KAMPALA, UGANDA: It takes a half a day for a company to be incorporated and only 48 hours for an investor to get licenced in Uganda, an official of the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has revealed.
“Government of Uganda is putting in place different measures that are aimed at improving the investment climate and easing doing of business,” said the Authority’s Acting Board Chairman Morrison Rwakakamba.
This was at a one day Qatar-Uganda trade forum organized by the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) among others at Sheraton hotel in Kampala.
“Among the measures that it has put in place is the establishment of the One Stop Centre that brings all government agencies related to investment under one roof,”
“It is as a result of this initiative that it now takes half a day and only 48 hours for an investor to have his company incorporated and licenced respectively in Uganda,” he said.
He hailed the Qatar Development Bank for choosing Uganda as the best investment destination in Africa from where investors are assured of the regional market.
“Apart from being strategically located in Africa, Uganda offers a lot incentives to investors and they are also assured of security for their livers and property, availability of natural resources and labour,”.
Mr. Rwakakamba added that the existence of a trade deficit between Uganda and Qatar should be exploited as an advantage to Uganda’s private sector.
Quoting the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Mr. Rwakakamba said that Uganda imported goods worth $13m while Qatar exported goods to Uganda worth $6m.
“Such fora should always be exploited by Ugandans to ensure that we close that deficit by looking for investment opportunities or business partnerships with investors from Qatar and other regions,”
The function was presided over by the His Excellency the Vice President Kiwanuka Sekandi who urged Ugandans to increase exports to Qatar.
“Qatar is a potential export destination for Uganda products and I urge you to exploit this opportunity to form partnerships and expand our export market,” he said.
Minister of State for Trade Kafabusa Werikhe Michael outlined some of the investment opportunities to be exploited by the investors.
“Uganda has got opportunities in mineral, in agriculture with a potential to invest in value addition, storage and logistics,”.
ENDS