President Yoweri Museveni has urged government leaders to advocate for industrialization of the Ugandan economy noting that with the natural resources and agricultural raw materials that Uganda is endowed with, the country should be able to carry out agro-processing activities by linking agriculture to industries.
“The Ministry of Trade and Uganda Investment Authority should allow more cotton-based industries to set up here because we have the raw materials. Our industrialization should be based on agricultural products,” he said.
The President said this today during the retreat of Central and Local Government officials at the New Government Building Conference Hall in Kampala to discuss the Government Annual Performance Report for Financial Year 2017/2018.
The retreat is running under the theme of ‘Industrialization for Job Creation and Shared Prosperity.’
Mr. Museveni said that industrialization should be embraced because it is a major driver for job creation in the country.
He observed that countries like Germany in Europe and China in Asia have been able to boost their economies because of industrialization.
“I am happy that this retreat is focusing on industrialization. In Europe, industrialized countries like Germany were not badly affected by the recent recession as opposed to other countries whose economies were rooted in services like banking. This implies that industries are a bed-rock that sustains economies,” he remarked.
Mr Museveni also advised the leaders to critically look at how to establish industries based on minerals, aside from agricultural products.
He reiterated that Uganda has huge mineral deposits like copper in Kasese District, phosphates in Tororo District and iron ore in Kabale District that needed to be exploited.
“I have insisted that companies that are licensed to exploit these resources, should have the capacity to process these minerals into final products like electricity cables,” he said.
The President assured the officials at the retreat that with the building of the Standard Gauge Railway, industrialization would become very profitable as there would be quick and cheap transport to facilitate the movement of already manufactured products.