Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has lauded Tanzanian Government for allowing smooth import of sugar from his country, as part of efforts to cement ties between the two nations.

Mr. Museveni made the statement in his inaugural speech, acknowledging the support from his Tanzanian counterpart, Samia Suluhu Hassan who was among the dignitaries who attended his swearing-in ceremony.

"I thank President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania for allowing her country to import sugar from us," he said, while also commending Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for doing the same.

He said Uganda produces over 600,000 tonnes of sugar annually, but their domestic consumption stands at 300,000 tonnes per year.

"That is why, it's necessary for us to export the surplus sugar," said President Museveni, while assuring the Heads of State attending the ceremony of Uganda's full cooperation in business and other spheres.

Last year, Tanzania experienced a scarcity of sugar that the Government attributed to coronavirus pandemic, noting that virus had disrupted the importation schedules.

Equally, the Government noted that some dishonest traders had hoarded sugar to create a false scarcity and in turn sell at raised prices.

In the same vein, the Government also imposed price controls for sugar in April last year after a decline in local production due to poor weather conditions.

While in Kampala President Samia met and held talks with the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde on how to strengthen cooperation between their countries.

In the discussion, President Zewde expressing confidence on her leadership commended President Samia for being sworn in as Tanzania's sixth Head of State following the death of President phase President of Tanzania on March 19 this year.

Her first visit to the country was early last month, when she held talks with her host and both witnessed signing of three key agreements to kick off the construction of what is set to become the world's longest East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

The pipeline will be 1,443 km-long with the capacity of carrying 200,000 barrels per day and has a total cost of 3.55 billion US dollars.