KAMPALA — Lord Popat, a British accountant, businessman and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords has thanked President Yoweri Museveni for meeting the corporate executives — announcing that once Brexit is concluded, 80 percent of goods from Uganda to the UK would be duty-free.
Lord Popat requested the Museveni to consider opening a central bank branch in London to facilitate trade.
He also observed that once the revived Uganda Airlines acquired the bigger Airbus aeroplanes, with capacity of 40 tonnes, trade would go up, especially fruits and agriculture products finding their way to British markets.
This was during a meeting after President addressed leaders of over 70 British companies at the UK-Uganda Business Forum at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Central London.
The business forum was organised by the Uganda High Commission, supported by Lord Dolar Popat, the UK Trade Envoy to Uganda.
Making a case for Uganda as an ideal investment destination, the President said corruption, especially by government officials, had become a “bottleneck” to development and the whip was being cracked.
Appealing to investors to support the government in stemming the vice, the President said the identities of the whistleblowers would be protected if they felt threatened.
“We are suppressing corruption but we need facts to totally eliminate it. Please notify me; let’s lay traps for them. We shall protect your identities, you can speak to your high commissioner who will get to me,” he said.
In June last, President Museveni made a passionate plea to the British business community to invest in Africa, particularly in Uganda.
Addressing a business roundtable at the House of Lords, Museveni said British investors have the capital, skills, and experience to make profit in Uganda while creating jobs for Ugandans.
At the close of the forum, the President also autographed a dummy sim card of the British telecom, Lycamobile, that launched its operations in Uganda just last week.
Present at the forum were Ministers Sam Kutesa (Foreign Affairs), Matia Kasaijja (Finance) and Evelyn Anite (Investment).
British High Commissioner to Uganda Peter West.
