President\nYoweri Museveni has described the idea of sanctions by external forces as\n\u2018cowardly\u2019 and said leaders of the East and West met and agreed on peaceful\ncompetitions rather than sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy\nput sanctions? When somebody is wrong, leave him; they will fail by their own\nmistakes. When you put sanctions on them, that means you are not sure of them.\nI appeal for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nPresident who was also the chief guest was yesterday speaking at the official\nopening of the country\u2019s 60th<\/sup> International Trade fair in Bulawayo\nin the South Western region of Zimbabwe. The fair is being held under the\ntheme: \u201cGrowth through trade and investment\u201d.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlso\nthis is a problem of us Africans, we don\u2019t work closely together. If somebody\nputs sanctions on one of us, we also put sanctions on them. I don\u2019t agree with\nthose who say Africa is much weaker to work together. OAU and the frontline\ncountries worked together to support the struggles for freedom in South Africa.\nIf we discussed closely and cognately we can have a greater impact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Museveni is in Zimbabwe on a two-day official visit at the invitation of President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the second time that he is officiating as the chief guest at the fair, having done the same 30 years ago in 1989. The ceremony took place at the Zimbabwe International Trade stadium in Bulawayo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n President Museveni urged Africa to work together to liberate itself and noted that 6 frontline states cooperated and worked together to liberate African countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that they struggled for liberation by uniting and that the socialist countries supported the liberation struggle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\nwant to encourage you to be steadfast in the challenges imposed on you by\nexternal factors. We shall stand by you. Zimbabwe is a rich country; lets work\ntogether and develop this huge potential of Zimbabwe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He informed the huge crowd that in 1986 Uganda had no essential commodities such as sugar and soap but that the situation has today been reversed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had died and been buried..but we rose again. Uganda now has got one of the fastest growing economies in the World, Zimbabwe can do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that we should work together to exploit the big potential of Zimbabwe particularly the wide range of minerals available in the Southern African country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He revealed that he and his Zimbabwean counterpart President Mnangangwa discussed the issue of exporting raw materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis\nissue of production and exporting raw materials is costing us. Only 30% is\nretained while 70% is exported. This means exporting jobs and incomes. Export\nof raw materials is a challenge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He gave the example of a country losing jobs and income through the export of unprocessed cotton. He observed that when the product is exported in its raw form, it fetches only US $1 as compared to a price of US $ 16 per Kg of the processed cotton products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut\nbe of good cheer, don\u2019t be discouraged. If we move together, we can move\nfurther,\u201d he said. The President invited his host to visit Uganda. He observed\nthat he last visited in 1963 while in transit to Egypt to train as a freedom\nfighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nMinister of Trade and commerce Welshman Ncube paid tribute to President\nMuseveni for his leading role that has promoted peace and stability. He also\nsaluted the chief guest for having scored big success in fighting against\nHIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nobserved that under the leadership of President Museveni, Uganda has addressed\nthe issue of hyper- inflation that had gone out of hand when NRM took power in\n1986.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Yoweri Museveni has described the idea of sanctions by external forces as \u2018cowardly\u2019 and said leaders of the East and West met and agreed on peaceful competitions rather than sanctions. \u201cWhy put sanctions? When somebody is wrong, leave him; they will fail by their own mistakes. When you put sanctions on them, that means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9309,"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-9308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n