The Chairperson board of trustees of Lohana community in Uganda Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia on Wednesday told President Yoweri Museveni that his good leadership and policies in Uganda today have offered a tremendous amount of stability, security and confidence for long term development.
Speaking during the Lohana International Business Forum (LIBF) at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort Hotel in Kampala, Dr. Sudhir who also serves as the Ruparelia Group Chairperson said, “Uganda has many natural resources, a young and increasingly educated workforce, steadily rising middle income and more stable in governance including micro economic policies which makes an ideal environment for a long term investment.”
“Some people who are here for the first time can’t believe that such beautiful country exists in the world. Uganda has a conducive investment climate which helps businesses to consistently grow,” he assured the businessmen and women.
Dr. Sudhir also described President Museveni as foresighted, supportive of the business communities in Uganda and is always willing to listen to all business entrepreneurs whenever need arises.
“We have invested in commercial activities like agro-processing, ICT, construction, pharmaceuticals, hospitality and education,” he said of the growing influence of the Lohana Community in the country’s productive sectors.
He further thanked the Head of State for returning the Asian properties.
On his part, President Museveni who was the Chief Guest at the Business Forum said he was optimistic that Uganda’s rich raw material base will make it a first world economy once they’re fully exploited, now that the country continues to attract investors who are willing to support his value addition strategy.
“This economy can quickly become a first world economy. It is now entering the middle-income level, but it can easily go faster, why? Because the raw material base is already big,” H.E Museveni said, mentioning materials like coffee, which is fetching Uganda, 900 million dollars with potential to bring in 10 billion dollars. He added that Uganda is also doing well on steel production.
“For a long time, we didn’t have investors in steel but now they’re rushing to develop a steel industry inside the African continent so that we don’t have to get steel from China, Ukraine or India,” he added.
President Museveni also told the Lohana business community that the struggle of NRM to wake up Ugandans to stop working only for consumption but also for money is moving well and expressed confidence that the coming together of Africa that had been fragmented for a long time will ensure a ready market for the products.
“Africa is big but fragmented politically, that’s why we revived the East African Community. We now have a ready market of 300 million people. Recently we were in Algeria, and they say Ugandan milk is the best and much better than they were getting from Ukraine and Russia and they’re ready to take Ugandan powdered milk that’s what they like most,” the President added.
The President further welcomed Lohana businessmen to Uganda, saying the Asian people played a positive role in boosting Uganda’s trade.
“In my village of Ntungamo, we had 4 Indians and two Arabs, and our relationship was symbiotic. For us we’re farmers and cattle keepers and Indians were traders, bringing what we needed from far away and buying our products. I used to sell milk to them in 1952,” the President noted, adding that it was therefore rubbish for people like Idi Amin who he termed as Parasites who have never been involved in wealth creation to chase Asians from Uganda.
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