President Museveni has tasked ambassadors and high commissioners of Uganda to promote the commercial interests of the country to make their diplomatic work more valuable.
Mr Museveni said there is minimal work on ground in terms of industrialisation and foreign investment that can be attributed to ambassadors’ efforts to lobby for their country. He also admonished them for resorting “to taking champagne” once posted.
The President now wants the diplomats to focus on attracting investors, finding a market for locally produced goods, all geared at social economic transformation.
“There is no doubt that Foreign Affairs can be a productive sector because we have been telling you Foreign Affairs is a sector of attracting investments, tourists and trade,” he said.
Uganda has a surplus of products such as maize, coffee, milk, cement, and steel bars whose market the ambassadors must find.
“The work of the ambassadors and Ugandan diplomats is influence. If the four principles are implemented, the production will be so big that our foreign service people will have to do a lot of work to get market for those products,” he said.
The President added: “The internal market is not enough. We thought the internal market of Uganda would help us solve our problem of markets so that we sell our products, but we discovered it is not enough. The production of sugar is now 600,000 tonnes, but Ugandans are drinking (sic) only 380,000.”
He was speaking at the closing ceremony of a five-day training of the diplomats, held at National Leadership Institute, Kyankwanzi, on Friday.
Basing on some of the long preached fundamentals of his government, Mr Museveni stressed the importance of Pan Africanism and justified Uganda’s operations in the DR Congo.
“On the issue of strategic security, when you hear there is a problem in Congo and we are just sitting here, if we do not work together, it will also grow and come here. But if we work together, it is simple we can solve it… there is no way Uganda can be alright when the rest of Africa is not alright,” he reasoned.
In his remarks, Foreign Affairs minister Gen Jeje Odongo highlighted the key milestones in Ugandan foreign policy. Gen Odongo proffered the construction of roads into DR Congo expected to boost trade and security, as well as mobilising support for Operation Shujaa to neutralise the Allied Democratic Forces rebels.
Gen Odongo said it was important to engage the ambassadors and equip them with knowledge of the needs of the country for effective representation.
He, however, said many of the would-be projects under his docket are limited by the small budget accorded to them. To this, the President said the government has other priorities such as the Parish Development Model that have eaten into other budgets.
Mr Museveni nevertheless promised to consider the plea of his Foreign Affairs minister.
Before the training, the diplomats toured various factories and oil fields—a move the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Mr Vincent Bagiire said was aimed at acquainting them with the country’s development agenda.
The diplomats were also drilled in fields such as commercial and economic diplomacy, civil military relations, digital and cyber diplomacy. They were also brought up to speed on the role of foreign service in maintaining stability in the face of terrorism.
“This tour has been a revelation to many of the ambassadors who have been operating in their comfort zones…the ambassadors were able to understand what forms Ugandan interests abroad in tandem with the historical mission of the NRM to transform the country from a peasant to a modern economy,” Mr Bagiire said.
Meanwhile, the president said strategic and efficient industrialisation would have shielded the country from price hikes Ugandans are grappling with.
Mr Museveni said government provided vast land for the production of vegetable oil, which is also used in the production of laundry soap, but the investors still produce less than the needed quantities.
“The price of soap has gone up, but this would not have been the case if people were executing their mandate,” he said, adding: “I hear that there is a shortage. Very soon you will have no soap to use. I do not know what you will do.”
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