Adonia Ayebare assumes office, tasks Uganda missions with driving $500bn economy plan

• Ayebare formally assumed office on August 12, 2026, after taking the ministerial oath a day earlier.

• He received office from Haruna Kasolo Kyeyune, who had served as acting Foreign Affairs minister since June 22.

• Ayebare wants Uganda’s missions abroad to focus on investment, exports, market access and the ATMS strategy.

• He returns to Kampala after serving as Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2016 to 2025.

Ambassador Adonia Ayebare has formally taken office as Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, placing economic and commercial diplomacy at the centre of his agenda.

Ayebare assumed office on August 12, 2026, a day after taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Minister at State House, Entebbe, before President Yoweri Museveni.

He received the instruments of office from Haruna Kasolo Kyeyune, who had served as acting Foreign Affairs minister since June 22, 2026.

During the handover at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kasolo said Ayebare’s experience would strengthen the ministry’s work in bilateral and multilateral relations, investment promotion and efforts to secure markets for Ugandan products.

Kasolo cited the repatriation of 1,030 Ugandans from South Africa following xenophobic threats and attacks against African nationals as one of the major assignments handled during his brief tenure.

Ayebare thanked Kasolo for maintaining continuity in foreign relations, consular services and Uganda’s international obligations during the transition.

He told senior ministry officials and heads of department that economic and commercial diplomacy would form a central part of the ministry’s contribution to Uganda’s development agenda.

Ayebare directed Uganda’s missions abroad to align their work with the government’s ATMS strategy, which covers agro-industrialisation, tourism, minerals including oil and gas, and science, technology and innovation.

Under the plan, missions will take on stronger commercial roles. They will seek strategic investment, promote value-added exports, open new markets and position Uganda as a regional trade and logistics hub.

The ministry said this approach would support the government’s tenfold growth strategy, which seeks to expand Uganda’s economy to $500 billion by 2040.

Ayebare returns to Kampala after serving as Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2016 to 2025.

During that period, he represented Uganda across the UN system and coordinated the country’s multilateral engagements.

He also played a key role during Uganda’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement from 2024 to 2025.

From New York, Ayebare coordinated NAM positions at the United Nations on multilateral reform, sustainable development, peace and security. He also helped align Kampala’s positions with those of member states during the 19th NAM Summit hosted by Uganda in January 2024.

Ambassador John Leonard Mugerwa, who represented the Permanent Secretary at the handover, said ministry staff were ready to work with Ayebare.

He pointed to recent gains, including the acquisition and renovation of Uganda’s missions abroad and wider efforts to use diplomacy to support trade and investment.