President Yoweri Museveni has hosted a high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at State House, Entebbe with focus of strengthening bilateral economic cooperation and unlocking new commercial opportunities between the two countries.
Led by Mr. Ali O Alswayeh, the Saudi delegation expressed appreciation to the President for the audience and reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to expanding investment in Uganda.
The delegation highlighted agriculture, particularly coffee value addition as one of the Kingdom’s priority areas of interest.
President Museveni welcomed the delegation and commended them for recognising Uganda’s untapped investment potential. He observed that although Uganda and Saudi Arabia have maintained cordial relations for many years, both countries had not fully maximised available economic opportunities.
“We have been working together for a long time, but we have not fully engaged to maximise our investment opportunities,” the President noted.
The two parties also discussed the Value at Source Coffee Project (VASP), an agro-industrial initiative spearheaded by Nonda Coffee. The project seeks to transition Uganda from exporting raw coffee beans to exporting branded, high-value finished coffee products.
At the centre of this transformation is the proposed Luwero Coffee Park, an integrated industrial complex in Luwero District with a projected annual processing capacity of 42,000 metric tons of coffee and a targeted annual revenue of USD 850 million.
The facility will handle the full coffee value chain including cleaning, grading, roasting, grinding, soluble and specialty coffee production, packaging, branding, and export of finished products.
The project is expected to among others, create approximately 1,500 direct jobs as well as generate about 3,000 indirect jobs in logistics, retail, and auxiliary services as well as integrate over 100,000 coffee farming households into a structured supply chain.
The Saudi market is viewed as a strategic gateway into the broader Middle East, one of the fastest-growing coffee consumption regions globally. The expansion is expected to drive demand for premium Ugandan coffee, strengthen bilateral trade ties, and create sustainable downstream markets for Ugandan farmers.
The meeting underscored a shared commitment to investment-led growth, private sector development, and value addition as key drivers of economic transformation.
President Museveni has consistently emphasised value addition as a central pillar of Uganda’s development strategy, noting that exporting finished goods rather than raw materials is critical to increasing export earnings, creating jobs, and accelerating industrialisation.
The discussions concluded with renewed commitment from both sides to deepen trade and investment cooperation, particularly in agro-processing, industrial development, and market expansion.
The engagement marked a significant step toward strengthening Uganda–Saudi Arabia economic relations and advancing mutually beneficial partnerships in strategic sectors.
