South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa is set to arrive in Uganda later today for a two-day working visit.
The visit between today, April, 15 and tomorrow 16 will see Ramaphosa meet with his host, President Yoweri Museveni.
“The two leaders will discuss regional security and stability, including the situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.
Uganda’s troops last year exited Eastern DRC where they served under the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) .
On the other side, previously, South Africa sent troops under the SADC to Eastern DRC to fight M23 rebels.
The visit
Last year, President Museveni visited South Africa a bid to encourage better economic ties between Uganda and Africa’s most developed economy.
He met with President Cyril Ramaphosa accompanied by members of his cabinet who were scheduled to meet with their South African counterparts and sign various trade and bilateral agreements.
Making brief remarks ahead of the meeting with Ramaphosa, Museveni emphasized the importance of intracontinental trade, while highlighting some of the challenges that were making this difficult to achieve.
Among some of his priorities were the procurement of coal from South Africa to be used to transform Uganda’s high-grade iron ore into steel.
Uganda is South Africa’s 15th-largest trading partner in Africa and the second largest in East Africa, according to South African government figures.
Between 2017 and 2021 total trade between the two countries reached a peak of $162 million.
South Africa’s exports to the Republic of Uganda amounted to $169 million in 2018, while its imports from Uganda increased from $6.8 million in 2017 to $17.5 million in 2020.
According to the South African ministry of foreign affairs, from Kampala, President Ramaphosa will proceed to South Sudan.
