TOAST REMARKS BY HON. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF , AT THE STATE BANQUET ON THE OCCASION OF HIS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO THE REPUBLIC OF 22 MARCH 2006

Your Excellency, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Mrs. Janet Museveni, Honourable, Vice President Professor Gilbert Bukenya, Honourables, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen:

Allow me, Your Excellency, to say, on behalf of my wife and my delegation, how greatly honoured we are to be here tonight amidst our brothers and sisters of this great country, Uganda. To us, being in Uganda is really being home. For it is only borders, arbitrary imposed on us by our former rulers, that artificially separate us. Otherwise, and in reality, we are one and the same people.

Mr. President, we have been deeply moved by the warmth of our welcome to the

Republic and this beautiful city of . We thank you, Your Excellency, for your gracious and kind hospitality.

We are also privileged to convey to Your Excellency, the government and the people of Uganda the warm greetings and best wishes of our own government and people. This, we can say without any fear of contradiction: our people share the hope that our visit to Uganda will reaffirm the strength of our relations, and the depth of our commitment towards a federated East Africa.

Your Excellency,

On behalf of the people of Tanzania, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate you, once again, on your victory in the recent general election. The people of Uganda have spoken! The outcome of the election was a resounding affirmation of the belief of the people of Uganda that you, President Museveni, and the National

Resistance Movement, embody the best of their hopes and aspirations. The magnitude of your mandate does not leave a shred of doubt as to the satisfaction of the people of

Uganda with the direction your leadership is taking their country towards. You campaigned hard, the people of Uganda understood your vision for their country, and your victory is a deserved one. Your Excellency and honoured guests will be aware that I also am a recent veteran of a long political campaign. So, Your Excellency, I feel and share your sense of joy and relief at the successful conclusion of the campaigns.

Particularly after an arduous campaign crowned with victory!

I also congratulate the people of Uganda for demonstrating faith and belief in the democratic process, by engaging actively in the electoral process. Just like their brothers and sisters in Tanzania, the people of Uganda have proved to be a tough, informed and rightfully demanding electorate.

Your Excellency,

As you know, I have been to Uganda on several occasions and in different capacities. And, trust me, it has always been delightful to return to Kampala. But, this time, my visit here is particularly special. I am here to introduce myself to Your

Excellency and the people of Uganda as the 4th President of the United Republic of

Tanzania. I have come to reassure Your Excellency and the people of Uganda of my commitment as well as that of the people of Tanzania to strengthen the excellent relations that already exist between our two neighbourly and brotherly countries.

Thanks to Your Excellency’s leadership and that of my predecessors, the relations between Uganda and Tanzania have never been better and stronger than they are today, despite a terrible legacy of war. This is because of your keenness in building a relationship based on common values, shared interests and sentiments of human solidarity and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Throughout your tenure as the leader of Uganda, the quality and maturity of our political relations have achieved new heights. Similarly, within the framework of the

East African Community, our economic relations have also continued to flourish and deepen.

Let me also pay tribute to Your Excellency’s leadership and tremendous wisdom, as the Chairman of the Regional Peace Initiative on Burundi, which ensured a successful path to a new and hopeful dawn for Burundi. I want to reassure Your

Excellency that the government of the United Republic of Tanzania remains strongly committed to finding peaceful solutions to conflicts in the region, and to the pursuit of regional peace, security and development within the agreed regional frameworks.

Through you, Your Excellency, I want to convey the message to the sister people of Uganda that we are determined to do more to deepen and widen our spheres of cooperation and move fast on the critically important objective of East African integration. We are willing, ready and eager to exchange lengthier visits with Your

Excellency to work on these matters.

Your Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Let us please rise and drink a toast to the continued good health of the President

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Madame Janet Museveni, to the excellent relations between our two countries and to the friendship between the people of Tanzania and

Uganda. To friendship!