Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, has welcomed the idea of a Russian-Ugandan Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Scientific and Technological Cooperation saying it will boost industrial development in Uganda through the use of space technology in carrying out research. While meeting a five-man delegation from the Russian-Uganda  Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Science and Technical Cooperation, President Museveni advised that efforts be made to further research development in areas of mineral resources, environment, agriculture, land use, national parks as well as developing local human capital and monitoring utility networks, among others.

The Russian ambassador to Uganda, Alexander Polyakou Dmitrievich, and Uganda’s Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Elioda Tumwesigye as well as other government officials, also attended the meeting which was held at the State House Nakasero yesterday.

President Museveni also observed that the development of space science was fast advancing, stating that the country needed this technology to help in other special areas like frontier border security monitoring. He said that space science should also be extended to human resource capacity, adding that owing to its crucial nature, human resource training should start right away.

He also noted that scientific detection, what he called ‘remote sensing’ of minerals beneath the earth, forests, wildlife and crops, provides a complex of combined lines of site, just as it has always been identified in telecommunication systems. The President further advised that the space technology installation should also address the components of accuracy capabilities in detecting minerals that exhibit strong penetration through the clouds and forest canopies.

The Russian Head of delegation, Andrey Rashin, said that the investment has a comprehensive approach that requires a joint effort in working together with the Ugandan government by putting resources together to build a national space technology research Centre in Uganda, in collaboration with the leading University of Russia in Science and Technology.

He assured the President that to put in place the micro-satellite would not be costly, saying that it would be integrated within the cost of establishing the space science and technology learning centre/university, considering the bilateral cooperation in spirit between the two countries.