Finance Minister Kasaija at the 3rd Uganda-European Union Business Forum

                  Finance Minister Applauds Uganda's Development Cooperation with the EU.

Speaking at the 3rd Uganda-European Union Business Forum at Speke resort Munyonyo Finance Minister Hon. Matia Kasaija said Uganda development cooperation with the EU is mutually beneficial and needs to be significantly increased and broadened.

Kasaija said this strategy will support Uganda to access Equity to finance its projects especially under infrastructure and other strategic sectors, in addition to building capacity and resilience of Uganda's private sector to grow the economy.

The Finance Minister who spoke on setting the scene for the Global gateway implementation in Uganda in 2024 and beyond said the Global Gateway strategy focuses on priority areas that are consistent with Uganda's development agenda.

" EU remains a solid and long-standing development partner of Uganda in various areas of interest especially trade and investment," said Hon. Matia.

The Finance Minister said Uganda's exports to EU remained resilient even during the peak of COVID-19  posting a 53% increase from USD 502.5 million in FY 2019/2020 to USD 770.41 million in FY 2022/23.

Hon Matia said as of 2022 EU was Uganda's largest foreign direct investment (FDI) source with over 38% of FDI inflows originating from EU partner states.

EU is also Uganda's key tourism partner accounting for over 50% of the European arrivals.

It should also be noted that EU is a major partner in offering development and technical assistance especially under infrastructure, agriculture, human capital development etc.