A 30 man delegation from Germany is visiting Uganda following the president’s invitation to them to invest in Uganda during the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in Hamburg, Germany early June this year. H.E. the President invited the business community in German to invest in Uganda citing the strategic mutual benefits for them (Profitability) and for the Ugandans (Job creation and skills transfer).
Eng. Dr. Sebbowa welcomed the delegates and thanked them for responding to the President’s call. He described Uganda as a land linked country to the entire East African market with 35million Ugandan people. “We have some areas government is trying to promote as priority key sectors like agro processing, tourism, Information and Communication Technology, Mineral beneficiation (full range of minerals) and energy.” He told the delegation that the affordable labor in Uganda speaks volumes as to why the visiting delegates should manufacture within Uganda.
“We have about 5 different government agencies that can handle investors under one roof (UIA offices) rather than moving to their various headquarters spread all over town. Under a One Stop Centre, you can register or incorporate your company, process your work permits, process a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and tax related issues and also work on the environmental impact assessment.
Eng. Dr. Sebbowa appreciated the German people’s work in Uganda and identified KFW as the leader in doing all feasibity studies on all the hydro power projects in Uganda. He encouraged the German business man to also engage in other business sectors.
“We have industrial parks and recently the president directed UIA to develop 22 industrial parks in the next 5 years so that when industrialists come to Uganda, they find a ready ground with water, electricity roads and other required utility services to just star business. Of the 22 industrial parks, 9 are currently operational and spread all over the country from the far North East to the far south East of the country.” He said.
He also commented on how excellent the relationship between the two countries was. He identified some companies from Germany operating in Uganda. These include Gulf engineering and Hertz that have been in Uganda for a long time.
“We’ve licensed about 58 German private enterprises from which 723 jobs have been generated out of that process and we are asking for more.” He said.
Dr. Stefan Liebing, President of Afrika-Verein der deutschen Wirtschaft e. V. led the delegation and informed the present officials that he was happy to lead the German industry delegation following the visit of His Excellency the President. He assured them that the President spoke to most of the prospective investors and invited them to come invest in Uganda to increase the number of German investments in the country in a variety of sectors.
He identified the senior industry leaders representing strong Germany brands with an interest in Uganda and among them included Siemens Ltd, Boush Africa, Ferrum S.A and quite a number of specialized companies from the different sectors of energy, Infrastructure, IT and agriculture. “We hope to make this a starting point of a stronger bi-lateral business cooperation.” He said
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