Uganda National Day
Nation enjoys ongoing fiscal, social growth
Betty Grace Akech-Okullo
Ambassador of Uganda

As we celebrate the occasionofUganda’s 54th
Anniversary ofIndependence, I extend warm
greetings fromHis Excellency
the President of the Republic ofUganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the entire Ugandan public to their Imperial Majesties
Emperor Akihito and Empress
Michiko, the entire Imperialfamily, Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe and the honorable members of the Diet, as well as thegovernment and people of Japanfor their continued support andfriendship for the people andgovernment of Uganda.
It was on this day, 54 years ago
in Kampala, that the Union Jackwas peacefully lowered and theUgandan flag was raised. Uganda was one of the few African nations that had a peaceful changeof government from its colonial
masters. Despite the fact that thenation during its formative years
suffered several setbacks, Uganda is now one of the most peaceful countries in Africa, with its
last major instability being 30years ago.
Today, we also would like tointroduce Uganda Diaspora
Japan (UDJ), an organizationthat brings together Ugandans inJapan for the purposes of promoting its culture, educationand development efforts. UDJ isa multiracial organization thatworks in close collaboration with
the Embassy of Uganda in Japan.
We would like those who are ourfriends to consider working withthe leadership of this group inpromoting Uganda.

TourismThis nation that is known as the“Pearl of Africa,” a reference bySir Winston Churchill in his book
“My African Journey,” is making
a tenacious comeback and is reemerging as a top tourist destination with more than 1.2
million visitors annually. Uganda boasts numerous UNESCOWorld Heritage sites, including
the Kasubi Royal Tombs, theNyero Rock paintings and thesnow-capped Mt. Rwenzori. Itoffers a beautiful, natural, peaceful and pristine environment fortourists. It has been ranked twice
in a row as the top tourist destination by well-known travel
guidebooks. The country has everything tourists need for a fulfilling adventure or relaxing
break.
To date, the number of tourists
from Japan to Uganda has increased by about 25 percent, but
we would like to encourage more
Japanese to consider Uganda fortheir tourism itinerary. Uganda
has been ranked second in theworld in hospitality and the 54

different tribes in Uganda offer
opportunities for diverse cultural tourism.

Trade and investment

Last year, Uganda was ranked themost-enterprising nation, with
28 percent of the adults in the nation owning or co-owning a business. It is therefore not a surprisethat the number of Japanese
small and medium enterprisesin Uganda has increased from 19
to 35 in the last two years alone.
We also wish to encourage large
corporations to look at Uganda
as a potential investment destination. We thank Toshiba, Marubeni and Toyota Tsusho forrealizing this potential and investing in Uganda already.
Uganda has made significant
progress socially, economicallyand politically. We have just had
successful parliamentary, presidential and local government
elections. In this new tenure,
Uganda’s government has committed itself to fighting corruption and improving the businessenvironment to attract foreign
direct investments. Currently,
the investment climate is conducive and the government of
Uganda continues to assure investors of security and good returns on their investments.
Uganda is an ideal hub for business transactions in the East African region.

Infrastructure

To have the country reach mid-dle-income economy status, ourpriorities continue to be infrastructure development, tradeand investment, tourism andhuman resource development.
The government of Japan has
continued to support these priorities in the areas of Kampala
metropolitan traffic management through the Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA).
In the just concluded sixth
Tokyo International Conferenceon African Development(TICAD VI) and during the cordial bilateral summit between
Japan’s prime minister andUganda’s president, Japan promised to continue to support
Uganda’s infrastructure development efforts. This partnership
between the Ugandan and Japanese governments through JICA
has already started to bear fruit.
As a landlocked country, there
has been a dramatic decrease in
the number of hours commodities spend at border posts, due
to the newly created One-Stop
Border Post system. We havecompleted a number of road infrastructures with Japanese assistance and the country has
been connected to electricity
grids through this same support.
We are grateful for this assistance.

Japan has continued to support
Uganda in this area through it’s
Ministry of Education, Sports,Culture and Technology, the African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE Initiative),
JICA and various universities
and foundations. The number ofstudents from Uganda studying
in Japan has continued to increase and we look forward tomore, especially the science andtechnology field. Research collaborations and vocational training exchanges have continued togrow and for this we commend
the people and government ofJapan.
As a hub of education in theEast African region Uganda receives students from the Great
Lakes Region, which has seenthe education sector witness tremendous growth in recent years.
The Japanese education systemand expertise, especially in science and technology, and vocational technical training has
been done through the Nakawa
Educational Institute. We welcome the interest by the Japa-

nese government to raise thisinstitute into one of the 10 Centers of Excellence in Africa. We
still invite private investors totake advantage of the massive
investment opportunities thatexist in the education sector inUganda.
We would not have come thisfar without our partners, bothgovernment and private such as
the Sasakawa Foundation, theAshinaga Foundation, Japan
Millenium Promise, Terra Renaissance and the many Japanese NPOs and overseas
volunteers who have selflesslycommitted to our social and economic well-being.
As this young nation emerges
as a middle-income economy,
we commit ourselves to continue to promote cordial bilateralrelations between Uganda andJapan, as well as all our partners
in development. We believe thatthe relationship between ourpartners and us will continue togrow from strength to strength.
Fellow Ugandans, as welaunch Uganda Diaspora JapanI thank all organizations that
supported the publication of this
supplement. May God bless youabundantly.
Thank you for your kind attention.
I say all these in accordancewith our motto, “For God and MyCountry.”

Congratulations
to the People ofthe Republic of Ugandaon the 54th Anniversaryof Their Independence

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Education

Human resource development
is one of the key pillars in our National Development Plan andtoday, I urge you to support it, as
well as continue to be ambassadors of Uganda wherever you areby promoting our good culture,
warmth and friendship. Pleasealso continue to network withother organizations to support
not only your families, but ourcommunities back home.

(Official Authorized Toyota Distributor in Uganda)
No. 1 First Street, P.O. Box 31732, Kampala, Uganda
TEL: +256-414-349425 FAX: +256-414-346649
Web site: http://www.toyotaug.co.ug/A giraffe on the bank of the Nile River

Uganda embassy

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