Foreign Minister affirms Egypt’s keenness on strengthening relations with Uganda

Foreign Minister, Mohamed Amr affirmed the depth and strength of the Egyptian-Ugandan relations, and Egypt’s aspiration to enhancing such relations for the benefit of the two peoples. This came during a meeting with his Ugandan counterpart, Sam Kutesa on Monday evening, in New York, stated the Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Counselor Amr Roshdy.

The Spokesman also outlined that the Foreign Minister invited the Ugandan Minister to visit Cairo to thoroughly continue their talk on the steps of promoting and enhancing bilateral relations, affirming that there is a great opportunity to enhance cooperation in several fields, and highlighted the importance of the private sector role in that respect, as well as the Foreign Ministry’s readiness to exert all efforts to support joint investment.

The Ugandan Minister asserted the deep relations linking both countries and the importance of consultation and coordination between them, not only as regards bilateral relations, but also regarding the issues on the regional blocs, of which Egypt and Uganda are member-states, especially COMESA, African Union, and the Nile Basin Initiative. He expressed his country’s aspiration to the Egyptian support in a number of developmental fields, especially agriculture, water resources management, food processing and livestock production. In this regard, the Ugandan Foreign Minister praised the activities of the Egyptian companies working in Uganda.

The Ugandan Minister also affirmed the importance of the Nile Basin countries’ cooperation to create innovative ways not only for using the Nile water, but also for maintaining it and ensuring its sustainability, a matter approved by the Egyptian Foreign Minister. Minister Amr pointed out the necessity to the Nile Basin countries’ cooperation to reduce the great waste of the River Nile water. At the end of the meeting, the two Ministers agreed on continuing coordination during the upcoming period to organize mutual visits in Cairo and Kampala to continue discussing means of boosting bilateral cooperation.