KAMPALA — President Museveni has India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Shri Vellamvelly Muraleedharan at State House Entebbe.
Both leader agreed to a partnership to provide affordable solar power and promote rural power transmission in Uganda.
President Museveni thanked Mr. Shri Vellamvelly Muraleedharan for the visit to Uganda.
Museveni also pledged Uganda’s continued friendship with the Republic of India, its people, and the Indian Community in Uganda.
Mr. Muraleedharan arrived in Uganda on Thursday and held a meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Cooperation Henry Okello Oryem who revealed that Uganda had given India upto 20 acres of land to build the Mahatma Gandhi Convention and Cultural Centre.
Oryem said that 15 acres of land have been identified in Entebbe while five acres have been identified in Jinja.
This is in fulfilment of a promise made to India Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2018 visit to Uganda.
“We have given 15 acres of land in Entebbe and India is going to build the Mahatma Gandhi Convention and Conference Centre for Uganda
He said the five acres of land in Jinja will be used to build India centre for culture and traditions.
Minister Oryem said that Uganda and India share a strong relationship having signed a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in various areas of cooperation that have further consolidated and strengthened their bilateral relations.
“Your visit Hon. Minister, is an opportunity to further deepen our commitments with India and take them to a higher level”.
On Political Cooperation in international fora, he said Uganda and India have worked closely in the multilateral arena on regional and international issues.
“Uganda is ready to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation on issues of climate change, human rights, refugees and social development”.
Regional Peace and Security, Minister Oryem said Uganda is actively involved in peace and stabilization processes in the region especially related to DRC, South Sudan and Somalia among others.
“With the support of the International community, it is our intention to remain actively engaged in on-going efforts to address the security challenges in the region”.
Oryem applauded India’s commitment of $1 million during the Uganda Solidarity Summit for Refugees held in Kampala in June 2017.
He said this has strengthened services to support the refugees and host communities but said the circumstances of the refugees and host communities pose enormous challenges for the national authorities which needs to be addressed as part of international solidarity.
