A delegation from the European Investment Bank (EIB) conducted a week-long visit to Uganda to explore investment opportunities across the East African country.
Eager to leverage existing EIB-Ugandan relations, the EIB assessed various partnership prospects across various fields including energy, water and finance. “The European Union’s cooperation with Uganda aims to respond to the country’s most pressing needs by supporting sustainable development through sound economic policies and good governance,” stated EU Ambassador to Uganda, Jan Sadek.
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Led by Edward Claessen, Head of the EIB Regional Hub for Eastern Africa, the delegation held discussions with various ministries centered around the role the bank can play in helping the country address investment gaps and accelerate the rollout of high-impact projects.
According to Claessen, by investing in the Ugandan economy, the EIB aims to help the government to achieve “…economic recovery, sustained growth and job creation, funding and investment.”
While factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and energy and inflation shocks caused by the Russian-Ukraine war continue to disrupt the growth of the Ugandan economy, the visit formed part of the EIB’s support of the European Union’s Global Gateway initiative which aims to provide long-term financing to help developing economies achieve sustainable development objectives while growing their economies.
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The visit follows the EIB investing EUR 498 million towards private sector, energy, water, sewerage, transport, industry, telecom, services, and agriculture, fisheries and forestry developments in Uganda over the past several years. The EIB has also partnered with global investors to direct EUR 203 million in investments to support private businesses and agriculture and gender-equality focused projects in Uganda.
