Uganda’s business community has been urged to take up free Algerian market which has been made available by it’s government.
The state minister for trade Ms Harriet Ntabazi told delegates at the ongoing Uganda-Algeria Business Forum and Trade Exhibition at Hotel Africa that the March meeting between the president and his Algerian counterpart yielded substantive results.
“The Algerian government has given us market-free entry into their country where they have allowed our produce both processed and semi-processed products,” she said as she open the exhibition which will run till October 2.
“….they have also agreed to come and invest in our country in huge numbers, my appeal therefore to Ugandans is to jointly cooperate for easy identification if they are to benefit from the initiative,” she added.
Minister Ntabazi informed delegates that this initiative will play a big role in expanding the country’s market beyond the neighboring countries for example Kenya, “where some of our products have been experiencing some challenges”
Uganda has been grappling with it’s Kenyan neighbor who on several occasions have blocked it’s milk causing tension.
Ntabazi said Ugandan goods will go the rest of the world namely.’Europe, Asia among others hence bosting the country’s economy.
The Algerian government, she has drawn attention to which included milk, meat, and coffee among others.
“They have given us a chance to freely export our meat to Algeria including our coffee which has one of the best scents across the entire world, in addition to our milk which had been criticized by our neighbors for example, Kenya has also caught their attention after their officials critically analyzed the milk and found out it suits their standards,” she revealed.
She, however, urged Ugandans to increase their involvement in the agricultural sector and called on farmers to do value addition on all their produce hence increasing the demand for their products in the international market.
Uganda and Algeria have had long and cordial relations anchored on mutual respect, dialogue as well as bilateral and Pan-African solidarity. However, these warm relations are not reflected in the volumes of trade and investment between the two countries which has remained very low, hence calling for more mutual understanding between the two countries.
