The forum drew more than 300 delegates representing government agencies from Uganda and Viet Nam, business leaders and investors from leading Vietnamese corporations, representatives of Uganda's private sector, small and medium-sized enterprises, financial institutions, and development partners.
Under the theme “Uganda — The Pearl of Africa: A Gateway to Africa”, the forum is a key initiative under Uganda's Economic and Commercial Diplomacy Strategy. Through the strategy, the Ugandan Mission in Kuala Lumpur aims to expand markets for Ugandan products while attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), contributing to the goal of increasing the size of the economy tenfold to reach a GDP of 500 billion USD by 2040. The strategy also seeks to strengthen bilateral relations between Uganda and Viet Nam and position Uganda as a leading gateway for Vietnamese businesses to penetrate the African market.
In his opening remarks, VCCI Vice President Nguyen Quang Vinh underscored that the strong participation of business representatives from both countries at the forum was clear evidence of growing interest among the business communities in strengthening investment cooperation between Viet Nam and Uganda. The forum is not only a platform for sharing market information but also an opportunity to promote business connections, build cooperative and partnership relations, and open up new opportunities for businesses in both countries.
Despite significant potential for cooperation in agriculture, tourism, information technology, communications, ICT, oil and gas, minerals, and energy, Nguyen Quang Vinh said that trade and investment between the two countries continued to fall short of their potential.
Geographical distance, limited market information, logistics costs, and differences in culture and business practices are also impediments that the business communities of the two countries need to overcome.
He affirmed that VCCI would continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with businesses and sought to connect businesses from the two countries, supporting them in accessing market information and finding reliable and promising partners to turn investment opportunities into reality and expand their markets.
Ugandan Ambassador to Viet Nam Betty Bigombe said the forum provided a platform for translating the long-standing friendship between Uganda and Viet Nam into concrete opportunities for trade and investment cooperation.
She said that Viet Nam's industrial strengths, combined with Uganda's abundant natural resources, competitively priced labour force, and access to African markets, presented the two sides a unique opportunity to build partnerships that would create jobs and shared prosperity.
Accordingly, the two countries should increase exchanges of delegations at all levels, particularly among ministries, sectors, associations, and businesses, to discuss and explore opportunities and develop solutions to resolve difficulties and obstacles in economic cooperation.
At the forum, delegates and representatives of the business community were briefed on investment opportunities in Uganda in areas including agricultural processing, industrial manufacturing, information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, tourism, minerals and mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and renewable energy.
The programme also incorporated an investment and export exhibition, pre-arranged B2B meetings, country and sector presentation sessions delivered by representatives of several Ugandan government agencies, and a programme showcasing Ugandan culture.
