Kasaija asks China for support to boost value addition, irrigation
Uganda’s Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development Mr Matia Kasaija. Photo/File
What you need to know:
- The NRM government has earmarked four key sectors including, agro-industrialisation, mineral development to grow the economy from the current $50 billion to $500 billion in less than two decades.
The minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mr Matia Kasaija, has asked the Chinese government to channel their support to development priorities, including value addition in agriculture products and mineral resources.
“We request your continued support towards the development of our economy, with a focus on key priorities such as agro-industrialisation, particularly agro-processing for export to China. We also seek investment in solar-powered irrigation, crucial for Uganda’s dry cattle corridor, and mineral beneficiation through the National Mining Company to enhance value addition in the mineral sector,” Kasaija stated.
He made these remarks during the signing of an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement between Uganda and China, alongside the Chinese Ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong.
Under this agreement, China will inject Shs101 billion (200 million Yuan) into Uganda’s agriculture, health, and transport sectors.
The grant is part of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in September 2024.
At the summit, Uganda and China resolved to elevate their bilateral relations to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.
“Both of our sides are supporting measures to implement the summit initiatives, especially the Ten Partnership Actions. I am happy to see that after some preparation time, today we finally turned this proposed agreement to a signed one,” Mr Lizhong said.
He said they would keep investing in different projects.
“The ministry and the embassy have recently worked together to identify a list of projects to jointly implement the Ten Partnership Action for the future three years. This list is not fixed, it will be updated according to progress of our cooperation and new projects could be added,” he said.
Minister Kasaija also applauded the Chinese for funding key projects, including the construction of the Kampala-Entebbe Express Highway, the upgrade and expansion of Entebbe Airport, the construction of Karuma and Isimba hydropower plants, among others.
The NRM government has earmarked four key sectors including, agro-industrialisation, mineral development to grow the economy from the current $50 billion to $500 billion in less than two decades.
This will be implemented through the National Development Plan IV that will run for the next five years, starting this year, 2025.
Kasaija emphasised that external support should be directed toward these priority areas, as budget constraints often limit their financing.
