Uganda-Economy UAE investors express interest in Uganda’s oil sector
November 02, 2017 to 13:31
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APA-Kampala (Uganda)
Investors and CEOs of leading companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have expressed interest in investing in Uganda, especially in areas of oil and gas, as well as Agro processing, among others.
Uganda is currently described by the World Bank as the hottest inland exploration frontier in the world and the country to watch in the oil and gas space, due to the commercial discovery of an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil, 1.4 billion of which are recoverable.
The investors, including America's Business Council based in Dubai, Emerson and Ernst and Young, Norton Rose Fulbright, among others, expressed their interests during a meeting with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni on the sidelines of the ongoing Global Business Forum on Africa, in UAE’s business capital Dubai.
A Uganda State House statement said Museveni told the business community in UAE that it will enjoy a number of policy incentives such as tax holidays, VAT incentives, among others.
"I don't have to bother investors with taxes; what I want is to invest, use our raw materials, create jobs, add value and promote exports," he said.
Museveni encouraged the investors to come to Uganda, citing peace and stability, infrastructure development especially electricity, roads and railway lines all built as a stimulus for investments.
"There are plenty of raw materials, minerals, tourism and so on; so when you invest there you have access to all these," he added.
Investors are not only assured of access to the Uganda market alone, but also to East Africa and COMESA, he continued.
"The demand is there; it is going up, because Africans have been under-consuming while the rest of the world have been over-consuming," according to the Ugandan leader
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