(TALKZIMBABWE) Museveni praises Mugabe

Museveni praises Mugabe
Mutsawashe Makuvise/NVO
Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:02:00 +0000

President Mugabe and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (second right) at Elephant Hills Hotel in Victoria Falls on Saturday

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has has praised President Mugabe, for forming an inclusive Government with the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. President Museveni said the inclusive Government saved Zimbabwe and the region from a big political crisis.

He was speaking at the opening of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit that culminated in the launching of the Comesa Customs Union in Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe yesterday.

President Mugabe and opposition leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara of the Movement for Democratic Change formed an inclusive Government in February.

President Museveni also congratulated President Mugabe for assuming the leadership of Comesa from Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki.

Speaking on behalf of all heads of state and government who attended, President Museveni said, “We look at your chairmanship with a lot of confidence due to your long experience in matters of regional integration.”

He said the ultimate goal of the Comesa summit was to find ways to bring about improved standards of living and social transformation so that African countries also become first world rather than always lagging behind.

The task ahead is enormous, warned Museveni, adding that challenges are many.

He said there was need to continue with the agenda the organisation set out to implement in collaboration with the East African Community and Southern African Development Community (Sadc) in the tripartite arrangement.

“We must work for continued peace in our region which is a fundamental prerequisite for economic integration,” he said.

Museveni also urged the African leaders to take advantage of the global economic crisis, rather than lament over it.

“The world is experiencing a recession. We need to know how best to survive and take advantage of it. The crisis in the developed countries is a precursor to the restructuring of the global economy,” he said.

Museveni explained that there were two sets of people; the over-consumers and the under-consumers. He said the crisis helps those who have been under consuming because the other group cannot buy what they used to buy.

“If I have been walking because the other person could afford two cars, if he cannot buy the two cars, this means that I can now buy a car,” he said adding that he refused to be pessimistic about the crisis.

“I think there is an opportunity for us in this so-called global crisis. We must be courageous in confronting these and other challenges instead of lamenting,” he said.

Museveni thanked the out-going chairperson, President Kibaki, for presiding over Comesa since May 2007.

“Significant to note during your tenure is the historical tripartite summit Comesa, East African Community and SADC that took place in Kampala in October 2008.”

He urged Comesa member countries to ensure that there is market access among the member countries and that they should develop the human resource by having educated people and industrialisation in order to add value to their products and to develop their infrastructure.

Museveni stressed the importance of abundant and cheap power. He said cheap electricity will lower the cost of production in Africa.

During the summit, the leaders launched a customs union that will stretch across the continent in a bid to boost regional trade.

Under the deal, the 19 countries will impose the same tariffs on goods from outside the region. Raw materials and capital goods will travel across borders without tariffs, while intermediate products will be taxed at 10% and finished goods at 25%.

The launch of the union had been set for May last year, but was delayed to allow more time for the members to negotiate the harmonisation of tariffs.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who faces international arrest over war crimes, was among leaders attending the two-day summit.

Also in Zimbabwe was ousted Madagascan leader Marc Ravalomanana who said he had been invited to attend the summit.

-TZG/NVO