The 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the G77+ China summits were held at a new state-of-the-art convention centre in Uganda, which was built in partnership with a local businessman.
The government faced high expectations and pressure to host the events smoothly, and realised that the existing facilities in the country were not up to standard.
Therefore, the government teamed up with Sudhir Ruparelia, a prominent entrepreneur, to build a convention centre worth Shs147 billion.
The government, through Uganda Development Corporation (UDC), signed joint venture and shareholder agreements with Mr Ruparelia to build the facility in August 2022.
The convention centre, located at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, has a capacity of 3,800 seats and 12 high-end conference rooms, some of which were used for breakaway sessions at the summits.
The centre has a sophisticated design, with lights, tiles, and carpets. A distinct smell of glue, wood, and paint indicates that the centre is a new one.
Outside the centre, there is a stunning view of Lake Victoria. Some of the visitors took time off their busy schedules to take pictures of the lake, while others used the two water fountains outside the convention centre as their background.
Now that the two summits are over, the convention centre will continue to host other local and international conferences, especially those with large numbers of participants.
Other facilities in the region
The other similar facility in the region is the Kigali Convention Centre, a conference venue facility in Kigali, Rwanda.
The facility has four main components: a 5-star hotel (Radisson Blu Hotel Kigali) with 292 rooms on six floors; a 2,600-seating capacity conference centre; an IT office park with a net floor area of 32,200 square metres and a museum on the bottom floor of the IT park.
The owner and developer of the facility is a Rwandan company called Ultimate Concepts Limited, with multiple stakeholders, including the government through Prime Holdings, Rwanda Social Security Board and Rwanda Investment Group.
