President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, will pay a State Visit to Uganda from November 14-15, 2017. This will be his second visit after attending the swearing-in ceremony of H.E. President Yoweri Museveni on May 12, 2016.

Uganda and Sudan continue to strengthen their bilateral relations. H.E. President Yoweri Museveni paid a 2-day working visit to Sudan from 15-16 September 2015 during which he held bilateral talks with H.E. President Bashir, and delivered a Lecture on the theme “The Challenges of Economic Development and Peace Building” to the Cabinet Ministers, Diplomatic Corps, Academicians and Civil Society.

President Museveni again visited Khartoum from 10-11 October 2016, to witness the closure of the National Dialogue Conference; and also held a discussion with President Bashir on further improvement of bilateral relations.

The Undersecretary/Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan visited Uganda from October 5-6, 2017 and met his counterpart Amb. Patrick Mugoya, during which the two sides agreed on steps to implement the decisions taken by the 5^th session of the Joint Ministerial Commission which was held in Khartoum. Among the issues they discussed were opportunities for trade and investment, immigration, air transport, regional issues and security matters. Uganda will be hosting the 6^th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) by March 2018.

During the upcoming Official Visit by President Omar Al-Bashir, a number of areas of cooperation will be discussed including trade and investment, agriculture, regional peace and security as well as international matters of mutual interest.

Sudan imports 20% of Uganda coffee and is the single biggest export market for the product from which about US $ 100 million is earned. A delegation from the Sudanese Standards and Metrology Organization visited Uganda from November 5-8, 2017 to inspect the coffee testing/quality assurance facilities of Uganda Coffee Development Authority, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and private coffee processors.

They also held a meeting with respective Ministries and stakeholders to discuss ways of improving the Coffee trade with Sudan.

President Al-Bashir will be accompanied by Ministers, Senior Officials and a business delegation in various sectors who will be seeking opportunities to carry out trade, investments and business partnerships. During the visit, a Sudan-Uganda Business Forum is expected to be held.

A Joint Communique will be issued at the end of the Official Visit.