President Museveni invites Tanzanians to Invest in Uganda

Ugandan President Hon. Yoweri Museveni has appealed to Tanzanian Business community to invest in Uganda in a bid to strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries.

President Museveni made the remarks today during his visit to Bakhresa Group of company’s wheat flour plant in Buguruni and Fruit juice processing plant located at Vingunguti both in Dar es Salaam.

“I invite Tanzanian businessmen to come and invest in Uganda; because we believe, by doing

so, we will not only be creating market for our products but also jobs to our people,” said President Museveni.

The Ugandan President expressed his admiration of the success achieved by Bakhresa Group of Companies under the chairmanship of Mr. Said Salim Bakhresa which has investments in various East African countries including in Uganda.

In Uganda, the group set up Bakhresa Grain Milling (U) Limited in 1998 with a wheat mill of 250 tons per day capacity, which was increased to 450 tons per day in 2004, and further increased to 1,050 tons per day in 2011.

According to the Group’s Public Relations Director Mr. Hussein Sufiani, the plan is under way to increase production of wheat flour at Ugandan factory from the current 1,100 tons to 2,000 tons per day.  He added that as a result of such investment, his company has created more than 650 jobs in Ugandans.

Meanwhile Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Hon. Charles Mwaijage has said that Tanzania and Uganda have agreed to strengthen cooperation in various sectors including the industries.

Minister Mwijage who accompanied President Museveni during his tour at Bakhresa industries noted that Uganda is an ideal place for Tanzanians to invest in agro-industry and cited maize production in that country where there is about 3 million surplus from its 4 million tons annual production.

“We encourage businessmen from our countries to invest in their countries so as to create market for our products and create more jobs to our people” said Minister Mwijage.

Minister Mwijage, urged Tanzanians to support government’s efforts to industrialize the country by engaging in production of raw materials such as fruits or vegetables .

President Yoweri Museveni arrived in the country on Saturday for a two-day state visit where he held bilateral talks with his host President Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli at the state house.

The talks were centred on several key areas including implementation of $4 billion crude oil pipeline project from Uganda to Tanzania, strengthening transport, trade and investment between the two countries and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.

On EPA, both leaders denounced the agreement claiming it is detrimental to the development of  region’s industrial sector. Speaking at the joint press conference at the state house on Saturday, President Magufuli said EPA deal was another form of coloniaslism.

Both Tanzania and Uganda last year rejected the signing of EPA between EAC member countries and European Union.