President Museveni appeals to Italians for investment in coffee value addition

While meeting a delegation from Italy led by Ambassador Stefano Gatti, the Director General of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation at State House Entebbe, President Museveni noted, “What we need from Europe is capital, not from the government but from the private sector which needs money in the form of profits. It’s a win-win formula,”

President Museveni applauded H.E. Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, for her prompt attention to his proposal to send a delegation to Uganda in order to look for investment opportunities.

He informed the delegation that there are plenty of natural resources, skilled labor, and investment opportunities in Uganda that should be taken advantage of.

In order to raise the caliber of Ugandan coffee, President Museveni also asked the investors to establish factories here.

“We now produce 9 million bags of coffee and with irrigation, production will be more. We are moving although slower because of resources but once you come in, we shall move faster,” he stressed.

Additionally, President Museveni urged Italians to invest in the production of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and veterinary medications.

“You can co-invest in the production of human drugs because we spend a lot on imports,” he said.

Reiterating the success story of Uganda’s dairy sector, President Museveni highlighted the revolutionary steps made to link rural farmers with urban consumers.

“We have been able to make the villagers produce for the town and milk production in Uganda jumped from 200 million litres a year to now 5 billion litres a year and we are targeting 20 billion litres of milk,” he said.

Regarding the climate fund project by the Italian government, President Museveni said it will help Uganda to conserve the environment.

President Museveni emphasized the role that worldwide wealth plays in promoting prosperity for all, and he called on European political players to understand the advantages of fair economic alliances.

President Museveni was informed by Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja that the delegation was full of prospective investors eager to support Uganda’s development.

Nabbanja stated that she met with several possible Italian investors as well as H.E. Antonio Tajani, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, following the Italy-Africa summit in Rome, where she represented President Museveni.

“I requested H.E Antonio to send a delegation of potential investors to Uganda to explore investment opportunities in our country and they are now here,” she added.

President Museveni was notified by Ambassador Stefano Gatti that Uganda is a new priority to Italy for development cooperation.

“Uganda is a new priority area for us and our mission here is to first of all respond to your first priority which is the coffee sector. Uganda is a key coffee country in the world and already we have private companies in Italy that invest in Ugandan coffee,” Mr. Stefano said.

He added that Italy has a climate fund, and they are willing to work with Uganda through this program to deal with the effects of climate change.

“We agree together that coffee is one of those sectors that have this challenge of climate change and Uganda needs a lot of investment to deal with this challenge. If we deal with climate change, we shall be able to increase the production of coffee. We are ready to invest,” he noted.

Additionally, Mr. Stefano mentioned their desire to work together in the agro-foods and livestock businesses with Uganda.

“Italy is one of the biggest producers of food connected to meat all over the world and we have advanced technology and solutions so we want to see how we can transfer technology and solutions to Uganda,” he said.

Mr. Stefano also revealed that they would like to invest in Uganda’s health sector.

Source; PPU