Roundup: Africa is next center for global economic growth: Ugandan president

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called for increased investment in Africa, calling it the next center for the world's economic growth.

In a State House press statement issued on Monday, Museveni described the economic situation in Africa as "very good" despite some bottlenecks while speaking at the third edition of the two-day Global African Investment Summit held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

"There are high growth rates and many countries have been growing despite bottlenecks both hardware and software," said Museveni.

During an interactive session moderated by CNN Money Africa Correspondent Eleni Giukos, under the theme "Accelerating African Economic Integration through trade and investment," Museveni encouraged investors to invest in Africa since it is on the right trajectory of development.

"I would inform investors that Africa is the right place to come. Africa is the next pusher for the global economy. We have a bit of bottlenecks, which we are handling," the president said.

"There are investment opportunities in electricity sector, value addition for agriculture products and minerals, human resource development. In Uganda the private sector solved the issue of communication because more people have access to phones in the whole country," he said.

Museveni, however, also warned against greedy investors who charge high tariffs for quick gains at the expense of the people.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame also commented at the event that stability is one of the prerequisites for sustainable economic growth, coupled with human resource development and improving infrastructure and services.

"Postponing our priorities and delaying our commitments are the most expensive mistakes that Africa can make. Africa should not just remain a big story where nothing materializes," Kagame said.

Kagame said there is more trade going on between African and the world, but less between Africans.

He called for more trade between countries and free movement of people and labour.

The summit is organized by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the government of Rwanda. It is aimed at promoting investment in various sectors including education, information, communications and technology and economy. Endit