The Japanese delegation to the talks
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I After playing a principle part in projects such as the bridge over the Nile, the Kampala fly over and the Gulu – Atiak road, Japanese companies have been invited to take keen interest in the private sector and set up factories that will feed the African market.
“I have been trying to encourage Japanese companies to invest in the private sector because there, we can do more work. Bilateral aid is good, but the bigger and better way is the private sector, because in the private sector you create jobs, you expand the economy, you bring in foreign currency and you cover more ground,” said President Yoweri Museveni, during bilateral talks with the visiting Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ms. Eri Arfiya.
The President called on the Japanese companies to tap on the potentially huge market of Africa that will be 2.5 billion people in the next 30 years, forming a quarter of the human race.
He further urged his guest to woo investors to invest in the construction of the railway network that could link markets on the continent under the umbrella of Continental Free Trade Area(CFTA).
“Japan could play the two roles, because if you talk of the AfCFTA, it can be AfCFTA on paper, but you must have infrastructure to link the market, to build a railway from East Africa to Congo and from Congo to Central Africa that can lower the cost of doing business,” he proposed.
He also asked them to look into the construction of toll roads.
Museveni informed his guest of the urgent need of road equipment for the construction and maintenance of the road network in Uganda, noting that with the increase of districts to 147 and more municipalities, there is need for more units of road equipment.
He acknowledged the role Uganda is playing in welcoming and hosting refugees from neighboring countries, noting that it was the artificial colonial boundaries that separated the people at the borders who are otherwise of the same ethnicity.
“The root chaos in Africa is caused by neo-colonial agents who are working for foreign interests, and they bring the politics of identity, politics of tribe and religion. But our movement, started as a student movement in the 1960s, was able to expose the wrong politics of identity and we pushed for politics of interest. That is how we have been able to stabilize Uganda and also those Africans who are suffering in their own countries,” he said.
He pointed out that the colonial borders are artificial. “There is no way we cannot welcome our people, the only problem is logistics. Politically it is not a problem for us to keep refugees until their countries are peaceful and they go back.”
On her part, Ms. Arfiya said Uganda has done an incredible job in ensuring that there is peace and stability here for her own people as well as those in the region.
She delivered a letter of invitation to Museveni to attend the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) slated for August 2025.
The President assured her that a high-level delegation will represent him at the event.
