President Yoweri Museveni has commended Germany for its donation of 5.5million doses of Johnson and Johnson one-dose COVID-19 vaccines and called for support through sharing reagents to enable Uganda produce its own vaccines and avoid vaccine dependency in the future.

The President was yesterday speaking during a meeting with a high-powered investors delegation from the Germany led by the German Ambassador to Uganda Matthias Schauer.

“I met a German Business delegation led by H.E Matthias Schauer, the Ambassador of Germany to Uganda. The delegation told me that the government of Germany has worked out a donation of 5.5million doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine to Uganda. This is a HUGE boost,” he said.

“I thank you for the donation and thank you for coming back to Christianity. During COVID-19 pandemic people were selfish and wanted to vaccinate their own people first. It is sad that we don’t cooperate in vaccine development. I am glad that we are developing our own vaccine but we need help with the reagents to produce the vaccine,” he added.

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The delegation included Prof. Christoph Lübbert of the University of Leipzig, Axel Kuppe managing partner of C. Woermann GmbH, Manfred Schmid of Frequentis, Hans Georg Hinterberger Managing Director of Achelis Uganda, Karl-Heinz Knoop of RIELA, Karsten Sengewald of iproplan, Dr. Andre Gerth of BioPlanta GmbH, Dr. Stefan Hagemann of NanoInfra and Guiliana Stiegelmann of IKA GmbH/Bellazuri Ltd.

The President who is pushing for stronger partnerships with German investors in various sectors of Agriculture, Health and pharmaceuticals, energy and infrastructure development singled out various sectors including pharmaceuticals using local plants.

“We know a lot of plants with the potential for healing. One of the reasons many people didn’t die of COVID-19 is because they were using herbs. Some plants have anti-viral and anti-biotic elements. We can have a factory to extract active ingredients. This is a very good area for cooperation,” he said.

The President also singled out post-harvest handling equipment and technology and solar power for micro irrigation for food production.

“We lose a lot of food because of bad post-harvest handling. Equipment and technology to help us at subcounty level is very welcome. We have 2000 sub-county administrative units and we need that capacity at that level,” he said.

The President also said solar power especially for micro irrigation can boost agriculture and remove fluctuations caused by climate change.

He also singled out waste management which has become a health hazard and yet it is a resource that can be turned into fertilizer and bio energy. He also welcomed the medical collaboration between the University of Leipzig and Kiruddu and Kawempe Hospitals.

The President also called for stronger partnerships in infrastructure development.

The Germany Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Matthias Schauer informed the President that the delegation has toured the Bukasa inland port near Kampala and that the members of the delegation were keen to partner in developing the mining, infrastructure and agriculture sectors. Ambassador Schauer said that the delegation was interested in silos, fire–fighting equipment among others.

Dr. Amrei Von Braun of the University of Lapzig informed President Museveni that they have made progress towards overcoming bacteria that is resistant to some antibiotics. She revealed that they have done a lot of work with Kiruddu Hospital in overcoming the challenge.