New Delhi
6 May 2007
economic, political and diplomatic life of Uganda and his visit to New Delhi was to
reassure the government and people of India that the death of an Indian national in last
month's riots in the Ugandan capital Kampala was an isolated incident, Minister of
Internal Affairs Ruhakana Rugunda said.
"We are here to reassure the government of India and Indian people that what happened
was an isolated incident. We had three deaths ... two were Ugandans and one was an
Indian national ... in the riots that was quickly controlled and we are not going to tolerate
anything like that happening again," he said in an interview to this newspaper.
Devangkumar Shaileshkumar Raval (23) was lynched by a mob in April. The mob was
protesting against the proposed denotification of a part of Mabira Forest for sugarcane
cultivation by a mill owned by one Narendra Mehta. A resident of Ahmedabad, Raval
worked as a sales representative with Translink, a company importing products of
Johnson & Johnson and Nestle.
Mr Rugunda felt that that incident should not in any way mar people to people and
government to government relations. He said, "Ugandan Asians are the single most
important community that has contributed to the Ugandan economy. We have greatly
benefited from this special, mutually beneficial relationship." He looked forward to the
visits by Union Minister of State of External Affairs Anand Sharma in June and Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in November.
"Indian investments in Uganda are playing a critical role in accelerating the development
of our country. Ugandan Indians are very active in hotel, hospitality industry ... the top
five hoteliers are of Indian and Asian origin. [In] the banking sector there is a lot of
dynamism injected in by the Ugandans of Asian origin. In politics [and] in the diplomatic
side we had [many people]. So Ugandans of Indian origin have played a very important
role in economic, political and diplomatic roles," he said.
Mr Rugunda arrived in India last week. He met with Union Minister of Overseas Indian
Affairs Vayalar Ravi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. He interacted with business
leaders at an event hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is expected to
meet with Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee on Monday. He and his
delegation will travel to Ahmedabad on Tuesday to convey the condolences to the family
of Raval. They will also travel to Bangalore and Kolkata.
He said that agro business and agro processing were important sectors for investment
cooperation. "The hospitality industry, finacial sector, manufacturing, textile industry ...
Uganda produces a lot of beautiful cotton and we would like to [venture into] clothes and
garments so that we can exploit the markets abroad," he said. "We would like to see
more and more pharmaceutical companies coming and the Indian entrepreneurs have a
lot of experience in that, so therefore they are very welcome."
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