‘Chinese not doing retail trade’
Mr Chu Maoming, the deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy.
What you need to know:
- Commenting on the rift between Ugandan traders and foreign traders, Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director Gideon Badagawa said this is a wakeup call for government to strengthen laws that govern trade and investment.
Kampala. The deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy, Mr Chu Maoming, has refuted allegations that Chinese businesspeople are involved in retail trade.
Mr Maoming made the remarks at the launch of the Seeds for the future programme at Makerere University shortly after visiting several stalls that are run by the Chinese businesspeople in Kampala on Monday.
He re-echoed the observation made by the ministry of Trade that Uganda has no law that bars foreign investors from engaging in retail trade.
Mr Maoming further refuted ‘misleading’ claims about tax collections from Chinese business community.
“The Chinese businesspeople pay taxes to the Ugandan government. Maybe they pay different types of taxes from those of the Ugandan businesspeople because this is government policy,” he emphasised.
He asked Chinese businesspeople to do business according to Ugandan laws and urged Ugandans to treat the Chinese people in a rational way in order to compete on a fair and equal basis.
His remarks come days after Ugandan businesspeople operating in Kampala city demanded that government stops foreigners from running retail businesses. The local business people said foreigners involved in retail trade are exposing them to unfair competition because most of them have access to low interest business loans in their home countries.
Commenting on the rift between Ugandan traders and foreign traders, Private Sector Foundation Uganda executive director Gideon Badagawa said this is a wakeup call for government to strengthen laws that govern trade and investment.
“Because there are loopholes in the regulations, any foreigner can take advantage of the market. The Chinese will say you have opened up so allow us to compete and they are right in a way but I know when you go to China, you do not simply establish a business because they have strict regulations,” he said in an interview with Daily Monitor on Wednesday.
Mr Badagawa said Uganda’s porous borders have played a huge role in the influx of foreign investors including those doing petty trade.
He further asked government to enforce procedures and laws on immigration, investment licensing and trade to ensure genuine foreign businesspeople meet the investment threshold and carry out trade as per foreign investment.
