President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has offered Uganda as a potential host nation for the headquarters of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
President Museveni extended the offer on Tuesday during a meeting with OACPS Secretary General H.E. Moussa Saleh Batraki at State House Entebbe. Deputy Speaker of Parliament and President of the OACPS Parliamentary Assembly, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, also attended the meeting.
The proposal comes as the 79-member state bloc prepares to relocate its primary administrative base away from Brussels, Belgium.
President Museveni backed the organization's institutional restructuring and reaffirmed Uganda's commitment to promoting South-South diplomatic and economic alliance.
“You can look at Uganda if you want to relocate here,” President Museveni said. “We shall support you. The shift from Europe is also a good one, so I will support you.”
H.E. Batraki briefed the President on the organization's shift away from its historic reliance on European Union negotiations. He noted that member nations resolved in 2019 to transform the group into an independent alliance for developing countries.
The Secretary General disclosed that structural debt and operational challenges previously threatened the organization's financial stability.
“I found staff who had gone seven months without salaries,” H.E. Batraki said. “The organisation had accumulated debts exceeding €12 million and, remarkably, we had no permanent headquarters.”
H.E. Batraki explained that maintaining main operations in Europe no longer reflects the bloc's strategic identity.
“Our Heads of State agreed that we cannot continue spending our resources in Europe when the organisation belongs to its member states,” H.E. Batraki stated. “They instructed me to identify suitable countries where the headquarters could be relocated.”
He confirmed that Uganda ranks among the primary candidate countries under evaluation.
“We believe Uganda can be one of the countries considered,” H.E. Batraki said. “We wanted to know whether this would be acceptable to Your Excellency.”
Following the briefing, President Museveni announced an immediate financial contribution from Uganda to bolster the organization's stabilization fund.
Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa revealed that Uganda is bidding to host the Joint Parliamentary Assembly in October next year. The event will bring over 200 delegates from Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, and Europe to Kampala.
