
The summit was attended by the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Francis Mwebesa; the Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi; members of the diplomatic corps; and private sector players, among others.