Trade, not aid, will lift us, says Museveni

Nov 06, 2003

WASHINGTON, Thursday - President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda sent The Wall Street Journal an impassioned plea for trade from developed nations rather than aid, saying taxpayers in those nations paid twice for development assistance

WASHINGTON, Thursday - President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda sent The Wall Street Journal an impassioned plea for trade from developed nations rather than aid, saying taxpayers in those nations paid twice for development assistance.

Keeping the developed world dependent on handouts, Museveni said in a letter published Thursday, “is a recipe for permanent poverty.”

“The only way we can break out of this vicious cycle is through trade and export-led growth,” he said.

He called on developed nations to “scale back the agricultural subsidies and over production which depress world prices and close rich country markets to Africa’s rural majority.”

The European Union, he said, was one of the worst offenders, noting that the practice of dumping commodities at a fraction of what they cost to grow was also a bad policy for the rich nations’ farmers and for the broader economy.

Museveni regretted the failure of the last round of talks of the World Trade Organisation at Cancun, Mexico, saying “We Africans could have done more to keep the negotiations on track.”

He said Africans should have supported US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick’s “bold proposal on agriculture ... instead of allowing it to be watered down to satisfy the EU.”

He proposed that trade issues be resolved within the WTO framework.

“As rich countries right their policies, prices at the farm gate will increase, causing incomes in developing countries to rise and creating new markets and investment opportunities for US business. Isn’t that a better way to promote development in Africa?”

Meanwhile, John Kakande reports that Museveni and the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, Andrew Natsios, have signed a $14.3m deal that would make Uganda the regional information technology centre.

The $14.3m deal, which includes the establishment of 10 network academies within Uganda’s university system, is partially funded by the Leland Initiative, a U.S. government effort aimed at connecting African nations to the Internet, said Washington File, a bulletin of the American government.

“An information technology partnership between the U.S. government, Uganda and the private sector is helping President Yoweri Museveni position his country as a major player and regional center for the computer services market in sub-Saharan Africa,” it said.

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