The Pearl of Africa could hold the key to the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’

Uganda is fast emerging as Africa’s prime candidate to capitalize on the EU’s ambitious new plan to revamp its connectivity with the continent, writes Colin Stevens.

In the five short weeks since the European Commission announced its ‘Global Gateway’ connectivity strategy, it is already becoming evident which growth economies look set to capitalize on the EU’s ambitious plan to counter China’s Belt and Road initiative.

Introducing the initiative, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasised partnerships with African countries, identifying the February 2022 EU-Africa Summit as the first venue in which the EU will discuss its new connectivity strategy with regional partners.

In 2019, before the pandemic ravaged every economy on earth, East Africa was the continent’s fastest-growing region with an average GDP growth of 5%. With projections of economic growth of 3-3.5%, Uganda looks better placed than most countries in the region to ‘Build Back Better’ – to use the popular slogan employed across the conference circuits of the West.

More pertinently, many of the areas in which the country excels compared to its neighbours – such as regional security provision, digital innovation, green energy transition, sustainable agriculture and wildlife protection – are those which the international community has broadly agreed need to be prioritised in the post-pandemic world.

In light of these competitive advantages, it is not hard to see why many analysts recognise Uganda as being strongly positioned to capitalise on the opportunities afforded by the EU’s grand strategy to reshape the architecture of global commerce.

With 77% of its population younger than 30, the country is determined expand its public services and attract further foreign direct investment to create jobs for the 700,000 Ugandans who reach working age each year.

Earlier this year, President Museveni estimated that 7 million homesteads in rural Uganda have access to sufficient land to employ at least ten people directly or indirectly. As such, he argued that the country has the capacity to create tens of millions of jobs if its strategy for commercialised agriculture reaches its full potential.

Though hugely ambitious, such figures are not necessarily unrealistic. Uganda is the 10th largest coffee producer in the world (the 2^nd largest in Africa), and the largest sugar producer in Africa. As such, it is hoping to ramp up its export power to meet the increasing global demand for fair trade coffee and sustainable sugar.

International investors continue to regard Uganda’s agricultural potential as amongst the best in Africa, with low temperature variability, fertile soils, and two rainy seasons over much of the country leading to multiple crop harvests per year. Its prime industries are also being rapidly digitalized, with farmers making use of emerging technologies such as blockchain to maximize production and reduce inefficiencies.

Modha Investments, a global financing conglomerate investing in commercial agriculture and food processing, recently agreed a multi-million dollar investment in Uganda. The announcement has been seen as another vote of confidence in the country and came amongst a raft of new partnership deals signed at the Dubai EXPO earlier this month. Robert Mukiza, boss of the Ugandan Investment Authority (UIA), confirmed that the total investments committed to at the signing ceremony were worth a combined total of $650m. These included $500m worth of commitments for renewable energy and transportation projects. It is not hard to argue that these investments will help put Uganda in prime position to capitalise on the EU’s determination to promote the green energy transition in tandem with growth economies from the developing world.

The country has also stood out in recent weeks for the efforts it has been making to welcome back visitors as travel restrictions begin to ease across the world. The Ugandan Tourist Board (UTB) also used the Dubai EXPO to announce the launch of a revitalised multi-level tourism push to attract residents of the UAE and other Gulf countries, and the start of direct flights by Uganda Airlines to Dubai.

But for ambitious African countries such as Uganda – which Winston Churchill famously called ‘the Pearl of Africa’ – tourism is only one part of a broader pitch for greater recognition and closer engagement from Europe as it begins to open up.

Crucially, Uganda could hold the key to preventing the broader region in which it sits from descending into the abyss of instability which many analysts and experts worry that the continent could face as a result of the economic calamity caused by the pandemic. What is not widely known outside its own borders is that Uganda is one of the world’s leading providers of private and state sponsored military contractors, with a burgeoning security industry serving to provide personnel training and capacity building to strategic partners.

It is little exaggeration to say that the dynamics of power and influence in Africa are undergoing something of a sea change. Next February’s summit represents an important opportunity for Europe’s leaders to recognise this, and ride the waves of growth emanating from the economies they have too often overlooked.

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