President Yoweri Museveni has met the visiting high-level mission of Executive Board members of six (6) United Nations Agencies who called on him last evening at State House, Entebbe.
The high-level mission members are in Uganda to assess the work of the United Nations in supporting the country’s development efforts with a view to helping Uganda achieve its efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in Uganda, Ms. Rosa Malango, led the 35 member-strong delegation of the Executive Boards of the UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNICEF, WFP and UN-Women.
President Museveni commended the delegation for coming to Uganda to seek for practical solutions to the challenges that are affecting Africa. “It’s good that you have bothered to come in the field and see for yourself,” he said.
He discussed Uganda’s and Africa’s transformation journey that even though this part of the world is rich, it has encountered a lot of bottlenecks such as ideological disorientation, fragmentation of markets that do not attract big investments and hostility to the private sector by past regimes, among others.
He told the delegation that as the NRM government has been and continues to address most of the challenges, like building power dams for electricity generation and construction of roads, the UN humanitarian agencies should direct their efforts to what affects people most in Africa.
He was optimistic that once the enumerated challenges are addressed Africa will become a big powerhouse. He, therefore, called on the UN Agencies to put their efforts on the funding of crucial areas such as electricity generation that will result in industrialization and getting people out of wetlands, among others.
Others issues that the meeting discussed included refugees, development and relief as well peace and stability in the Region.
The delegation commended the President for his great work in Uganda in particular and Africa in general; noting that he has showed great leadership in different sectors at national level in advancing the national development agenda.
They also appreciated the government’s support to the UN systems in the country and pledged to continue working with Uganda.
