President Yoweri Museveni has invited Iranian businessmen to invest in Uganda and benefit from the Africa’s 900 million people market.

The President, during his three-day visit to Iran that ended on Sunday, told the Iranian traders that if they invested in Uganda they would be able to export to the US and the European Union quota and tariff free.

Uganda is benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity ACT (AGOA) law of the US and EBA (everything but arms) policy of Europe.

Museveni said they would also be able to export finished products to China on the same terms involving 440 products, according to a statement issued by State House.

The President was addressing the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines over the weekend.

He said that Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania were working together to modernise the railway system in the region.

When this is done, he explained, the region would have a dependable transport infrastructure to do business cheaply.

“In order for one to do business profitably, one needs to have raw materials, have the capacity to process them into finished products, a market for the products and infrastructure to transport what has been processed and good policies,” the statement quotes the President as having said. It added Museveni informed the Iranian business community that Uganda has the raw materials.

He also told them that if they came to do business in country they would have access not only to the Ugandan market, but also to those in East Africa.

“The President told the Iranian entrepreneurs that the challenge facing Uganda is processing the diversity of raw materials the country has into finished products.”

He invited Iranian entrepreneurs to come and engage in the processing of the country’s raw materials either on joint venture arrangement with Ugandan businesspeople or as individuals.

He also assured them that there are no obstructions in all sectors. Museveni was pleased by various testimonies from Iranian investors doing business in the country, who said “Kampala is now the safest city in East Africa.”

They said the only insecurity they are facing was road accidents. The first vice-president of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, Mir Mohammad Sadeghi, called for promotion of trade relations between Uganda and Iran.

He said Iranian businesspeople wish to make joint ventures in Uganda, especially in the cement sector. Sadeghi said a delegation would soon come to Uganda to establish the necessary contacts with a view to expanding the cement industry.

He also noted that Iranians could form joint ventures with Uganda in fields like electricity, aviation, shipping and petroleum.

Olive Kigongo, the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, also addressed the meeting.

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