KARIBU PRESIDENT PARK GUEN-HYE

KARIBU PRESIDENT PARK GUEN-HYE
KARIBU PRESIDENT PARK GUEN-HYE
By H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda.

The people of Uganda and myself welcome you to our country on this historic visit.  We salute the Korean people who have, within a period of just 60 years, risen from destitution and poverty to the 28th richest country in the world today in terms of the size of the GDP and GDP per capita.

The Korean people were able to achieve this on account of discipline, hard work and the development of the human resource through education.  Your father, General Park Chung Hee, played a decisive role in that transformation.

The Korean people are an ancient people whose specific identity can be traced as far back as 1392.  Unfortunately, your nation was divided at the end of the 2nd World War.  The African patriots always support the peaceful reunification of the Korean nation.

Uganda is undergoing socio-economic transformation through universal education, the modernization of infrastructure and the modernization of agriculture.  With improved infrastructure, we are now able to address the issues of industrialization, the modernization of services and the development of ICT.

There is a great potential for co-operation between South Korea and Uganda for the mutual benefit of both countries.  We can buy from and sell to one another.  Uganda, with a population of 38 million people, that will be about 100 million by 2050, is, moreover, part of the huge African continent with a current population of 1.25 billion people.  By 2050, the population of the African continent will be 2.5 billion people.

South Korea is part of the huge Asian continent and its population of 4.4billion people.  The potential for the two areas is huge.  I am glad you came to visit us so that we put more bricks on that potentially very lucrative co-operation.

It is my honor to propose a toast for the good health and success of Your Excellency.

I thank you.