The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance this morning launched the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy (ECD) Strategy Handbook during the Annual Ambassador’s Conference currently underway in Gulu. The Handbook was officially launched by the PSST Ramathan Ggoobi in collaboration with Hon. Oryem Henry Okello, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Cooperation.
Hon. Oryem said that the ECD Handbook will serve as the guiding framework for Uganda’s Economic and Commercial Diplomacy, calling for full understanding, discussion, and application by all Ministry Heads of Department and Uganda Missions abroad. He underscored the Ministry’s active role in development initiatives, challenging the notion that the Foreign Service is merely a consumptive ministry, and highlighted the strategic preparation for managing oil revenue inflows. “The ECD strategy is now a handbook for economic and commercial diplomacy. Every Head of Mission and Foreign Service Officer should read, understand, and apply it to ensure coordinated action that attracts investment, tourism, and development for Uganda.” said Oryem.
Setting the stage for deliberations, PS Foreign Affairs Bagiire Vincent Waiswa, urged Heads of Mission to remain focused on Uganda’s development agenda, minimize distractions, and fully engage in advancing the Foreign Service’s national role. Noting that Mr. Ggoobi’s stewardship has energized Missions to align with Uganda’s Tenfold Growth Strategy, Bagiire highlighted the transformation in Uganda’s Missions in cities such as Tokyo and New Delhi, emphasizing the positive impact on Uganda’s diplomatic engagement that increased resources have made possible.
In his remarks PS Ramathan Ggoobi provided a detailed overview of Uganda’s economic resilience, noting the stability of the national currency, FDI inflows of $3.7 billion, record coffee exports totalling $2.2 billion, a $1.5 billion tourism recovery, and diaspora remittances, all anchoring the ATMs of Agro-industrialization, Trade, Tourism, and Manufacturing. He highlighted the importance of skilling up, environmental sustainability, market integration, and policy consensus to advance Uganda’s economic transformation. He also reaffirmed his commitment to personally visit all Uganda Missions abroad to strengthen oversight and engagement.
On his part Mr. Bagiire provided an overview of the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy (ECD) Strategy, with the overarching goal of enhancing Uganda’s capacity to deliver investments, increase exports, boost tourism, and attract technology and knowledge transfer in support of the Tenfold Strategy. Key initiatives include institutional coordination, export-import think tanks, stakeholder engagement, country profiling, intelligence gathering, joint annual planning meetings, technical capacity building, and private sector involvement.
Day Two of the conference continued with focused deliberations, emphasizing the alignment of Missions’ activities with Uganda’s development priorities, strengthening institutional coordination, and advancing economic diplomacy to ensure measurable contributions to national development.
