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Sustainable economic development must prioritize regional infrastructure projects – Kabonero
Mr Richard Kabonero Kabonero speakes during the celebrations to mark 59 years of Uganda's Independence held at Serena Hotel, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on Friday. Photo | Courtesy
What you need to know:
- Mr Kabonero was speaking during the celebrations to mark 59 years of Uganda's Independence held at Serena Hotel, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on Friday. The event attracted dozens of Ugandans living in Tanzania, diplomats, government officials, and businesspeople.
Uganda's High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania, Mr Richard Kabonero has called for large-scale investment in regional infrastructure projects in order to boost trade, investment, and tourism.
“Our efforts to achieve sustainable economic development must prioritize regional infrastructure projects and programs that require an investment of approximately $80 billion over the coming decade,” he said.
Mr Kabonero was speaking during the celebrations to mark 59 years of Uganda's Independence held at Serena Hotel, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on Friday. The event attracted dozens of Ugandans living in Tanzania, diplomats, government officials, and businesspeople.
“Among the flagship infrastructure projects earmarked for coordinated development and implementation are the Standard Gauge Railway, the construction of new container terminals at Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mwanza, Port Bell, and Bukasa Ports, and the expansion and construction of regional priority airports,” he highlighted.
Uganda and Tanzania have been strengthening their bilateral relations through trade and joint infrastructure projects.
“We have also prioritized Energy Projects, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), power generation from the various sources of hydro, geothermal, gas and coal, as well as power transmission connecting our two countries and the Region’s power pools,” Mr Kabonero said.
He said that although the Uganda and Tanzania partnership has continued to strengthen, trade and investment between the two countries is lower than what is potentially possible.
“We at the Uganda Mission will continue to work tirelessly towards creating an enabling environment that will allow the private sector to share experiences, start a business to business networks, identify opportunities and eliminate challenges to trade and investment and ultimately lead to greater integration of our Region,” Mr Kabonero said.
The Tanzania Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Liberata Mulamula, commended the good partnership between the two countries, which she says share a lot in terms of history, demographic affinities.
“These relations have now been transformed into economic partnerships. We have to celebrate our relationship through regional integration cemented by Joint Permanent Commission (JPC). This has become the new norm of our commercial diplomacy. The pipeline will be one of the longest heated pipelines in the world. It will be transformative in generating economic activities along the way,” she said.
Ms Mulamula encouraged the private sector to take interest in this project to employ people and improve livelihoods.
