Museveni to EU: 'You cannot control world politically'
Mar 06, 2024
“The non-trade barrier created by wrong politics where people mix politics with business, you need to advise governments in Europe to get out of that mistake."
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni speaking during the 3rd Uganda-EU Business Forum 2024 at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala. (Photos by PPU)
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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has underlined the need for European governments to stop mixing politics with business.
"There is no way you can control the world politically," he told European Union (EU) leaders.
“The non-trade barrier created by wrong politics where people mix politics with business, you need to advise governments in Europe to get out of that mistake."
Museveni made the remarks on Wednesday at the 3rd Uganda-EU Business Forum 2024 at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.
The three-day forum, which got underway on Tuesday, is running under the theme: 'Boosting trade and investment'.
In his comments, the President said businesses should look at the level of profitability "in this part of the world compared to Europe, Asia, and other investment destinations".
He said that for a business to make profits, it must have three elements;
▪️ Production of a good or service
▪️ Consumer who can pay for a good or service
▪️ Infrastructure (transport and communication) that links the producer of the goods and services to a consumer.
Museveni urged the EU to ensure that they engage in a serious dialogue with Africa to create more business opportunities among both parties.
On the other hand, he warned against exploitation and unfair division of labour by the Western powers.
“One of the disablers of business has been (but it's changing a bit now) the unfair division of labour in the world, where Africa and some of the other places like Latin America, produce raw materials and then the raw materials are taken to Europe and processed there into finished products.
"This is very dangerous. When you hear the chaos in some African countries now, the original problem is this one here. Those areas have got a lot of natural resources, but they have been exporting raw materials."
“When you are exporting a raw material, I will take an example of coffee. If you check your internet, you will see that the global value of coffee now is about 460 billion dollars.
"However, all the coffee-producing countries in the world like Brazil, and Uganda, share 25 billion dollars from the 460 billion dollars. From the 25 billion dollars, Africa shares 2.5 billion dollars and Uganda takes 900 million dollars.
"And why this?
"It is because, very good quality coffee, a kilogramme is 2.5 dollars, when somebody adds value to it, he gets 40 dollars in Europe. So, I'm losing the value of money but also losing jobs because the coffee value chain like the roasting, grinding, packaging are all job levels which are taken out.”
Museveni also called upon the EU countries to promote global affluence to enable the success of businesses in the world. 
“When the Chinese started building and getting out of poverty, a tonne of steel jumped from $200 (sh783,000) to $900 (sh3.5 million). It has now come down to about $700 (sh2.7 million).
"We are building steel industries now because the movement of the Chinese from straw-thatched shelters to permanent buildings has meant that the price of steel, cement, copper, and all products went up because of the movement from poverty to affluence in China.
“You as business people, can pursue business but the political actors in Europe and all of us need to know that global affluence will give good business to everybody in the world."
President Museveni further welcomed the European companies to invest in Uganda, saying it is very necessary for both Uganda and European companies.
“Europeans investing here is common sense and strategic."
Jan Sadek, the EU ambassador to Uganda, said that Ugandan and European Union companies have a lot to offer in this trade forum because both have several trade opportunities.
In his comments, foreign affairs state minister John Mulimba expressed the need for dialogue between Ugandan agribusinesses and European companies about quality assurance.
Investment and privatization state minister Evelyn Anite assured that Uganda is now at the take-off stage, ready to embrace all favourable investment opportunities from European companies.
Investment initiatives
At the forum, several agreements were signed to boost investment opportunities between Uganda and European companies. 
The initiatives include among others;
▪️ Green and Decent Jobs for Youth we Work at 50 million Euros. The project aims to enhance the employability of vulnerable youth, including young women, as well as their access to green and decent employment.
▪️ Advancing Respect for Business and Human Rights (ARBHR) in Uganda at five million Euros. The aim is to contribute to the reduction of human rights abuse, particularly those impacting women, in business activities in Uganda. The project supports the development.
▪️ The support to the Agricultural Revitalization and Transformation facility at 11.5 million Euros. This initiative aims to boost value addition and agro-processing by unlocking affordable medium-midterm financing for agribusiness SMEs in Uganda. 
▪️ Women Entrepreneur for Africa Programme within the Team Europe initiative investing in Young Businesses in Africa.
▪️ European Investment Bank (EIB) loan to Centenary Rural Development Bank Uganda. The project relates to online lending of 50 million Euros to micro-entrepreneurs and micro enterprises with a focus on female borrowers (50%) and clients in rural areas (60%).
▪️ EIB loan to Housing Finance Bank at 25 million Euros. This loan aims at providing financing to Housing Finance Bank-HFB for onward lending to several private sector entities, mostly small and medium-enterprises with a particular focus on eligible businesses run by and or managed by women.
▪️ EIB loan to Towerco of Africa-Uganda at 25 million Euros. The global gateway project supports the construction of 675 new mobile towers in Uganda.
▪️ aBI-Green and inclusive growth in Uganda’s agri-food systems at 12 million Euros.
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