President Museveni has rooted for enhanced cooperation between Uganda and Iran.
"We are always ready to cooperate with Iran . This area of cooperation is trade. As you can see here , the climate is very good. There is nothing on earth we can't produce and we have a lot of food but we always have a problem of markets. We have a lot of milk, bananas, maize, coffee, tea, cocoa, fish .Really, we can do a lot of trade together," Museveni said.
The president was on Wednesday speaking as he welcomed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who is on a 'rare' two-day visit to Uganda.
Deepening ties
Whereas Uganda and Iran have been cooperating in several fields, President Museveni said Uganda is ready to further deepen the ties for the benefit of both countries.
He noted that Iran has got several experiences that Uganda doesn't have, noting that this presents an opportunity for further cooperation.
"We have so oil we discovered years ago. We have our arguments against our new colonial agents who are saying we should only build pipeline for crude oil and no refinery. When I visited Iran,(Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad was the president and I asked him about having a refinery. He said they have nine refineries and building more. When I came back, I was able to put my foot down and insist on refinery for our oil and the petrochemical industry," Museveni said.
The president said Uganda is ready to draw lessons from the experiences of Iran in the field of oil and the petrochemical industry at large.
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Museveni said there are many other areas that both countries can cooperate in, adding that Uganda will appoint a person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be in charge of this desk.
Speaking in response, the Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi hailed his Ugandan counterpart for the warm welcome.
He also hailed the cordial relations between the two countries, dating many years back.
"Day by day we try to strengthen our bilateral relations with this friendly country Uganda. In our foreign policy we attach so much importance and priority to our African partners, particularly Uganda. We need to further promote these relationships in political, economic, scientific and cultural fields," Raisi said.
The Iranian leader said his country has taken great strides in the development of several fields, specifically mentioning the petrochemical industry as well as the pharmaceutical industry.
He noted that Iran is ready to share its experiences with Uganda.
"In both Uganda and Iran, there are a number of capacities and capabilities and exchanging them will lead to expansion of bilateral relations .When it comes to oil and energy, Iran enjoys good experience and we are ready to share them with you regarding refineries and engineering services."
President Raisi said Iran's pharmaceutical and medical industry have developed so much that more than 90% of the products used in these sectors are manufactured locally whereas others are exported to other countries.
"We also produce surgery sets . This is done by Iranian scientists .We are ready to share experience with friendly country of Uganda."
