Ambassador Rutega to head Inter-African Coffee Organisation

RUTEGA|IACO|COFFEE

Ambassador Solomon Rutega has been elected as the Secretary General of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) during the 60th General Assembly, which is being held in Ghana. 

This development was confirmed by the Uganda Development Authority, in their tweet, on Tuesday (November 24, 2020) morning. 

Rutega is Uganda's Consul-General in Guangzhou; and one of Uganda's few career diplomats. 

Created on December 7, 1960; by 11 African Heads of State, IACO is one of the first ever inter-governmental organisations to be created in Africa. Tuesday, the organisation is composed of 25 African coffee producing countries. 

It represents millions of coffee growers on the continent, coffee being one of the main backbones of numerous economies of the continent.

This is not the first Ugandan to be at the helm of this organisation. He is coming in to replace another Ugandan, Frederick Kawuma who has for years been credited to have been running the Organisation. 

This is a positive step for Uganda, in its promotion of coffee production and exports. 

As reported by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the Coffee sub-sector Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Coffee exports in March 2020 amounted to 477,561 60-kilogram bags worth $45.87m.

This comprised 385,978 bags ($33.09M) of Robusta and 91,583 bags ($12.78M) of Arabic. This is an increase of 38.39% and 35.72% in quantity and value respectively from the same month last year.