Prime Minister Rugunda meets N. Korean leader The Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda has asked Korean companies to help unlock Uganda’s economic potential by investing in infrastructure development, information and communications technology, tourism, oil and gas and various other nascent sectors. Dr Rugunda made the appeal on Friday during a bilateral meeting he held with Kim Yong Nam, the visiting president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office was also attended by the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister, Gen. Moses Ali, the Minister for General Duties, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere and the State Minister for Regional Cooperation, Asuman Kiyingi, among others. Yong Nam arrived in Uganda on Wednesday evening, heading a 14-member delegation, for a four-day visit as part of his itinerary to African countries, including Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia. Dr Rugunda noted that Uganda and the DPRK supported each other on various issues in the international fora. He called for a peaceful re-unification of the Korean Peninsula without foreign interference. “On the nuclear arms disarmament, Uganda continues to support the initiative of the six-party talks chaired by China to peacefully resolve this issue through negotiations between the parties concerned,” he said. The six-party talks are a series of multilateral negotiations hosted in Beijing since 2003, attended by the DPRK, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States for a peaceful resolution to security concerns in the Korean Peninsula. They have, however, been suspended. “We should remain committed to conducting closer consultation and cooperation in national development, international affairs, and in working together to uphold the rights and interests of developing countries in the quest for global security, peace and prosperity,” Rugunda said. “East Africa is fast-tracking the integration process which requires huge investments in transnational and trans-regional infrastructure development, and your companies are encouraged to play an active role,” Dr Rugunda said. Yong Nam, the second in command in the DPRKs leadership ladder, said diplomatic relations with Uganda were deliberately cultivated by the respective countries’ leaders but “reactionary forces” were bent on sabotaging them. “Imperialists and colonialists are creating artificial impediments to Africa’s development but we need unity to overcome them,” he said. A member of the influential Politburo, Yong Nam talked at length about his country’s relations with some Western powers. He said during the six-party talks, DPRK maintained her stand that denuclearization should not target his country alone. He explained that the talks should aim at making the Korean Peninsula a zone of peace. Yong Nam said some powers had been making nuclear threats against his country in form of war drills and pursuing a “cold war” even when it ended in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Kang Ha Kuk, Vice Ministers Kung Suk Ung (Foreign Affairs) and So Kil Bok (External Economic Relations), the Director-General for Policy Making, Pak Yong Su and the Director of Africa and American Affairs, Kim Su Il, among others.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 09:02:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015