Ahmedabad, Jun 21 (PTI) Uganda seeks to increase trade with India and invites businessmen with interest in Africa to consider exploring Uganda's various business and investment opportunities, a top official of the East African country said here Wednesday. The country invites businesses to explore investment in sectors such as agribusiness, infrastructure, real estate and oil and gas among others, the official said.
"We are extremely pleased with the continued cooperation between India and Uganda and are reaping the benefits of India's commitment towards the African continent with the 'Africa matters' policy," said High Commissioner of Uganda to India Joyce Kikafunda.
She said that Uganda is open to business, and there are business opportunities in all sectors.
"Agriculture is the backbone of our economy. 70 per cent of our exports are from the agriculture sector...But our problem is value addition. We want your investment in agri-business in value addition," she said, adding there are also opportunities in infrastructure, real estate, oil & gas, ICT and health and pharma, etc.
Kikafunda was speaking at the roadshow organised by Uganda here with the aim to increase the country's partnership with India in the field of commercial and economic growth.
"Our 2040 vision is to get out of poverty, or peasantry, and prosper and be in the upper or mid-upper by 2040. We are hard-working people, over 60 per cent of our people are 30 years or below," she said at the launch of the roadshow which will see deliberations on the business and investment opportunities in the different sectors in Uganda during the next three days.
The East African country has centred the road show with the themes of tourism, culture and trade, by pitching Uganda as the number of one destination for investments for the business community.
"The market is there. There are many opportunities. There is one industrial park in every corner in the country, running with all utilities and some which are awaiting investors," she said.
Uganda shares a century-old relationship with India, and has worked with India with the goodwill between the people of both countries serving as fertile grounds for conducting business, the Uganda High Commission in India said in a statement.
"Ugandan exports to India have surged over the past 26 years, and the road show aims at increasing trade between the two countries in the next 5-10 years," it said.
India's exports to Uganda has risen sharply over the last nearly two and a half decades, from USD 57.4 million in 1995 to USD 695 in 2021, and Uganda mainly exported coffee, cocoa beans and dried legumes to India during the same period, officials said.