President Yoweri Museveni has called on developed countries to make partnerships with African countries for socio-economic transformation instead of providing aid.
President Museveni said that there is need to consider partnerships that provide solutions which lead to deeper mechanization in agriculture, irrigation, and hedging against climate change extremes.
The president’s message was delivered by the Prime Minister of Uganda Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja during the Italy-Africa Summit in Rome, Italy. The summit was held at the senate of Italy in the capital Rome.
The plenary was held in closed doors and the media was not allowed to relay the proceedings of the summit apart from the opening session.
In his message the president said that other solutions can be provision of easy access to affordable finance for agriculture, access to markets regionally and internationally and appropriate technology transfer.
Museveni said that Uganda finds the Italy – Africa Summit as a very important platform for cooperation and partnership in addressing challenges of food security.
He said that Uganda counts on Italy during its Presidency of the G7 to call upon the G7 members to support Africa’s efforts in eliminating the existing barriers that negatively affect Africa’s progress in development, especially in food security.
The president said that Uganda has just assumed the Chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Chairmanship of G77 plus China.
He revealed that Uganda can cooperate with Italy and bring the power of these two Groups to bear in our partnership so that we promote South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC).
In a related development President Yoweri Museveni was recognized and awarded for his commitment to socio-economic transformation efforts.
Kamel Ghribi, the president of the European Corporate Council on Africa and the Middle East (ECAM) said that they decided to honour President Yoweri Museveni for his tireless efforts to transform Uganda and Africa in general.
While receiving the award on behalf of the president, the Prime Minister of Uganda Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah lauded ECAM for the recognition stressing that President Museveni deserved the award.
William Ruto the president of Kenya said that the entire world should now be focusing on Africa for development.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister held bilateral talks with Dr. Jan Beagle, the Director General of International Development Law Organization (IDLO) and commended them for supporting Uganda’s Law and justice sector.
Dr. Jan said that they are supporting the country in the delivery of justice and want to also venture in assisting Refugees for settlement.
Nabbanja appealed to IDLO to also support the country in the health sector in addition to Justice and constitutional affairs.
The Italy-Africa summit that was opened by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melon; running under the theme “Italy-Africa; a bridge for common growth.”
Giorgia said that Europe and the whole world cannot think about the future without taking Africa into consideration. He added; “Our future inevitably also depends on the African continent.”
The Prime Minister said that Italy has a concrete plan of strategic interventions, concentrated on a few medium-long term priorities such as education and training, health and agriculture, water and energy.