President Yoweri Museveni has reaffirmed the need for regional integration as one of the avenues that can boost economic growth and prosperity.
In his first address to a special sitting of the East African Legislative Assembly in Kampala Tuesday, President Museveni noted that the Ugandan economy had earned over 1.6 billion dollars from regional trade during the last financial year.
“The widening cross border trade between Uganda, Southern Sudan, Eastern Congo, and Central African Republic had great benefits for the Ugandan economy Even during the recent economic crisis did not affect Uganda very much because of the regional trade,” said the Ugandan President.
Mr. Museveni has reaffirmed the need to lower cost of production and doing business in order to lure more investors to the East African Region. He said there is need to pay attention to development of physical infrastructure like roads, railways and improvements in electricity power generation.
The President appealed to all East African Community Member States to prioritize electricity generation in their states to improve their production capacity. In support of physical infrastructure development, Mr.Museveni announced that the Ugandan government would soon consider employing the army engineering brigade to rebuild the Uganda railway line.
He also reminded legislators of the need to fast track the East African Federation by 2012 which he termed insurance for the people of East Africa.
The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly Rt.Hon. Abdirahin Abdi hailed President Museveni and the people of Uganda for their support to the Assembly. Members of the Assembly expressed support for Uganda’s education reforms that have made the country a center of educational excellence in the region.
The East African Parliament is holding its third meeting of the third Session of the Second Assembly in Kampala from 9-18 February 2010.
Members from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are attending this session.
