The Chargé d’Affaires a.i. at the Uganda Embassy in Addis Ababa Mrs Margaret Kafeero, today received a courtesy call from Ambassador Solomon Rutega, Secretary-General of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO). The high-level meeting focused on IACO’s expanding institutional footprint, highlighted by the opening of its new Addis Ababa Office at the African Union (AU) headquarters, and the joint execution of a historic continental framework to transform the African coffee sector.
During the briefing, Ambassador Rutega outlined the profound structural changes underway following the 37th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, where the African Union officially adopted coffee as a strategic anchor commodity. This landmark policy shift 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 stated during the meeting. “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 further explained that a central pillar of the joint AU-IACO strategy is a major push for industrial value addition. “We must shift decisively from exporting raw green coffee beans to locally processed, roasted, and packaged products. Processing coffee domestically increases its economic value exponentially from roughly $2 per kilogram of raw beans up to $40 per kilogram of finished product, directly securing the economic livelihood of over 10 million households across Africa.”
In response, Mrs. Kafeero commended the IACO 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 (AfCFTA),” Kafeero 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.”
Mrs. 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 in Addis Ababa expressed its strong support for IACO’s mission and the opening of its new AU-based office. Both parties reaffirmed their 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.
