By giving coffee the status of a strategic product on the continent, the African Union reaffirmed the principles of the Kampala Declaration, signed by the African G25 at the Coffee Summit in August 2023. In particular, they insist on:
promoting added value rather than the export of raw grains;
supporting investment in innovation and research into new products;
fighting inequalities: the global turnover of the sector is more than $495 billion per year, but only $2.8 billion in Africa (0.6%);
free trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Ethiopia and Uganda have been at the forefront of the fight to recognize coffee as a strategic resource for the continent. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who personally opened the 21st G-25 African Coffee Summit in Kampala, has been a major proponent of this policy.
Uganda, the second-largest producer of coffee beans in Africa after Ethiopia, has also expressed its desire to supply the Russian market in greater quantities.