Agriculture, energy and trade dominate Sri Lanka-Uganda bilateral
discussions
The Sri Lankan and Ugandan delegations headed by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and President Yoweri Museveni held bilateral talks yesterday
at the State House in the town of Entebbe, approximately 40km south of
the Ugandan capital, Kampala, states a release from the Office of the
Presidential Spokesman and International Media Unit.
The release adds: “The discussions focused on a number of sectors on
which the countries agreed to collaborate during President Museveni’s
visit to Sri Lanka last November, but the bulk of the talks focused on
agriculture, energy and trade. The agricultural sector employs more than
80 percent of Uganda’s workforce,
and the discussion focused primarily on the cotton and textile
industry.
President Museveni requested assistance to develop Uganda’s textile
industry given Sri Lanka’s success in the sector.
Pointing out that there are several very successful Sri Lankan
companies. President Rajapaksa said “We will tell them to come here and
look into the (possibility)” of investing in Uganda.
“Improving production techniques, building capacity and strengthening
research were identified as some of the areas of potential
collaboration.
Only five percent of the cotton produced in Uganda is used by the
existing textile companies.
Therefore, the Ugandan ministers pointed out, there is a great
investment potential for Sri Lankan companies.
“Another area of potential investment opportunities for Sri Lankan
companies in Uganda is in the power and energy sector. Already, a Sri
Lankan company has constructed a 6.6 MW small hydro power plant in the
country.
The Ugandan Minister of Energy Mineral Development said the work of
the Sri Lankan company was impressive because of its ability to
construct the plant on difficult terrain and do it on time and within
the budget.
“Several areas in the oil and gas sector were also identified for
potential investment, including refining, infrastructure development,
pipeline construction, development of storage facilities and related
waste management.
“The two delegations also discussed the status of a project to
upgrade the Masulita Vocational Training Centre, which President
Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit during this tour. In an agreement signed
during President Museveni’s visit, Sri Lanka consented to provide $1.5
million to improve the facility.
“In addition to the ministers of education, agriculture and energy
and mineral development, a number of other senior Ugandan government
ministers were present at the bilateral talks.”
External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris, Monitoring MP for the
Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vaas Gunawardena, Secretary to the
President Lalith Weeratunga, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner designated to
Uganda (resident in Nairobi, Kenya) T Raveenthiran and Sri Lanka’s
Honorary Consul in Uganda V Kananathan were a part of the Sri Lanka
delegation. |