KAMPALA — Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has said Uganda development cooperation with the European Union is mutually beneficial and needs to be significantly increased and broadened.
Speaking at the on-going 3rd Uganda-European Union Business Forum,
Kasaija said this strategy will support Uganda to access equity to finance its projects especially under infrastructure and other strategic sectors, in addition to building capacity and resilience of Uganda’s private sector to grow the economy.
The Finance Minister who spoke on setting the scene for the Global Gateway implementation in Uganda in 2024 and beyond said the Global Gateway strategy focuses on priority areas that are consistent with Uganda’s development agenda.
“The EU remains a solid and long-standing development partner of Uganda in various areas of interest especially trade and investment,” said Kasaija.
The Finance Minister said Uganda’s exports to the EU remained resilient even during the peak of COVID-19 posting a 53% increase from USD 502.5 million in FY 2019/2020 to USD 770.41 million in FY 2022/23.
He said as of 2022 EU was Uganda’s largest foreign direct investment (FDI) source with over 38% of FDI inflows originating from EU partner states.
The EU is also Uganda’s key tourism partner accounting for over 50% of the European arrivals.
It should also be noted that the EU is a major partner in offering development and technical assistance especially under infrastructure,agriculture,human capital development among others.
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