President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pledged government support to Saudi investors seeking to expand value addition in Uganda’s dairy and coffee sectors.
The President hosted a high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at State House Entebbe. The team was led by Ali Saleh Al-Swayeh, Chairman of the Saudi-Uganda Business Council and Injaz Global Group.
Museveni described the delegation’s interest as timely. He said Uganda has abundant raw materials that require processing for higher export earnings.
“Their interest in investing is timely, particularly in value addition and processing of dairy and coffee, where we have abundant raw materials,” Museveni stated.
He added that proposed investments in the medical field and food production for human and animal consumption were commendable.
He said government will allocate the investors space in an industrial park to support their projects.
The Saudi delegation reaffirmed its commitment to expanding investments in Uganda.
It identified agriculture, especially coffee value addition, as a priority area.
“We have been working together for a long time, but we have not fully engaged to maximise our investment opportunities,” Museveni noted.
The meeting also discussed the Value at Source Coffee Project, an agro-industrial initiative spearheaded by Nonda Coffee.
The project aims to shift Uganda from exporting raw beans to exporting branded finished coffee products.
At the center of the plan is the proposed Luwero Coffee Park in Luwero District. The facility is projected to process 42,000 metric tons of coffee annually. It targets annual revenues of USD 850 million.
The complex will manage the full coffee value chain. It will handle cleaning, grading, roasting, grinding, soluble and specialty coffee production, packaging, branding, and export.
The project is expected to create about 1,500 direct jobs. It could generate 3,000 indirect jobs in logistics and auxiliary services. It also seeks to integrate more than 100,000 coffee farming households into a structured supply chain.
Saudi Arabia is viewed as a strategic gateway to the wider Middle East market. The region remains one of the fastest-growing coffee consumption markets globally.
The talks ended with renewed commitment to deepen cooperation in agro-processing, industrial development, and trade expansion.
