Mombasa, Kenya – Uganda’s Missions have been tasked to produce economic value, grow exports, attract investments, drive up tourism numbers, foster technological partnerships, and gather market intelligence over the next five years.
This call was made by Permanent Secretary Bagiire Vincent Waiswa at a 3-day Mid-term Review Meeting of Uganda’s Missions based in Africa, on the status of implementation of the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy (ECD) Strategy as a contribution to the Government’s 10-fold growth strategy. The Mid-term review meeting run from February 22nd to 24th at the Bamburi Beach Hotel in Mombasa.
The tenfold growth strategy is an agenda for the rapid expansion of production, tourism, and investment. The ECD Strategy that was officially launched in Gulu in August 2025 is jointly implemented by MOFPED and MOFA, as an operational tool to guide Missions in their execution of the tasks laid out for them.
PS Bagiire revealed that under the joint leadership of the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance, an ECD hub and a Secretariat have been established at MOFA and Finance respectively, to boost the research capabilities of Missions and to quality-assure the information they use to carry out set tasks. The data collected by Missions will, in turn, support the Hub’s operations.
Bagiire further emphasised the need for in-house capacity building to be managed by an Inter-Ministerial Committee co-chaired by the PS MOFA and PSST. “Foreign Service Officers are to have direct experience at relevant MDAs, to learn the work, products and processes to enable proper and informed marketing of products in countries of accreditation,” he announced.
PS Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi, also in attendance, said that Missions abroad are not just political outposts but is also economic bases for transformative growth. Emphasising efficiency, coordination and partnership as critical in ECD success, Ggoobi said that the purpose of the mid-term review is timely, to answer three questions:
- Which missions are generating economic outcomes on the continent?
- What practices are working?
- What must change immediately?
“This is not a compliance review but an investment decision exercise,” said Ggoobi, “Where performance exists, they will be scaled, where constraints exist, they will be fixed, and where efforts exist but no results are seen, they will be redesigned”.
Ggoobi further advised Missions to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), with a 3 billion USD market value, and a population of 1.5 billon people. “Our comparative advantage lies first in Africa and then the rest of the world. Each Mission is a key actor, and each engagement must be evaluated through one filter: Does this effort create market access for Uganda”?
In closing the first day of deliberations, the Mid-term Review Meeting for Uganda’s Missions in Africa made four key findings: clear commercial targets, specific sector priorities, identified investors and buyers and ensured fundable and measurable work plans. The MoFPED has pledged to continue to support Missions to achieve their objectives. In turn, Missions must develop good work plans and implementation planning. If they align strategy with execution and diplomacy with commerce, Uganda will be rich in the next fifteen years.
