By By Godfrey Olukya 18-9-2013
President Yoweri Museveni has said that leaders should at all times work to boost trade among countries noting that trade is important because it is a stimulus for growth and should not be mixed with anything else.
“But some people want to mix trade with the desire for domination which is unfortunate,” he said.
Museveni hailed the government of China for not interfering in the internal affairs of independent and sovereign states and said that political and international issues should always be resolved using the existing international agencies and laws than the use of force.
The President was last evening meeting with H.E Zhang Dejiang, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of the People’s Republic of China Mr. Zhang Dejiang who called on him at State house Entebbe. Mr. Dejiang led a delegation of over 50 people for a two day working visit to Uganda.
Museveni welcomed the delegation to Uganda and commended the ever growing excellent and cordial relationship between China and Uganda and the African continent as a whole which he said has stretched closer to a century.
The President used the occasion to commend the Chinese people for the support and inspiration they gave to Africa in the struggle for political independence and said that the Chinese support was not in vain as the entire African continent was finally liberated and attained independence.
“When the communist of China took charge in 1939 they ignited the African struggle for independence and even at different times supported our struggle directly and we are always grateful,” the President said.
He said Africa is a continent with great potential both in terms of natural resources, the human resource and a bigger market because of its ever increasing population and noted that China which is today the second most powerful economy in the world needed to support the development cause of Africa so as to mutually benefit from each other. “It is the most opportune time for the China-Africa alliance than ever before for the good of our allies,” he said.
He commended the Government of China for opening her market tax free and quota free to the African products, a gesture he said had boosted trade between the African continent and China. He further said that although Uganda has registered some economic growth and the economy continues to expand it was faced with some strategic bottlenecks that have hindered the country from transforming to a first world country.
He singled out inadequate development infrastructures such as roads, the railway and inadequate electricity as some of the bottlenecks where Uganda needs support from the develop world noting that the above infrastructures ease production and lower the cost of doing business.
Mr. Zhang Dejiang commended President Museveni and the government in general for the development and progress the country has registered under his leadership. He said that China attaches a lot of importance to Uganda, the reason he choose Uganda as his first overseas official visit as a speaker of the National assembly.
He said that China is behind Uganda and will render her any support they can as the country works to achieve the 2040 development agenda. He described Uganda as a unique country that is well geographically located and blessed with abundant natural resources that any country in the world would treasure to cooperate with it.
Mr. Zhang further told the President that the cooperation between China and Uganda and other African countries is based on mutual support and respect. “China believes that all countries small or big, strong or weak should be treated as equal and we should advocate for peaceful resolution of conflicts than the He said that his country was open to cooperate with Uganda even if it means exploring new area of cooperation.
He further expressed support to President Yoweri Museveni long stand to have the African problems being resolved by the Africans using the African home generated solutions than the foreign ones that normally generate more problems for the continent.
END