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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has met and asked the visiting Presidents of Major Jewish American Organisations to support Uganda’s agricultural sector.
Kadaga urged the investors to invest in the sector considering that Uganda’s economy largely depends on agriculture.
The meeting was held at Parliament Building today, Thursday 14 February 2019.
“It is important for us to continue with the process of value addition. We produce milk, cotton, fish and coffee. If we are able to have more processing facilities, it would be good for us,” said Kadaga.
She also interested the investors in industrial parks, saying that this would not only address the high youth unemployment in Uganda, but also provide market for Ugandan products.
“We have a number of industrial parks in the country and I would be happy to see some investment there,” said Kadaga.
In view of strengthening relationships and the need to promote tourism between the two countries, Kadaga re-echoed plans to establish a museum in Entebbe in memory of Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother to Israeli Prime Minister who was killed in Entebbe 40 years ago.
“I am sure this will also help us to activate the El Al Airline. The airline only comes to Nairobi and not Uganda. This will be another way of establishing the airlink,” Kadaga said.
She added that Uganda is interested in starting a school of tourism and hospitality in memory of the 74-year-old Dora Bloch, a British-Israeli, who was also killed in Uganda during the Entebbe raid.
Arthur Stark, the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said their visit has exposed them to the existing partnership opportunities between Uganda, Israel and America.
“We came here specifically for strategic alliance, to see how we can build it and to learn what opportunities are here,” said Stark.
He revealed that every year, the White House and Israel choose a strategic partner country, and this year, Uganda was identified as one such country in Africa.
Sam Lyomoki (NRM, Worker’s) who is the Deputy Chairperson of the Uganda Israel Parliamentary Caucus asked the American Jewish investors to advocate for establishment of an Israeli Embassy in Uganda.
“One of the things that has always come up during these meetings is the issue of an embassy. Right now, we have an embassy in Kenya but at an appropriate time, you can think about us and we work together to make sure that our relationships are consolidated,” said Lyomoki.
The Conference of Presidents represents 53 major Jewish Organizations from the United States. They coordinate with the White House, Congress, the Media and other leaders throughout the American spectrum with the objective of strengthening relationships between Israel, America and other foreign countries.
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SOURCE: UGANDA PARLIAMENT
