India’s Prime Minister Mr. Shri Narendra Modi has Tuesday arrived in Uganda for a two day- state- visit at the invitation of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Together with his entourage, Mr. Modi met Museveni at Entebbe State House and the two principles were holed up in bilateral discussions after which the host treated his guest to a state banquet.
In a statement issued by state house, the Premier made several announcement in which he donated equipment to several government sectors after the two leaders signed a number of Memorandums of Understanding on Defence Cooperation, Visa exemption for Diplomatic and official passport holders, Cultural Exchange Programme and Material Testing Laboratory.
Against that backdrop, Mr Modi made numerous proclamations which include donating two Lines of Credits for; Construction of electricity lines and Substations worth US$141 million and Agriculture and Dairy production US $ 64 million.
Contribution to establishment of Mahatma Gandhi Convention/ Heritage Centre at Jinja in Eastern Uganda.
Financial support of US $929,705 for capacity building and creating a supportive infrastructure for East African Community (EAC) which is currently chaired by Uganda.
25 slots for training under the ITEC scheme in the field of dairy cooperation in order to strengthen cooperation in the Dairy sector.
Gifting of 88 vehicles, 44 each for the Ugandan Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) and for the civil use by the Ugandan Government.
Gifting of Bhabhatron Cancer Therapy machine to assist Uganda’s efforts towards eradicating the malaise of cancer.
Gifting of 100,000 NCERT books for school going children of Uganda.
Gifting 100 solar power irrigation pumps to Uganda for helping Uganda’s efforts in the development of agriculture.
Further, Museveni and Modi during their discussions reaffirmed the commitment to reinforce and build upon the successes and achievements of existing bilateral cooperation.
And also underscored the importance of trade and economic ties between the two countries, the two leaders noted the current level of bilateral trade and expressed the desire to enhance and diversify the trade basket including addressing the trade imbalance and to facilitate trade between the two countries.
They emphasized the need for enhanced private sector investment in a wide range of important sectors, underlining there was great potential for enhancement and expansion of mutual trade relations, noted with appreciation utilisation of the training and scholarship slots by Ugandans under India Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), India Council for Cultural Relations (CCR) and expressed satisfaction at the growing cooperation between India and Uganda in defence matters, in particular the training of Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) in various Indian Army training institutions under the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation as well as the deployment of Indian Military Training Team in Uganda’s Senior Command and Staff College (SCSC) in Kimaka.
