Serbia chooses Uganda as a trade partner.

President Museveni has welcomed a delegation from the Republic of Serbia led by their Minister of Internal and foreign Trade Tomislav Momirovic and thanked them for choosing Uganda as a partner to improve trade relations. Mr Tomislav delivered a message from the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić to President Museveni inviting him to Serbia to open the Uganda Trade Centre in June 2023

This was in a meeting organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) headed by Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo, which brings together all trade representatives, allowing them to network, learn and build strategies with Uganda private sector local input.

The Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development was commissioned by H.E President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on March 14^th 2022. Coordinated under the office of the President, PACIED is specifically charged with among others advising the President on practical ways and means of addressing the strategic and operational bottlenecks that impede Uganda from fully harnessing its industrial and export potential.

 The meeting  was attended by among others the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Hon. Martin Mugara the Minister of State for Tourism, Hon. Harriet Ntabazi the Minister of State for Trade, the Deputy Attorney General Hon Jackson Kafuzi, Hon David Bahati, Dr Monica Musenero and private sector exporters in the key 13 products.

It should be noted that on March 28^th, 2023, President Museveni met exporters in the 13 product categories that the advisory committee on exports is targeting to raise USD6bn in the next five years. These were Coffee, Fruits, vegetables, Flowers, bananas, dairy, beef, sugar, cement, steel, tourism, poultry, fish and grains.

The President further expressed the need to support the private drive to increase Uganda’s export earnings, and emphasized the focus on supporting the Tourism sector, where he issued five (5) directives that will see Uganda’s image presented in a more welcoming way to the world.

These include setting up Uganda Trade Hubs at Airports and aerodromes across the country, tarmacking the four export aero drones, training of staff in the hospitality industry about Uganda’s tourist locations ,and government institutions to harmonize communications on the matter of tourism.

The event at state House Entebbe, also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of understanding between the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, to operationalise and match the President’s exports fund for coffee, fruits and Vegetables, dairy, beef, tourism and other products, to USD 30M.

This fund will address the financial bottlenecks that have directly been affecting export performances in priority sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.