Museveni directs govt agencies to improve Uganda’s global tourism image

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has issued five directives that are aimed at improving Uganda’s international image as a tourism destination.

Speaking on Wednesday, the President directed all responsible government ministries and agencies to work towards setting up of trade hubs at airports and aerodromes across the country.

He also called for harmonizing of tourism communications through government institutions.

The President was speaking at the launch of the Trade Frontier Fund (TFF) for coffee, fruits and vegetables, dairy, beef and tourism. The fund is for invoice underwriting for exporters to the new markets and will address the financing bottlenecks that have directly been affecting Uganda’s export performance in priority sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.

President Museveni expressed the need to support the private sector’s drive to increase Uganda’s export earnings.

“I ask all government institutions to harmonize communication on the matter of tourism as an export. The ministries of ICT, Health, Trade, Works and Transport and Security must all form a small committee to approve what the world needs to hear from us especially in times of emergencies,” he said.

“Not everybody should speak anyhow as this undermines the centrality of the Brand Uganda that we are creating in the foreign markets. This committee should meet monthly to set the agenda for the communication outputs of the country. We must balance our health communications with the need to keep our economy growing. This should be done professionally. I will ask my office to work on procedures with the ministry of ICT and exert order and influence on this aspect,” he added.

In order to present a more welcoming image of the country, the President directed Uganda Civil Aviation Authority and the Works ministry to work the private sector and set up Trade Hubs starting at Entebbe International Airport.

“The hubs will be composed of coffee, chocolate, Uganda leather products, sugar, fruits, vegetables, dairy, beef, poultry etc. The hubs will be places for content about the Ugandan tourism and hospitality. The trade hubs will be run by the private sector and will be the basis for mapping more than ten thousand tourist attractions in Uganda,” Museveni said.

This was in a meeting organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) headed by Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo, which brings together all trade representatives, allowing them to network, learn and build strategies with Uganda private sector local input.

The Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development was commissioned by H.E President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on March 14th 2022. Coordinated under the office of the President, PACIED is specifically charged with among others advising the President on practical ways and means of addressing the strategic and operational bottlenecks that impede Uganda from fully harnessing its industrial and export potential.

 The meeting  was attended by among others the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Hon. Martin Mugara the Minister of State for Tourism, Hon. Harriet Ntabazi the Minister of State for Trade, the Deputy Attorney General Hon Jackson Kafuzi, Hon David Bahati, Dr Monica Musenero and private sector exporters in the key 13 products.

At the same event, President Museveni welcomed a delegation from the Republic of Serbia led by their Minister of Internal and foreign Trade Tomislav Momirovic and thanked them for choosing Uganda as a partner to improve trade relations. Mr Tomislav delivered a message from the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić to President Museveni inviting him to Serbia to open the Uganda Trade Centre in June 2023

At the same function, Museveni also tasked KCCA to give monthly updates on the clean-up, repair and maintenance of roads in the city. He said they should follow the Parish model approach and have at least one Garbage truck for each of the 99 parishes, 10 garbage skips and 4 skip-loaders per division.