President Yoweri Museveni has urged investors to concentrate on making electric car batteries which Uganda is still importing yet it has raw materials that can spur the development of her automotive industry.
“Our people are making electric motorcycles, buses, and pickups yet we still import batteries, I want to make electric car batteries here using these raw materials” the President noted.
Museveni made these remarks while meeting a group of investors from ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), a Pan-African developer and operator of world-class industrial parks at State House Entebbe on Tuesday.
In this meeting, the President also highlighted that Uganda is moving forward in building an independent, integrated, and self-sustaining national economy which is point number five of the NRM’s 10 points program developed in the 1970s.
The fountain of honor however noted that Uganda’s highly educated population which has been buried in a slave mentality has also started waking up into serious manufacturing to develop the automotive industry through the production of electric vehicles.
The first citizen used this opportunity to welcome the (ARISE IIP) group led by Maama Rosa Malango, an Economic Development Expert, and informed them that Uganda has a lot of investment opportunities.
“We had captured a narrow portion of the spectrum because we were struggling on our own. We had only succeeded in a few like milk processing, soap making, textiles, timber, forest products, etc., but the spectrum is still there. So, I welcome you,” he said
The Chief Executive Officer and Founder of ARISE IIP Gagan Gupta informed the President that they expect to have created 100,000 jobs through their developed textile industry in less than 4 years of their existence in Benin which is Africa’s largest exporter of cotton.
ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP) is currently present in ten (10) African countries like Benin (GDIZ), Togo (PIA), and Gabon (GSEZ) amongst others identifying opportunities in commercial and industrial value chains across Africa, and also conceiving finance, building, plus operating the necessary infrastructure, playing a catalytic role in supporting countries to transition to an industrial economy.
This meeting was also attended by among others, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Rose Nankabirwa, the Minister of State for Mineral Development Peter T. Lokeris, Hon Francis Mwebesa who is the Minister of Trade, industry, and cooperatives, Senior Presidential Assistant Hon Mary Karooro Okurut and officials from Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Free Zones Authority and National Planning Authority.
