By: Ismael Kasooha  

KAMPALA

The Prime Minister of Uganda Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja has met the Turkish Ambassador to Uganda H.E Mehemet Fatih who called on her at the office in Kampala.

Nabbanja and her guest discussed a range of issues aimed at fostering bilateral relations between Uganda and Turkey, especially trade and investment.

The Premier told the Ambassador that relations between Uganda and Turkey had grown since 2010 when Bilateral relations between the two counties were fully activated.

“Turkey and Uganda opened diplomatic missions in Kampala and Ankara respectively in 2011 which has led to improved interactions between the two sister countries and Uganda and Turkey have been enjoying cordial bilateral relations since then,” said Nabbanja.

Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah (right) exchanging gifts with the Turkish Ambassador to Uganda

She added that Uganda was still virgin in terms of investment because there were many opportunities that remained untapped and implored the Turkish envoy to invite investors to come and invest in Uganda.  “We have fresh fruits, vegetables, foods and beverages that can be exported to Turkey which are organic in nature,” said Nabbanja.

Nabbanja condoled with the people of Turkey upon the earthquake that hit the country early this year that left many lives lost.  On Monday 6th February 2023, the Republic of Turkeys was of hit by two consecutive earthquakes claiming several loss of lives (over 45,000) and destruction of billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure.

“It was unfortunate that you lost a big number of people when your country was hit by the earthquake. We condole with you and pray that God helps you to recover from such a calamity,” said Nabbanja.

H.E Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda sent a condolence message to H.E President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the people of the Republic of Turkey, and the government of Uganda contributed USD 200,000 towards relief efforts for the injured and most vulnerable.

On his part, Ambassador Mehmet Fatih said that Tukey was ready to further improve bilateral relations with Uganda especially in trade, investments, education, health and defence.  He also condoled with the people of Uganda upon the loss of innocent lives in Kasese District at the hands of suspected ADF rebels.

The Government of Uganda should seek to optimize benefits from this mutual cooperation through strategic partnerships and effective execution of projects geared towards accelerating socio-economic transformation in the Country.

In a related development, the Prime Minister earlier in the day met a team from the Muslim Ambassadors of Uganda and discussed ways of skilling the youths.  Haneem Atizoyo, the Managing Director of the organisation briefed the Prime Minister on how they intend to skill the youths with support from German.

The Prime Minister thanked them for the initiative and said that they were complementing government efforts in skilling the youths.

End