President Museveni is flying to Moscow mid this week to join other African leaders for the second Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.
The summit in St Petersburg will run on Thursday and Friday after which the Ugandan leader will head to the Serbian capital, Belgrade, to inaugurate a hub for promoting Uganda’s tourism, trade and investment potential in line with bolstering commercial diplomacy in Eastern Europe.
Henry Okello-Oryem, the state minister for foreign Affairs, says that Uganda will at the convention amplify Africa’s voice on global affairs while pursuing its bilateral interests with Russia.
Top on the agenda of an expected tête-à-tête between President Museveni and his host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be security and technology transfer for across-the-board innovations and agricultural modernisation.
Uganda’s other main interests in the bilateral cooperation with Moscow, according to minister Okello-Oryem, are “development of the oil industry, securing fertiliser access, and promoting trade and investment”.
Minister Okello-Oryem, however, made clear that development of oil industry alongside security will headline bilateral talks and said Uganda will not capitulate to the West’s demand on other nations to isolate Russia over the Ukrainian war because they have committed similar or worse transgressions to destroy sovereign states.
