As Uganda gears up to chair the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020, the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has urged ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and private sector players to participate in the international event.

Officials at UIA are pinning hopes on the expo to attract tourists in large numbers that would help accelerate economic recovery.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement, organisers had expected about 20 million people to attend the six-month long event. The expo will now take place between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.

“We need to take it seriously as a country having been given the status to chair the world expo,” the acting director general of UIA, Lawrence Byensi, said.

“When we visited, 20 million people had confirmed attendance. That is half Uganda’s population that would be in Dubai. We should encourage our private sector to go and present their products and network with potential investors in the world,” he added.

While meeting some of the participants recently, UIA’s director for investment promotion and development, Sheila Mugyenzi, said the investment body has received 76 bankable projects. Only 20 of these are from private sector players.

For the first time in world expo history, every participating country will have its own pavilion, showcasing innovations around the themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity.

John Lwere, the export executive at Uganda Export Promotion Board, said although the expo will be held this year, its name will not change under the theme of connecting minds and creating a better future.

Lwere said the key pillars of Uganda’s participation in the world expo include tapping into opportunities of trade, investment and tourism promotion as well as country branding.

Uganda’s pavilion will be housed at the Opportunity Village.

“When we promote exports and our markets grow, this drives further investments. The National Development Plan III proposes an exportoriented strategy that puts emphasis on export promotion and producing for exports.

“For Uganda, we are clustered under the opportunity sub-theme. We shall always be talking about the opportunities. In line with that, we have set the country theme for Uganda to be; Right place and right time. The motivation for that is, we have taken steps and made some strides and achievements in the areas of social economic development, infrastructure, peace and stability,” Lwere said.

GOVT PARTICIPATION

At the event, there will be a twofloor government pavilion. The ground floor will be dedicated to the country’s exhibition, while the upper floor will be dedicated to office space, meeting and conference areas.

The pavilion will be opened for the entire six months.

The second key aspect of government participation is pegged on the Uganda National Day scheduled for October 3, 2021.

“This is the main event for Uganda at the expo. It has been dedicated to the promotion of Uganda and the country’s agenda. This is where we will have businessto- business (B2B) networking events, cultural performances and food show, among others,” Lwere said.

A recent visit to the expo 2020 site, known as District 20 in Dubai, shows that preparations are in full gear. Even as the Covid-19 pandemic raged on, the Expo 2020 works did not stop. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, the Expo 2020 works did not stop.

Uganda’s pavilion will be decorated on the outside with artwork depicting the Crested Crane, Uganda’s national bird.

Expo 2020 is located in Dubai South, close to Al Maktoum International Airport and easily reached from Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s international airports and cruise terminals. It sits on 4.38 sq.km.

ECEONOMIC PERFORMACE

Uganda’s participation in the expo is key because of the need to attract foreign investment.

During the 2019/20 financial year, foreign direct investments (FDIs) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at 3%, which was lower than the Government’s Accountability Sector Strategic Investment Plan target of 4.4% and the 4.1% performance recorded for the 2018/19 financial year.

The change in actual performance was mainly attributed to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the downward revision of the planned FDI from $1.184b and $1.514b to $0.988b and 0.858b for 2019/20 and 2020/21 respectively.

The economy grew by 2.9% in fiscal year 2019/20, lower than the National Development Plan II target of 6.3%.

The below target performance was also attributed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought the Ugandan economy to a standstill during the third and fourth quarter of the financial year.