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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | NEWS CORRESPONDENT | The Uganda Embassy in Addis Ababa has expressed strong support for the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) and its newly opened office at the African Union headquarters, reaffirming Uganda’s commitment to a continental strategy aimed at transforming Africa’s coffee sector.
The support was conveyed during a courtesy call on the Chargé d’Affaires a.i. at the Uganda Embassy, Margaret Kafeero, by Ambassador Solomon Rutega, Secretary-General of IACO. The high-level meeting focused on IACO’s expanding institutional footprint in Addis Ababa and the joint execution of a historic framework to overhaul the African coffee industry.
During the briefing, Ambassador Rutega outlined the structural changes underway following the 37th AU Summit, where the African Union officially adopted coffee as a strategic anchor commodity—a landmark policy shift that fully endorses the Kampala Declaration originally drafted by the G25 African coffee-producing nations.
“We are entering an era of aggressive restructuring to fundamentally alter global trade dynamics,” Ambassador Rutega said. “While the global coffee sector generates over $465 billion annually, African producing countries currently receive less than $3 billion of that aggregate revenue. Elevating coffee to an AU strategic status directly tackles this disparity, and our new Addis Ababa Office at the African Union will serve as the strategic operational backbone to make this happen.”
Ambassador Rutega said a central pillar of the joint AU-IACO strategy is a major push for industrial value addition, shifting decisively from exporting raw green coffee beans to locally processed, roasted, and packaged products. He noted that domestic processing increases coffee’s economic value exponentially—from roughly $2 per kilogram of raw beans to up to $40 per kilogram of finished product—directly securing the livelihoods of over 10 million households across Africa.
In response, Kafeero commended IACO’s leadership and reaffirmed Uganda’s steadfast commitment to the initiative. “Uganda fully embraces the opening of the new IACO office here in Addis Ababa, which will undoubtedly accelerate our regional trade ambitions under the African Continental Free Trade Area,” she remarked. “By leveraging an integrated 1.5 billion consumer market, we can successfully bypass traditional global supply chains that have historically disproportionately rewarded international brokers.”
Kafeero also highlighted the critical leadership roles of the continent’s major coffee powers.
“Africa accounts for roughly 12% of worldwide production, heavily anchored by two dominant producers. Ethiopia stands as the biological birthplace of Arabica coffee, contributing roughly 39% of the continent’s output. Side by side, Uganda stands proud as Africa’s premier exporter and rapidly growing producer specializing in high-yield Robusta, accounting for 23% of total production. Together, our nations are vital to steering this framework toward success.”
The meeting concluded with both parties reaffirming their shared commitment to working collaboratively to advance the objectives of AU Agenda 2063, ensure fair economic returns for local farmers, and position Africa as a self-sustaining powerhouse in the global coffee industry. The Uganda Embassy reiterated its strong support for IACO’s mission and the opening of its new AU-based office.
