By: Jotham Alinaitwe
ENTEBBE
President Yoweri Museveni met with a second delegation of potential investors from Italy at State House in Entebbe on Wednesday. The group was delivered to the President by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
The prospective investors were led by Ambassador Stefano Gatti, the Director General of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The delegation was comprised of officials from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Italian Development Cooperation Bank, representatives from Italian companies operating in the coffee sector and other firms.
These potential investors were part of the Italian businesspeople the Prime Minister met with after the Italy-Africa Summit in Rome in January this year. On behalf of the President, Nabbanja, who represented the Head of State at the summit invited the potential investors to Uganda to explore investment opportunities. She extended the invitation to them through Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani.
Museveni met the first delegation of potential Italian investors at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort and Conference Centre where he went to open the 3rd Uganda-European Union Business Forum almost two weeks ago. These were also among the business people Nabbanja invited to Uganda on behalf of the President after the Summit to identity investment opportunities.
The President encouraged his guests to take advantage of the numerous investment opportunities in all sectors of Uganda’s economy. He reiterated his earlier call for Europe to recognise the importance of global affluence in fostering mutual prosperity. He added that the political actors in Europe need to appreciate the benefits of equitable economic partnerships.
“I encourage more Italian investors to set up factories here to add value to our coffee and invest in the pathogenic sector so we can reduce the amount we spend on importing human drugs,” the President said in a tweet on Thursday. “I thank the Prime Minister of Italy, Her Excellency Giorgia Meloni, for her quick response to my idea of sending a delegation here to identify investment opportunities in the country,”
After the Wednesday meeting, the President directed the Prime Minister to convene a meeting between Ministers and Italian businesspeople to identify potential investment opportunities and areas of collaboration between Uganda and Italy. The meeting was attended by representatives from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, including the Uganda Investment Authority and Uganda Coffee Development Authority. The Italian ambassador to Uganda Mauro Massoni, attended both meetings.
“I am happy that this delegation met with the President yesterday,” Nabbanja said. “Our goal today is to ensure that the discussions continue, that we gather more information, and that we have a plan of action”.
END
