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JINJA - The Joint Secretary/Director General for the Ministry of External Affairs of India in charge of Lines of Credit, Suja K. Menon, has concluded a three-day working visit to Uganda.

The Indian High Commissioner to Uganda, H.E. Upender Singh Rawat said that the purpose of Suja’s visit was to follow up progress on the utilization of two lines of Credit offered by the Government of India and articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his State visit to Uganda in 2018.

The credit offer was extended to both the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

In response to the offer by India, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has submitted a Solar Irrigation Systems Project which is considered a priority area of the Government of Uganda in order to facilitate the Parish Development Model to work efficiently and increase agricultural productivity.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has submitted two projects for consideration; namely the 220kv Bujagaali-Tororo Transmission line project (127km) that requires funding worth sh59 billion and (ii) Karuma –Nimule-(411Km) Nimule - Juba (301km) Transmission line.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Amb. Elly Kamahungye, Director for Regional and International Economic Affairs coordinated on-site assessment visits for two of the proposed projects in both agriculture and energy.

In Jinja City, the India delegation was warmly received by Deputy Mayor Fazira Kauma and Town Clerk Edward Lwanga at the Jinja City Council Offices.

In addition to the earmarked projects for lines of credit, Kauma encouraged the India delegation to consider more people-to-people projects in the areas of tourism and culture and digital economy, as well as training and exchange programs and twinning of cities, given the history of people of Indian descent living in Jinja.