DAVOS, SWITZERLAND:  President Yoweri Museveni has said building strong internal middle class systems pushes for great dynamism for goods and services that build strong integration blocks and ultimately improve economic development and transformation.

The President was today meeting the OXFAM INTERNATION Executive Director Winnie Nyanyima who paid a courtesy call on him at Hotel Grischa Monta, in Davos.

The two leaders are in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum that brings together world leaders, academicians, researchers and business community. This years Forum is being held under the theme, “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

The President said they can’t bring jobs that come with industrialization if they don’t have the basic infrastructure such as roads, railway, electricity, education etc in place.

“If machines take over jobs of humans, no problem as long as we are part of it. If we talk of business, we must be able to produce and consume. The danger is if we are buying and not producing. We must seriously deal with the issue of economic and political integration for credible bargaining units in addition to education. Others will wake up or collapse with this,” he said.

The President was responding to concerns by the OXFAM Executive director that efforts made my EAC heads of government in building the EAC bloc seem to be crumbling.

The President said with peace and stability in the region, countries will be able to build a strong middle class that pushes for integration for goods and services.

Byanyima agreed with the President that some technologies associated with the forth industrial Revolutions such as artificial intelligence associated with improved productivity and incomes may be a challenge in countries with no infrastructure such as roads, electricity, railway etc to bring the cost of doing business down.

The two leaders also discussed the situation in South Sudan, Burundi and the DR Congo and sustainable ways of ensuring peace and development for the most vulnerable.

Winnie Byanyima is a recognized expert on women's rights. She is a former director Gender and Development programmes, United Nations Development Programme and the African Union Commission. She was also a member of Parliament for ten years in Uganda and is founder, Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), which champions women's equal participation in decision-making in Uganda. 

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