Vice President Ansari's visit will pave way for business opportunity: Honorary consul to Uganda

Honorary Consul Consulate of the republic of Uganda Madhusudan Agrawal on Wednesday hailed the visit of Vice President Hamid Ansari to the African nation, saying his visit would pave way for more business opportunities for the Indian community.

"This is very good and will open a lot of opportunity for the Indian business community. It is going to pave way for a lot of business opportunities here," Consul Agrawal told ANI in an exclusive interview.

Talking about the cooperation between India and Uganda in pharmaceutical sector, Consul Agrawal, who is also a vice-chairman of Ajanta Pharma Limited, said the pharmaceutical sector is majorly controlled by the Indian companies in Uganda.

"The Pharmaceutical sector in Uganda is controlled by Indian companies because we produce quality products. All the top India Pharma companies are present here, including my company Ajanta Pharma Limited. They need products for treating tuberculosis, malaria which are rampant here and the third is the anti-retroviral, which is an anti AIDS-product," he added.

Asserting that Ajanta Pharma Limited has leadership in almost 30 countries in Africa in malaria, tuberculosis and anti-retroviral products, Agrawal further said all the medicines supplied in Uganda are funded by global funds as poor people cannot afford to buy even the medicines which are supplied by the Indian companies.

"Global fund is funding particularly malaria, tuberculosis and anti-retroviral products which are being supplied by the Indian companies," he added.

Commenting on the contribution of the Indian companies to the economy of Uganda, Consul Agrawal said that government is getting 65 percent of the income tax revenue from the Indian community here.

"The Indian community is practically controlling the economy here, not only in Uganda but many countries in Africa like Kenya, Rwanda," he commented.

Highlighting the trade imbalance in Uganda, Agrawal said that a lot of things have to be imported from India.

"If you see the trade imbalance, everything is imported here. I am promoting steel manufacturing. I am promoting dairy products to be processed. We are promoting hydroelectric power station here. Education is another biggest opportunity here. More than 10,000 students from Uganda are studying in India. There is huge potential for the raw material here," he said.