Kampala — Uganda will soon export gum arabic, a plant that has not been exploited for decades, to the United States, President Mr Yoweri Museveni has said.

"We are looking again at the products we already have, to find new markets for them. For example, we have a plentiful supply of gum arabic, a key ingredient in the manufacture of soft drinks and pharmaceuticals, but we have never exploited it. In fact, we have hacked down our gum arabic bushes to make way for cattle,"

Mr Museveni made the disclosure during a reception, sponsored by the Agoa III Action Committee, at the Mayflower Hotel, in Washington DC.

"Tonight, I am pleased to announce that Ugandan gum Arabica has been tested in the United States and been found to have the characteristics required by US importers. United States industry leaders have asked to purchase all the high-grade gum arabic we can supply," he said.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which led to lifting of duties and quotas from sub-Saharan Africa's exports to the US, was enacted in 2000.

President Museveni said that Uganda would no longer rely on exporting raw commodities.

"With few exceptions, the mere possession of mineral wealth has never made a country wealthy. Often, in fact, the opposite is true," he said.

He observed that what generated growth, jobs and broad-based prosperity was the transformation of those minerals into valuable products.

Mr Museveni noted that the transformation of many African countries from being agriculture producers to processors, would not be an overnight transition.

"Most of our people eke out a living from subsistence agriculture. Were international markets (to be) open to their products, investment would flow into growing and getting those products to the market," he said.

The President said it would be desirable if the current round of WTO negotiations brought an end to the rich countries' tariffs and subsidies that "are keeping African agriculture in a state of pre-industrial wretchedness, complete with cycles of famine."