By Isabirye Musoke
Oct 22, 2003 - Monitor
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KAMPALA - Uganda has been locked out of the annual general meeting of the World Tourism Organisation because it owes that organisation money. Failure to participate in the meeting that opened October 20 in the Chinese capital Beijing means that Uganda, which aims to promote tourism as a leading foreign exchange earner, lost the opportunity to participate in the agenda-setting talks. Tourism is one of the world's fastest growing industries. A senior official of the ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry told The Monitor that Uganda had not paid membership fees to the organisation for the last six consecutive years and had consequently lost voting rights. "It would be useless for us to travel to Beijing to take part in a meeting where we would not be allowed to vote for non-payment of membership subscription," he said. The membership subscription had accumulated to $500,000. The ministry has defaulted on its subscription to several international organisations and risks being expelled from some of them for non-payment of membership fees. Sources said Cabinet has instructed the ministry to review its membership with various organizations with a view to pulling out of some of those ones considered non-priority and concentrate on those that promote national interests. The official said Uganda had lost a lot by not attending the meeting, |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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