September 21, 2004

Egypt Aims For Uganda's Beef

Uganda is set to benefit from Egypt's growing demand for meat, the Egyptian High Commissioner, Mr Maasoum Marzouk, has said.

Marzouk said the 70 million population in Egypt is a big market for tons of meat and Uganda will be one of their target suppliers.

"We have plans to import meat from Uganda. This is going to be a bi-lateral relation to promote trade between the two countries," he said.

"We have a policy to Africanise our imports instead of importing goods from outside Africa. We should work with our brothers to import the same goods if they are available," Marzouk said.

He said a delegation from Egypt will be visiting Uganda in a week's time. And they hope to sign a memorandum of understanding with their Ugandan counterparts to enhance the relationship between the two countries.

The Minister of State Agriculture, Mr Israel Kibirige Ssebunya, was overwhelmed by Egypt's plans to create market for the over 6.5 million cattle in Uganda.

"It is a great opportunity we can explore if we meet the vital sanitary requirements, even export to the whole world. If Botswana exports why not Uganda?" he said.

Other countries exporting meat in Africa include Botswana, which has a cattle population of 2.5 million, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Sudan.