On Tuesday morning, the Rt. Hon Rebecca A. Kadaga 1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East Africa Community Affairs hosted H.E Zhang Lizhong the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Uganda who had paid a courtesy call on her at the Minister Headquarters at Kingdom Kampala.
H.E Zhang’s tenure comes to an end after 4.7 years of valuable contributions to the China Uganda cooperation. The Ambassador appreciated the 1st Deputy Prime Minister and Government for the support extended to him which he said was responsible for the numerous achievements registered. He expressed delight to the deepening of cooperation between the two countries as projected by the several project initiatives implemented such as the Entebbe Kampala Expressway, the successful hosting of the NAM and G77 plus China summit in January 2024, the operationalization of the September 2024 signed protocols for Chili and Fish between the two Countries, the achieved high-level exchanges by leaders of the two Countries, the improvement of Trade and Investment ties that has been reflected in terms of volume of trade and the growing number of Chinese investors attracted to Uganda during the previous 4 years, among others.
He expressed his delight to Busoga’s contribution towards Uganda’s first chili shipment to China and encouraged increased production to sustainably meet the Chinese market demands in terms of Quantities. He noted that the prices of chili in china had gone down but was hopeful that they would improve in the coming months.
He noted that the People’s Friendship Association of China was happy for the progress made by the Busoga Consortium for Development in initiating and facilitating sister provincial relations with Chinese provinces such as Liaoning and Shandong. He welcomed other regions of Uganda to emulate Busoga by taking advantage of the established FOCAC framework to establish both sister city and provincial relations with Chinese counterparts for the benefit of the people of Uganda.
He informed Rt. Hon. Kadaga that exchanges were ongoing with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries of Uganda to have more Uganda products cleared to access the Chinese Market. He further applauded the quality of Uganda coffee and encouraged increased production to take advantage of the Chinese Market.
On the recently concluded Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the Ambassador congratulated Rt. Hon. Kadaga and H.E the President on their attained satisfactory victories. He noted that the Chinese Community was happy for the sustained peace and stability in the Country responsible for the conducive working environment.
The Chinese Ambassador also informed the 1st Deputy Prime Minister of the ongoing arrangements to provide a VISA waiver to all holders of Diplomatic and Service Passports.
In her response, the Rt. Hon Kadaga congratulated the Chinese Ambassador for the very impactful tenure of service. She appreciate him and the Chinese Government for the special importance attached to the China Uganda cooperation as reflected in the numerous achievements registered in the 4 previous years.
On investment, she commended the Chinese for choosing Uganda as the most suitable investment destination for their businesses. She particularly commended the impact made by Chinese led Industrial Parks such as Kapeka Liaoshen Industrial Park, Mbale Industrial Park and the China Uganda Kehong Agricultural Industrial Park of Luwero to the economic development of Uganda.
The 1st Deputy Prime Minister reminded the Ambassador of the need to expedite the commencement of the direct flight from Entebbe to Beijing noting that this would further boost people to people relations and business. She noted that the people of Uganda are ready to work hard and take advantage of the opened Chinese market links to improvement their earnings.
She thanked the Chinese Ambassador for the proposed waiver of VISAs for holders of Diplomatic and Service passports to China suggesting that it would ease movement and further demonstrate China’s commitment to realizing the vision of “A Community with a Shared Future for All Mankind”
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