Museveni, Algeria Counterpart Discuss Oil and Bilateral Trade.

President Yoweri Museveni, who is on a three-day visit to Algeria, has spoken with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria.

The discussions allegedly covered a number of topics of shared interest because Algeria intends to invest $1 billion in development initiatives throughout Africa. One of the main topics discussed was the building and financing of a refinery as Uganda prepares for first oil in 2025.

"We're considering inviting Algeria to invest in our refinery. Our goal is to construct an inland refinery. We are so far from the shore that it will reduce transportation costs, thus it is extremely vital," Museveni remarked following the negotiations.

He claimed that during their conversation, they agreed to cooperate in the sectors of trade, energy, education, agriculture, and counterterrorism, where they had prior expertise, much like Uganda, in order to increase the wealth of Africa.

“In Algeria we have reliable partners: we are looking at powdered milk which is already coming here, coffee, tea and then products from Algeria of petroleum and petrochemicals.”

Before Museveni travels home, the two Presidents are also slated to attend the first-ever business meeting between Algeria and Uganda.

A delegation that includes a number of Ministers from various sectors, including those related to trade, agriculture, energy, mineral development, education, and sports. The arrangement to sell milk to the countries in North Africa, according to Frank Tumwebaze, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock Industries, and Fisheries, is expected to be completed.

Several Ministers including those from the Trade, Agriculture, Energy, Mineral Development, and Education and Sports sectors are part of the delegation expected to attend the summit. Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry Fisheries says that he hopes the deal to export milk to the North African country will be concluded.

President Museveni declared that Algeria has expressed interest in purchasing 500 million dollar worth of Ugandan milk following his meeting with Cherif Qualid, the country's ambassador, in Kampala in November of last year (1.85 trillion Shillings). The Joint Ministerial Council should thus begin preparations to finish signing the required documents with Algeria, he said.

Following a technical review of the legal framework for the dairy value chain by an Algerian team in December 2022, the Dairy Development Authority reports that Uganda will begin exporting other dairy products in addition to milk powder.

Uganda now produces 3.2 billion liters of milk yearly, with slightly over three quarters going to market, according to the DDA, raising the question of whether Uganda has the potential to deliver such quantities. In 2021–2022, raw milk production brought in 3.8 trillion Shillings ($1 billion) for Uganda. From the 3.01 trillion the year before, this was an improvement.

The Acting Managing Director Samson Akankiza claims that dairy exports increased from US$92.4 million in 2020–21 to 102.6 million last year. The shipments haven't yet reached the US$130 million levels from last year.

“Algeria’s milk production is generally low and most of their milk products are being imported from other countries. Uganda has quality milk which is organically produced meaning we shall have the best product on the market,” Akankiza said.

$4,2 million worth of milk was imported into Uganda. Deals will be signed off at the Joint Permanent Commission and business-to-business talks between the two nations in Algiers, he said. For milk producers and exporters who have throughout the years encountered glitches and uncertainty in the local market, this would be a relief.

The largest market, Kenya, occasionally forbids or restricts the importation of dairy goods from Uganda. A week ago, the Dairy Board declared that it will halt importing milk powder due to an anticipated rise in domestic output. After the border was closed in February 2019, Uganda's exports to Rwanda have decreased by roughly 90 percent from what they were a year earlier, when they brought in 52 billion Shillings (US$14 million).

The pacification of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been seen as a sign of a stable market.