Amama Mbabazi in China over oil, Karuma dam

By Vision Reporter

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is on a one-week visit to China, where he is to hold talks with various government business officials.

Mbabazi, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, was due to hold talks on Monday with Fan Jixiang, the chairman of the Sinohydro Group that won the tender to build the 600MW Karuma hydropower dam in Kiryandongo district.

The firm will also construct the related transmission line to the Kawanda sub-station in Wakiso district.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office, Mbabazi will also hold talks with the Wang Yilin, the chairman of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas. It is also one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world.

CNOOC began operating in Uganda in March 2011 after acquiring a third of Tullow Oil’s assets, which included the Kingfisher and Kanywataba fields in Hoima and Buliisa districts.

Mbabazi’s other engagements in China include meeting senior Communist Party of China (CPC) officials and executives of some Chinese companies operating in Uganda.

He will also hold discussions with high-ranking members of the CPC central committee, including Chinese vice-president Li Yuanchao, the deputy minister for the International Department, Al Ping and the Premier of the state council of China, Li Keqiang, all separately.

Mbabazi will address the Uganda-China Business Forum, visit a pharmaceutical company, the Airbus assembly plant, the Huawei Beijing Research Institute and the Cai Jiawa Village of Agricultural Commercialization and Rural Transformation.

Mbabazi’s delegation comprises Charles Bakabulindi (state minister for sports), Jacqueline Mbabazi (senior presidential advisor for general duties) and Lt Col. Henry Masiko (head of the National Secretariat for Patriotism Clubs in the President’s Office)

Mbabazi was received at Beijing Capital International Airport by Uganda’s Ambassador to China, Charles Wagidoso, and senior CPC Central Committee officials, the statement added.

Mrs. Mbabazi, who is also the national chairperson of the NRM National Women’s League, will on Wednesday hold talks with the All-China Women’s Federation, a mass organisation founded in 1949 to advance the national interests of all Chinese women.