At the time the government of China started the construction of a 40,000-seater stadium on the outskirts of Kampala in April 1993 — hitherto Uganda’s largest sporting arena — there were only a handful of Chinese investors in East Africa’s third largest economy.

The $36 million facility was one of its first major infrastructure projects in Uganda, and trade between the two countries was on a small scale.

Although China was one of the first countries to establish ties with independent Uganda in 1962, statistics from the Chinese embassy in Kampala show that the volume of trade between the two countries never exceeded $10 million before the 1990s.

A little over 20 years later, the relationship between Uganda and China has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, China has offered aid which has helped Uganda pave hundreds of kilometres of its roads, and construct a $6 million hospital in Kampala, an agricultural technology demonstration centre, as well as the multi storeyed buildings serving as the headquarters for Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Office of the President.

Speaking at celebrations to mark the 64th anniversary of China’s National Day at the Chinese embassy in Kampala last October, Uganda’s Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, outlined the wide reach of the Asian economic giant’s support to the country.

“China is firmly supporting Uganda’s development agenda through increased trade, infrastructure development, and exchange of expertise as well as impacting skills to our people,” he said.

That support has played a significant part in enabling China, the world’s second largest economy after the US, to tap into trade opportunities in Uganda.

According to the latest available official statistics, bilateral trade between Uganda and China reached $538 million in 2012, representing a nearly 35 per cent increase compared with the year before.

Today, nearly every street in Kampala has a business with connections to China or, at the very least, is selling items imported from the Asian giant.

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Among the major sectors where private and state-owned Chinese companies have invested heavily is electricity generation, where three Chinese companies are constructing hydro-electricity generation plants in Karuma, Isimba and Ayago; oil production, at the Kingfisher Oil Field in Lake Albert; construction of more than 500 kilometres of Uganda’s road network; development of the manufacturing, telecommunications as well as the information and communications technology (ICT) sectors.

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The $3.4 billion funding for the three hydro-electricity plants was reportedly secured by President Yoweri Museveni directly from China’s President Xi Jinping, when the two leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa early last year.

In a meeting with an 80-man delegation from China’s National People’s Congress last September, Prime Minister Mbabazi, who doubles as the secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement party in Uganda, noted that China has in the past financed projects in Uganda to the tune of $40 million.

“Uganda has benefited from development finance from the China Exim Bank, which has facilitated the country’s pursuit of strategic national development objectives,” he said.

Although the balance of trade is heavily tilted in favour of China, Uganda has also made a number of inroads into the market of the world’s leading commodities consumer.

The latest statistics from the Chinese embassy in Kampala indicate that Uganda’s exports to China rose by 65 per cent to reach $443 million in 2012.

Part of that growth is down to the preferential treatment given to goods from Uganda (along with other African countries). The arrangement, first announced during a China-Africa Summit held in 2006 but which took effect last year, offers duty- free access to 466 items from African countries like Uganda to the Chinese market.

According to the Chinese ambassador to Uganda, Zhao Yali, these items include copper ash, sheepskin leather, frozen fish, fish flour, raw or roasted cocoa beans, cotton linters, vanilla and decaffeinated coffee.

Uganda is one of Africa’s leading producers of coffee. It harvests large quantities of fish from Lake Victoria and was until recently one of a leading producer of vanilla in the East African region.

In the recent past, the government has also been working on reviving copper production at the Kilembe mines in the western part of the country.

From the modest beginning of the early 1990s, China is now Uganda’s largest trading partner, accounting for at least 30 per cent of all foreign trade.

Analysts say besides its large appetite for the raw materials exported by countries like Uganda, China has managed to develop close economic ties with the East African nation because of its non-interventionist approach in the politics of countries with which it is doing business.