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| Bukenya (centre) being shown the goods at the Tianjin Trade fair yesterday |
By Vision Reporter
THE Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, has urged Ugandans doing business in China to learn Chinese so that they can trade effectively without depending on interpreters.
Bukenya said since China is the emerging trading partner with Africa and an exemplary model of development, it would be good for Uganda抯 education curriculum to incorporate Chinese.
He argued that Ugandans would also learn about technology, health, value addition and agricultural research, where China had excelled. This was contained in a statement issued by the Vice-President抯 Office.
Speaking on Wednesday during the launching of the three-day Tianjin Trade Fair in Africa at Hotel Africana in Kampala, the Vice-President said bilateral cooperation between Uganda and China had helped Ugandans to acquire skills that had translated into self-employment and the growth of small-scale enterprises.
He noted that this was changing the country抯 economy from being agriculture-based to an industrial one.
Bukenya commended the Chinese government for injecting $251m into Uganda抯 economy in foreign direct investments, and also extending zero tariffs on Ugandan exports to China.
He said the continued bilateral relations with China would help Africa and Uganda in particular, to stop relying on aid from multi-national companies that come with strings attached.
Bukenya called for more cooperation in science and technology transfer, sports, security systems, agriculture and industrial modernisation.
The Chinese ambassador to Uganda, Sun Heping, said China attached great importance to the self-reliance of Africa.
He added that it was committed to trading with the continent, supporting programmes aimed at poverty eradication, mitigating climate change and the modernisation of agriculture, which were agreed upon in the November protocol in Egypt last year.
The fair is being organised by the Northern International Group, the Tianjin Commission of Commerce and the Tianjin State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.