Second delegation trip with Saxon State Chancellery to Uganda

From Jul 8-16, 2023, a delegation consisting of members of the Saxon Parliament and representatives from Saxon science, business, education and civil society travelled to Uganda. The main aim was to deepen civil society cooperation between Saxony and Uganda and to establish possible school partnerships.

The first stop was Hoima in western Uganda, where visits to an agricultural production centre and St. Simon Peter's Vocational Training Center as well as a dinner with the mayor of Hoima, Brian Kaboyo, were on the agenda. To further deepen the Saxon-Ugandan partnership, a workshop was also held with companies from the region. The bilateral talks showed, among other things, the great importance of the agricultural sector in Uganda and the challenges it faces: over 80% of the Ugandan population works in agriculture. The agricultural potential is great, but at the same time the Ugandan agricultural sector faces many challenges. High post-harvest losses, lack of storage capacity and inadequate transport infrastructure are just some of the problems that make it difficult to access new markets.

Part of the delegation spent the rest of the week in Kampala. The representatives of Saxon companies visited political institutions, companies, start-ups, universities and other institutions, where many interesting discussions were held. Among other things, an agricultural project of Slow Food Uganda and the Christian University Mukono were visited. A visit to the country office of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) impressively demonstrated the work that German development policy has been doing in Uganda for decades.

The background to the delegation's trip is a decision by the Saxon state government. In the coalition agreement, the governing parties had agreed to establish a development partnership with a specific region. A 2020 study by UNU-FLORES had shown that the civil society links from Saxony to Uganda are particularly intensive. Having already participated in the first trip in June 2022, IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH was also able to make intensive use of the visit to Uganda this year to establish new contacts and advance project ideas.