South Korean president starts three-day state visit to Uganda

South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Uganda on Saturday for a three-day state visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

Park, the first South Korean president to visit Uganda since the two nations established diplomatic ties in 1963, will on Sunday hold discussions with her counterpart Yoweri Museveni at the State House, about 40 kilometers south of the capital Kampala.

James Mugume, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua that "The president's visit will give us a big impetus to strengthen our bilateral cooperation in agriculture, defense especially on arms, infrastructure development, education and information, communication and technology".

Park in an article published by the local New Vision daily on Friday described Uganda as a country of "possibilities" and "hope".

"I believe my country's experience will be of help to Uganda, which has strong aspirations for progress," said Park.

Park's visit comes as South Korean companies are pushing to make bold investments to expand business in African markets that could give a boost to Asia's fourth-largest economy. Endi