Salutations and welcome
 Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda,
 Your Excellency Amb. Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development, and your team,
 Colleague Ministers from the African Union Member States,
 Representatives of the African Union Institutions
 Representatives of Regional Economic Communities
 Our Development Partners,
 The Media, and
 Distinguished participants

Happy New Year, 2025!

2025 will be a defining year for the future of Africa’s agricultural sector, and I am glad that we have started the year by holding very high-level discussions on the sector. I also wish to welcome you to the Republic of Uganda – the Pearl of Africa, a country known for its unique features and attributes, starting with very hospitable people, unique wildlife and geographic features, and fantastic weather. A very warm welcome to you all.

Turning to the CAADP Agenda,

 Colleague Ministers, you will recall that slightly over twenty years ago – i.e. in 2003, our Heads of State and Government adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and that it is one of the strategies towards realization of Africa’s Agenda 2063. As of today, we remain with about thirty-eight (38) years to the end of Africa’s Agenda 2063, implying that if we are to meet the targets set therein, we should be in full implementation mode now.

 With the second CAADP Strategy and Action Plan or the Malabo Declaration coming close to the end, in 2023 when I was elected the Chairperson of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment, my major task was to lead the process of drafting the successor Strategy and Action Plan/or Agenda. I want to thank you very much for entrusting me with that noble responsibility, and report to you that we are now at the penultimate stage of that assignment as we are set to have the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35 and the Kampala CAADP Declaration considered and adopted by the Assembly.

 Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, AUC Commissioner, and colleague Ministers, allow me to single out the following categories and individuals for special mention given their selfless contribution and support to the process of developing the Kampala CAADP Agenda 2026 – 35:
i. The Bureau of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment, with which I serve. This Bureau is composed of:
- 1st Vice Chair: Republic of Cameroon
- 2nd Vice Chair: Republic of Cote d’ Ivoire
- 3rd Vice Chair: Republic of Namibia
- Rapporteur: Arab Republic of Egypt
ii. Amb. Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable for your steadfast stewardship and leadership of the process, with your very efficient team. I must add that the process of developing the Kampala CAADP Agenda 2026 – 35 was widely consultative, involving the public sector, parliamentarians, farmers’ organizations, private sector, civil society, academia and research, and the media, among others.
iii. Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director for Agriculture at the African Union Commission for your technical leadership of the process
iv. The Technical Working Groups, Conveners of the different Working Groups, and the Technical Drafting Team that put together all the ideas collected during the consultation process to come up with the simplified document that we will be presenting to Heads of State and Government during this Extraordinary Assembly,
v. The Regional Economic Communities under the coordination of the African Union Commission,
vi. The various stakeholders that participated in one way or another during the consultations process, either by way of submitting memoranda, financially supporting the process, or in any other way, and
vii. My technical team at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries led by the Permanent Secretary, Maj. Gen. David Kasura-Kyomukama for the technical back-up.

I thank all of you for your invaluable contributions. You made this possible; you made Africa proud.

Thrusting CAADP into the future: Colleague Ministers, the planning phase of the Kampala CAADP Agenda ends during this Summit. We must, therefore, move into implementation and execution mode. We will be having a detailed discussion on the Strategy and Action Plan, and the Kampala Declaration after this opening session, and I urge you to be as candid as possible. You will recall that the document that I will be presenting to you during that session is your document, having adopted it at the Ministerial Session of the STC in October 2024. It is by focusing on execution that we can make a meaningful impact to our continent and our people. We must move, not with the times, but ahead of times. This calls for advances in technological research and practices, building agricultural systems that are resilient to climate change and other shocks, agro-industrialization, and the like.

In this context, I wish to recall that the fourth session of the STC in 2021 agreed to establish five Regional Animal Resource Seed Centers of Excellence. Uganda was privileged to host one of the centers under the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB). However, to operationalize the centers, participating countries are required to conclude Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). We need to expedite this process in those regions where this remains outstanding, such as the Eastern Africa region. I look forward to having discussions with the concerned Ministers on this subject, including at the sidelines of this Summit, with a view to actualizing our own decision that we made about five years ago.

I will close my remarks by:
i. Inviting you to spare time and visit the exhibition outside this Convention Centre so that we can learn from each other with respect to advances in agricultural research and technologies,
ii. Inviting you to spare time during the course of this Summit to visit different tourist sites and activities that Uganda has on offer, and
iii. Urging you to prepare for and drive full scale implementation of the Kampala CAADP agenda at national, regional and continental levels.

I thank you very much for listening to me.