President Museveni jets out to Cairo

President Museveni jets out tomorrow to Cairo, Egypt for a two-day state visit to be followed by another to the Mozambican capital Maputo next week at the invitation of President Filipe Nyusi.
Top on the agenda for the Egypt trip, according to diplomatic sources, are discussions on bilateral relations and regional security, including the South Sudan peace process, and the impasse on sharing of River Nile waters—in light of the new leadership in Ethiopia.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has twice visited Kampala over the same issues; first in December 2016, and in June last year during the Nile Basin Heads of State summit, which ended in deadlock.
Ahead of the Museveni-el Sisi meeting, technocrats from both countries under the joint ministerial commission, convened at the weekend with consultations continuing today on political and diplomatic issues of mutual interest. Uganda’s technical team is led by the Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Patrick Mugoya.
The teams will also discuss eight bilateral agreements to be signed in the areas of Energy—the executive contract for completion of the 4 megawatts solar power project in Busia District, and Agriculture—establishment of a joint 300-acre model farm, and trade in meat and meat products.
Sources say an Egyptian delegation was recently in Uganda for an on-site visit of the proposed joint model farm in Kisozi, Gomba District.
Other agreements are on cooperation in trade and investments—cooperation between Uganda Investment Authority and the Egyptian Industrial Development Authority, plus Defence framework between the UPDF’s production arm, the National Enterprise Corporation, and Egyptian ministry of defence’s National Service Products Organisation.
On Wednesday, after the Presidents’ meeting, will follow a Uganda-Egypt Business Forum attended by manufacturers, exporters and importers to discuss investment opportunities with an aim of creating a Uganda-Egypt Joint Business Council. At least 12 Ugandan companies are expected to participate.
The Uganda-Egypt trade volumes, according to ministry of Trade, averaged Shs276b (about $75m) as at end of 2017, with Uganda’s share standing at a negligible Shs37b ($10m) from exports of mainly coffee, tea, dairy products and fish.
The two countries have over the years have been locked in negotiations over the sharing of River Nile waters. Uganda is dragging feet to ratify the new Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) that seeks to replace the British colonial agreements that apportioned Egypt 75 per cent (55.5 billion cubic metres) of the rivers annual flow of 85 billion cubic metres.

ABOUT THE CFA
The Cooperative Framework Agreement was midwifed in Entebbe in 2010, and was signed by all countries except Egypt and Sudan. For it to take effect, at least six countries must ratify it but so far only Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia have done so while the rest are still dragging feet which sources attribute to their anxiety of not displeasing Egypt.