Prime
Museveni, Putin discuss defence cooperation
Handshake. Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) meets with President Museveni on the sidelines of the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi yesterday. AFP PHOTO
What you need to know:
- President Putin, speaking during bilateral meeting with his Ugandan counterpart, commended the establishment of the Uganda-Russian Joint Permanent Commission, which was midwifed in 2012 and actualised in May 2015, to foster economic, scientific, and technical cooperation between the two countries.
President Museveni yesterday struck a security deal with Moscow to assist in the “maintenance and upgrade” of military hardware.
President Museveni and host Russian President Vladimir Putin, held bilateral meeting at the sidelines of the Russian-African summit in Sochi where the Mr Museveni made case for a Russian-facilitated local workshop for maintenance, overhaul and upgrade of military hardware, saying the costs of transporting the same back to Moscow are prohibitive.
“We want to buy more; we have been paying cash in the past, and this slows down the pace. What I propose is that you supply and we pay; that would be some sort of credit supply,” President Museveni said during the meeting.
“That would make us build faster, because now we pay cash like for the Sukhoi we paid cash. Also, build a workshop for maintenance, overhaul and upgrade; we have a bit of Russian equipment here, so to overhaul you have to bring it here, and then back; the transport costs...,” he added.
Space and agro-tech, vaccines for humans and animals were also discussed.
In 2011, Uganda spent $740 million (about Shs1.7 trillion) for procurement of six Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighters from Russia, that got everyone talking including the donors.
The President was accompanied to the meeting by his daughter Diana Kamuntu, Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa, Energy minister Irene Muloni, Science and Technology minister Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, and Uganda’s Ambassador to Russia Johnson Olwa.
President Museveni commended Mr Putin for convening the Russia-Africa Summit, the first of its kind, which he described as “long overdue.”
“We have had these conferences with India, China, and Turkey yet when we were fighting for our freedom it was Russia and China who supported us,” he added.
The President is in Russia, in the Black Sea coastal city of Sochi, to attend the Russia-Africa summit which closes today.
The summit seeks to bolster Russia’s ties with Africa which is billed as both the next investment frontier and market destination.
Russia is seeking to vie for influence in Africa with the US, China and others.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia, was deflated and has been sidelined from mainstream world stage by the United States and its European allies; something President Putin has been trying to reverse.
President Putin, speaking during bilateral meeting with his Ugandan counterpart, commended the establishment of the Uganda-Russian Joint Permanent Commission, which was midwifed in 2012 and actualised in May 2015, to foster economic, scientific, and technical cooperation between the two countries.
“I didn’t understand we face a common task of developing trade tries and trade turnover and in this regard would be useful to note, the decision taken during the business summit in October within framework of the intergovernmental group to establish a commission on cooperation and mineral resources, President Putin noted.
He further revealed that an agreement had been reached, under framework of the joint commission, for Russia to establish in Uganda a national system for identification of assessment and certification of deposits of mineral resources.
By press time, President Museveni was speaking on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Africa.
