Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Sanjay Tanna and State Minister for Industry David Bahati joined the Presidential CEO Forum’s 2nd Information Tour at the Kampala Industrial and Business Park in Namanve last Friday.

The tour, themed ‘Amplifying Uganda’s Industrial Agenda for a Tenfold Growth Economy’, was organised by the ministry in partnership with the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA).

Accompanied by officials from the ministry and UIA, the ministers visited four industries, namely Ntake Edible Oil Refinery, Luuka Plastics, Steel and Tube Industry, and Staunch Machinery.

The tour was aimed at assessing Uganda’s industrialisation progress and emphasising the importance of manufacturers’ contribution to the country’s ambition to grow the economy tenfold by 2040.

Manufacturers cited erratic power supply and poor road conditions, among others, as bottlenecks leading to increased production costs and supply chain disruptions.

Minister Tanna applauded the industry proprietors for their investments and urged them to adopt clean energy solutions such as solar to support the government’s Net Metering Initiative. He called on the investors to provide local skilling and apprenticeship initiatives in the manufacturing sector to reduce unemployment in the country.

Minister Bahati praised the investors for collectively paying about Shs250 billion in taxes and for employing more than 3,000 Ugandans. He advised the industrialists to adopt practical governance and defended the government’s open investment policies.

The ministers promised that the government would address the bottlenecks in the country’s industrialisation agenda. They also advised the investors to seek private sector solutions to some of the challenges they face.