DANISH AMBASSADOR HOSTS NEW aBi BOARD

On Thursday 2, December, Kololo, Nicolaj A. Petersen, Danish Ambassador and Head of Mission in Uganda hosted the new Agribusiness Initiative (aBi) Board & management to mark the restructuring of aBi Finance and onboarding of new investors and additional funding from Denmark, and other development partners. He congratulated aBi on this milestone and commended the new Board’s willingness to align aBi’s interventions with the new Danish Development Cooperation Strategy. The Ambassador informed the aBi Board that Denmark’s new Development Cooperation Strategy – The World We Share has a strong green agenda focusing on supporting, mainly, climate change adaptation and mitigation; and refugees, through dynamic partnerships with government, private sector and development partners. He noted that 80% of Denmark’s development engagements in Uganda will focus on supporting refugees & climate change interventions. In addition, Democracy & Human Rights will remain a foundation for Danish development cooperation in Uganda.

The Ambassador urged aBi to think green in order to attract more investment (FDI) for funding green enterprises to foster green and sustainable development as well as, support government of Uganda’s development aspirations. “Denmark’s development cooperation support especially on agriculture, is fully aligned to 3^rd National Development Plan (NDPIII). To this end, aBi’s restructuring presents agribusiness actors with great opportunities that they should harness in line with Denmark’s new development strategy and Uganda’s national development objectives”, said the Ambassador

Mr. Felix Okoboi, aBi Chairperson said, “the world has gone green so aBi has no other option but to ensure that all its investments are green to remain relevant. Fortunately, aBi has been pursuing a green growth agenda and hence we are green investment ready, and so are our agribusiness partners. Going forward aBi will onboard new green oriented partners, increase demand for its green products and other services, and document the impact of past green investment. We shall continue to position ourselves as the most efficient conduit for green growth investments in Uganda”. He further noted that with the acquisition of new investments, aBi has demonstrated that it is a sustainable and professionally run organization that can and will continue to attract foreign direct investment.

Also present at the function was USAID, which has funded aBi in the past.