President\nYoweri Museveni has told a delegation of ambassadors from Norway, Sweden,\nDenmark and Iceland (NORDIC) who are accredited to Uganda, that without the\nEast African integration we have got no future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nPresident was speaking at a meeting held yesterday at State House, Entebbe when\nhe received and met the delegation of 4 NORDIC envoys resident in Uganda\nincluding Ambassadors Elin \u00d8steb\u00f8 Johansen of\nNorway, Per Lindgarde of Sweden, Nicolaj Hejberg Petersen of Denmark and Unnur\nOrradottir Ramette of Iceland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this year\u2019s annual meeting in which the President and\nthe envoys exchange ideas on various issues of mutual interest, the envoys sought to know the progress of the East African\nregional integration; benefits of the Democratic Republic of Congo joining the\nregional body and the strongest values bonding the East African nations, among\nother things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWithout\nthe East African integration, we have got no future. It gives us a market for\nour products. If Africa does not integrate economically, it will collapse.\nEconomic integration of Africa is a must,\u201d he told the envoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Museveni\nwas highly optimistic that one day, the integration of East Africa and Africa will\nsucceed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nobserved that Uganda\u2019s milk production was 200 million litres per annum in 1986\nbut today it has increased to 2.6 billion. He told the envoys that given the\nsituation of abundant production, \u2018we will collapse without the East African\nmarket.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Museveni informed the envoys that the current target is to work for the common market of Africa adding that a Government of the whole of Africa is not feasible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He revealed to the envoys that the recently launched Continental Free Trade Area was moving very fast and that a Summit of leaders in Africa would be held in May this year with the aim of working on how to defend Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President is a strong advocate of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) which was endorsed by nearly all African countries in March 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AfCTA\nseeks to progressively eliminate tariffs on trade and drive up investments to\nthe continent and its coverage would make it the world\u2019s largest free trade\narea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President told his guests that Uganda today is enjoying surplus production of various goods such as maize, milk, sugar, bananas etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He, therefore, reiterated that because of such developments, integration cannot be avoided. He also stressed that no country can attract investments without infrastructure because infrastructure is a vital component of development that enables accessing markets at a low cost of doing business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding the issue of the feasibility of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo joining the East African Community (Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan), the President said that \u2018our region has got a lot in common with Congo.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He observed that the Eastern Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo uses Kiswahili that is the main language in East Africa. He, therefore, expressed strong optimism that the D.R. Congo would join the EAC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Swedish Ambassador to Uganda, Per Lindgarde, while thanking President Museveni for meeting them, observed that Uganda and Nordic countries enjoy long standing relations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He revealed that the Nordic countries are keen to have more trade and culture exchanges with Uganda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting was attended by Major General\nKahinda Otafiire Minister of East African Affairs, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu Minister of\nJustice and Constitutional Affairs, Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye Minister of Science,\nTechnology and Innovation, Hon. David Bahati Minister of State for Planning,\nDr. Chris Baryomunsi Minister of State for Housing and Uganda\u2019s Ambassador to\nthe Nordic countries Nimisha Madhivani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Yoweri Museveni has told a delegation of ambassadors from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland (NORDIC) who are accredited to Uganda, that without the East African integration we have got no future. The President was speaking at a meeting held yesterday at State House, Entebbe when he received and met the delegation of 4 NORDIC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":13970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-13969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n