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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,
He
said the ministry had asked officials of the Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) who are attending the meeting to update it on the proceedings of
the meeting.
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