By Racheal Nagawa
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, hosted a high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at State House Entebbe, in talks aimed at deepening economic cooperation and unlocking fresh investment opportunities between the two nations.
The Saudi team, led by Mr. Ali O. Alswayeh, thanked the President for the meeting and reaffirmed the Kingdom’s interest in expanding its investment footprint in Uganda. Agriculture—particularly coffee value addition—featured prominently among the priority sectors highlighted by the delegation.
President Museveni welcomed the investors and applauded their recognition of Uganda’s untapped economic potential. He noted that although Uganda and Saudi Arabia have enjoyed cordial diplomatic ties for years, there remains significant room to strengthen commercial engagement.
“We have worked together for a long time, but we have not fully leveraged our shared investment opportunities,” the President remarked.
Central to the discussions was the Value at Source Coffee Project (VASP), an agro-industrial initiative spearheaded by Nonda Coffee. The project seeks to shift Uganda’s coffee trade from exporting raw beans to producing and exporting branded, high-value finished coffee products.
At the heart of this strategy is the proposed Luwero Coffee Park, an integrated industrial complex planned for Luwero District. The facility is projected to process up to 42,000 metric tons of coffee annually, with an estimated revenue target of USD 850 million per year.
The Coffee Park will cover the entire value chain—from cleaning, grading, roasting, and grinding to producing soluble and specialty coffee, packaging, branding, and exporting finished products.
Beyond boosting export earnings, the project is expected to create approximately 1,500 direct jobs and an estimated 3,000 indirect jobs across logistics, retail, and related services. It also aims to integrate more than 100,000 coffee-farming households into a structured and sustainable supply chain.
Saudi Arabia is viewed as a strategic gateway to the wider Middle East, one of the world’s fastest-growing coffee consumption markets. Increased access to this market could significantly expand demand for premium Ugandan coffee, reinforce bilateral trade relations, and secure long-term markets for local farmers.
The meeting reaffirmed a shared commitment to private sector-led growth, agro-industrialisation, and value addition as engines of economic transformation.
President Museveni has consistently championed value addition as a cornerstone of Uganda’s development agenda, stressing that exporting finished goods rather than raw materials is key to raising export revenues, generating employment, and accelerating industrial growth.
The talks concluded with both sides pledging to intensify collaboration in agro-processing, industrial development, and market expansion—marking another milestone in strengthening Uganda–Saudi Arabia economic ties.
