In July 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni officially opened the first Uganda Trade Hub known as Uganda Connect in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade.   The hub is aimed at strengthening the bilateral relations between Uganda and Serbia and paving the way for the country’s goods and services in the Balkans region.

Launching the facility, President Museveni who was on a two-day official visit to Serbia thanked his host, H.E Aleksandar Vucic and his government for giving Uganda a chance to promote her exports in the European country.  “There’s some amount of drinking coffee in Serbia and in this part of the world; Russia and other places so we want to promote our coffee to come here processed. They have agreed to buy our processed coffee,” H.E the President articulated.

“I want to inform you that as Uganda we have started to open doors for our exports. Unlike some Western powers who want to buy our raw materials, Serbia has allowed, and they are ready to buy our processed goods such as coffee, clothes, food and leather among others,” he added.  President Museveni also explained that the hub was very vital in promoting Uganda’s exports because it will be used to put together a contact point “from where you can get what all you need and all the linkages. The hub makes the address simpler for anybody looking for anything to buy from Uganda”.

He expressed gratitude to the people of Uganda, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) team led by Mr. Odrek Rwabwogo and other stakeholders for playing an important role that has enabled Uganda to achieve this milestone of promoting its agricultural products in the world.
“Thank you so much. This milestone can also help us spread our wings to other parts of the world,” President Museveni said.  “We should utilise this chance because we shall be able to get 40 USD from a kilogram of processed coffee. A kilogram of unprocessed coffee is sold at only 2.5 USD, do you see how we have been making losses? This is the fight I’m in now.”