Iranian president in Uganda for two-day state visit

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday started his two-day state visit to Uganda where he is holding meetings with his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni and also set to address a business forum.

President Raisi was received by Museveni at State House Entebbe, 40 km south of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where he was given a 21-gun salute.

“The purpose of the visit is to strengthen the excellent bilateral relations between the Republic of Uganda and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” a statement by the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said here Wednesday.

Uganda is President Raisi’s second stop after visiting neighboring Kenya on his African tour that will also take him to Zimbabwe.

This is the first trip to Africa by an Iranian president in the past 11 years, according to a report by the Iranian official news agency IRNA.

The tour is aimed at improving political and trade cooperation with the three African states and diversifying Iran’s export destinations, the IRNA said.