Hon. John Mulimba, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs - Regional Cooperation of the Republic of Uganda, paid a visit to the newly commissioned chancery offices for the Embassy of Uganda in Bujumbura. He was joined by Ambassador Elly Kamahungye, the Director of RIEA and Ambassador Katureebe Tayebwa, the Head of Department Regional Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Uganda. The Minister began by conducting a tour of the Chancery building, with the highlights being the gender sensitivity consideration and the facilitation of persons with disabilities. He took note of the safety and security features designed into the Chancery, and potential to conduct aggressive commercial diplomacy in the available space. Hon. Mulimba later sat down to interact with staff of both the Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He opened his remarks by congratulating the mission on the work of overseeing the construction and expressed his sense of assurance in the structure. He noted that what comes to his mind when looking at the building is the detailed thought put into the security features and sturdiness of the building. He commended the Construction Coordinator on a job well done. He mentioned the recently concluded 3rd JPC round and emphasised that the culture must shift swiftly from holding JPCs for the sake of it. He said all staff must take it upon themselves to ensure tangible results are achieved within the parameters of the various memoranda of understanding signed, so that by the time the next round of JPC talks are held, there are no pending issues, but rather only new emerging issues present on the table. The Minister of State informed the gathering that the role of foreign service is slowly being better appreciated. He highlighted the role of foreign service in unlocking the vast quantities of Covid-19 vaccines for Uganda that supported a largely effective vaccine drive. The focus of diplomacy in Uganda is now on economic and commercial diplomacy. A challenge was laid down for the foreign service officers to be keen on learning all there is to learn about Uganda, and to thus become more effective in marketing the country. The minister placed emphasis on the finer details, because of the nature of the world we live in where the average person has instant access to a vast amount of information. He challenged the mission to innovate on ways of using ICT to form productive linkages with partners like the UWA, UTB and Uganda Airlines for both efficient training and brand marketing for Uganda so that the world has the correct notion of the country. The Charge d'Affaires a.i. in his remarks, informed the meeting that the successful commissioning, business forum and JPC have laid bare the work that awaits the Embassy and assured the minister the mission is prepared to tackle the mandate of commercial diplomacy aggressively. Ambassador Katureebe wished to express gratitude to the team from MOFA Uganda who did an exceptional job in the just concluded JPC process. Ambassador Kamahungye referenced the matter of Uganda's secured market access to the Middle East for various products, as a pointer on the levels of effectiveness foreign service officers could aspire to.