Uganda is planning to open a coffee trade hub and boost the product supply to Russia, Ugandan State Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Mbasu Wilson Mbadi told Sputnik on the sidelines of the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.
"We are making efforts to industrialize at home, add value to what we produce at home for our own market but also sell the excess to our friends. And so that means that we have to look for markets. When you hear of a hub here, it is that we are looking for alternative markets, especially for our coffee. The hub you must have heard here was about coffee," Mbadi said when asked about a possible launch of the trade hub in Russia to sell Uganda's agricultural products.
The opening of the coffee hub is aimed at testing the waters, the minister said, adding that "once you know that there is a market, the supply will increase."
The first Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum is taking place from November 9-10 in Russia's Sirius Federal Territory.