Uganda is to benefit from the ‘green lanes’ that the Chinese government has pledged to open, which will help African countries export to China agricultural products worth $300b (sh1,069.5 trillion) in the next three years.

This, according to the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, will further increase the scope of African products as they will enjoy the zero-tariff treatment.

According to Yi, this arrangement will grow total imports from Africa to China in the next three years to $300b.

Yi made the revelation while meeting with Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Gen. Jeje Odongo, in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday (November 29) on the sidelines of the eighth ministerial conference on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

A statement from the Chinese Embassy in Uganda today quoted Yi as saying; “China will open “green lanes” for African Agricultural exports to China, further increase the scope of African products enjoying the zero-tariff treatment, and strive to grow total imports from Africa in the next three years to $300b.”

Yi said all these moves are poised to empower the growth of exports from African countries, including Uganda, to China and lift bilateral trade between China and Uganda as well as Africa at large, to new levels.           

Uganda and China enjoy cordial economic, social and political relations, with the Republic of China financing several developmental projects worth billions of shillings in Uganda, especially infrastructural developments aimed at improving trade.