President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, will headline the Uganda-South Africa Business Summit to be held in Pretoria between February 27 and March 1, 2023.
According to the State Minister for Investment, Evelyn Anite, the summit organized by the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in patnership with Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Cooperatives, Privatisation and Investment etc is organizing the Uganda- South Africa Trade, Tourism, and Investment Summit will provide a platform for the Private sector, companies and businesses to create new markets and ways of how to facilitate doing business and identify existing and emerging business or investment opportunities in Uganda and South Africa.
“We want to attract more South African investments into Uganda and expand markets for Ugandan products, we shall be expanding our territory because demand for our goods has gone up. Our investment agenda has moved to only one of attracting foreign direct investments to also getting markets for our goods abroad. The summit will therefore be an opportunity for both export and investment promotion,” Anite said at a press conference held at the Uganda Media Center.
Speaking at the same press conference, the Presidential Advisor – Special Duties, Odrek Rwabwogo, said the Summit is one of the efforts to grow the Ugandan economy for the betterment of its people and posterity.
He added: “The President said he does not go anywhere without the private sector “our country needs all the support Let us keep growing the skills of our young people.”
Stephen Asiimwe, the Chief Executive Officer of PSFU secretariat cordinating all the relevant stakeholders of the summit, said so far, 160 Ugandan businesses have already registered to participate in the summit with the highest percentage coming from the sectors of Agriculture and Agri-business, Tourism and Hospitality, Professional Services, Transport and Logistics, Energy and Minerals, and ICT.
Asiimwe said that the main objective of the summit is to market Uganda’s beauty and economic potential of becoming Africa’s leading destination for Trade, Tourism, and Investment.
South Africa is one of the fastest growing sources of Foreign Direct Investment for Uganda as the South Africa’s exports to Uganda.
In 2010 alone, Uganda attracted FDI of up to US$ 848 million.
“We also intend to link up with the Ugandan diaspora in South Africa to create partnerships with them on the many opportunities they are engaged in. It is estimated that there are over 500,000 Ugandans living and working in Southern.”