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The US is cutting Uganda out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 2024. The programme offers duty-free access into the US for sub-Saharan African countries that meet democratic criteria. US President Biden said that the gov’t of Uganda had “engaged in gross violations of internationally recognised human rights”. In May, Uganda 🇺🇬 passed an “anti-gay law“ which criminalises acts of homosexuality using force, threat or undue influence. The World Bank announced in August it was suspending new loans to Uganda, and last month the US State Dep’t warned about the risk of doing business there. The US 🇺🇸 may also restrict visas issued to Ugandan officials. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is now telling Ugandans not to be over-concerned by the recent actions by the American gov’t in discouraging US/Western companies from investing in Uganda and on removing Uganda from the AGOA list. He argues that the sanction was intended to force his country to abandon its principles and sovereignty. Recently, Iranian 🇮🇷 and Ugandan officials inked four cooperation agreements and are in talks to share knowledge on nuclear energy development. Uganda is also one of 18 countries which opened a ’special rupee vostro account’ in 2023 that allows them to bypass the US dollar in trade with India 🇮🇳 using Indian rupees. Last year, Uganda announced that it had discovered 31 million metric tons of gold waiting to be mined and licensed Wagagai gold mining company, a Chinese 🇨🇳firm to start producing gold products. Video source: Africa Web TV 2 Источник: The Paradigm Shift Channel ⏳
