Speech by H.E. Ambassador Kristian Schmidt

EUROPEAN UNION

DELEGATION TO THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

Kampala, 1st March 2017

Speech by H.E. Ambassador Kristian Schmidt

EU Head of Delegation

EU Trade Mission:Unlocking Business opportunities for Solar Energy and Small Hydro Power in Uganda

Kampala, Sheraton Hotel, 1st March 2017

Honourable Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Nafuna Muloni,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and thank you for joining us at the first European trade mission to Uganda organized by the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to welcome all participants: those who travelled from other parts of Africa and from Europe to be here today, but also the Ugandan representatives of the solar photovoltaic and small hydro power businesses, and of course our partners from the Ugandan Government and the development partners.

As the Ambassador of the European Union to Uganda, I especially welcome the representatives of the European companies that have made the trip from several countries: from Germany, Finland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Netherland. Welcome to them!

Allow me first to give you some background of the trade relation between EU and Uganda. In 2015, the EU was the Uganda's first trading partner and the most balanced with EUR 492 million exports and EUR 490 million imports. For the first time since 2005, Uganda exported more to Europe than it imported. Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium whose companies are represented today, have become Uganda's top entries to the EU single market.

Honourable Minister

This EU trade mission comes as a demonstration of the strong partnership between Uganda and the European Union. We are allcommitted to support the development of a sustainable energy sector in the country.

We strongly believe that Uganda presents considerable opportunities for investment in renewable energy. With:

-a fast growing GDP, almost the double of the world average,

-a Government committed to deliver on its renewable energy plans and targets,

-and vast indigenous resources of solar and hydro,

the challenge of electrifying the remaining 80% of the country with no access to electricity becomes a huge opportunity.

To unlock the market, we all agree that the private sector needs a host of policies and regulatory frameworks that provide an “enabling environment”. Uganda has done a lot on that point thanks to the good work of the regulator ERA and has now proved to be an attractive place to invest in renewable energy.

Uganda has indeed recently been ranked at the top of international indexes on investment climate for renewable energy. Bloomberg's "Climatescope 2016" has ranked Uganda 7th out of 55 developing countries worldwide and 2nd in Africa for its clean energy investment climate and policies, showing a steady improvement after good results already achieved in 2014 and 2015. In the October 2016 index from Fieldstone Africa, Uganda was also one of the Big Five, together with Morocco and Egypt. These are markets in which investment in renewable energy is compelling.

The 10 MW Soroti Plant, the biggest solar system in East Africa, was for a big part funded by the EU and inaugurated in December 2016. In 8months, an Independent Power Producer from the private sector, benefitting from a favourable business environment, has been able to deliver successfully a station connected to the grid.

Now, if the environment is conducive for Independent Power Producers delivering their power to the main grid, the EU Partners would like to encourage the Regulator and the GoU to continue in that direction and guarantee the same enabling environment for off-grid/ minigridsystems that generate and distribute electricity directly to households and local businesses. This is today the only realistic way to bring sufficient power to people and firms in remote areas. Despite all efforts done so far, more than 90% of the population still does not have access to modern energy services. It is today a new frontier for Uganda to cross in the sector of energy.

Whereas Uganda is on its good way to reach energy self-sufficiency and even oversupply in the coming years, the main investment opportunities may come from the off-grid sector, for producers and distributors of electricity. This will be discussed further in the workshops today and tomorrow.

In addition to a good regulatory framework, the private sectoralso needs strong and strategic partnerships.

This trade mission aims to trigger such partnerships, foster exchanges of know-how and also stimulate investment opportunities along the supply chain of renewable energy projects.

Today, we are launchinga fourday-seminar, full of opportunities for the sector. I hope that you will reap immense benefits, venture into new partnerships and explore new potentials!

I wish you very successful interactions in this trade mission. Thank you very much!

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