This article describes India's development partnership with Uganda and cooperation between the two countries: grants and equipment, COVID-19 assistance, support for the NAM Summit, tele-education, training for officials, and defence cooperation. It is based on the MEA bilateral brief of April 2026.

Grants and equipment

According to the MEA brief of April 2026, several items announced during the Prime Minister's visit to Uganda in July 2018 were delivered in the following two years:

  • NCERT books were handed over in October 2019.
  • A radiotherapy machine was commissioned at Mulago Hospital in February 2020.
  • 44 utility vehicles for civilian use were handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March 2020.
  • 36 military vehicles were handed over to the UPDF in August 2020.
  • Twenty laptops were handed over in August 2020, and four SUVs (Mahindra XUV) in December 2020, to the Ministry of East African Community Affairs.

COVID-19 assistance

India donated 1 lakh HCQ tablets and 1 lakh Paracetamol tablets to Uganda in May 2020 to assist in fighting COVID-19. The Government of India also sent a consignment of medicines, consisting of 521 cartons, in August 2020. India gifted 1 lakh Covishield vaccines to Uganda in March 2021.

Assistance for the NAM Summit

For the NAM Summit in Uganda, the Government of India gifted, as Grant-in-Aid, 10 executive buses, 5 ambulances, 10 tractors and 2,664 flags of NAM member States and Observer countries, covering outdoor, conference, table and car flags. 10 trailers for the tractors were gifted subsequently.

Tele-education and tele-medicine

The 2nd phase of the Pan-Africa e-network project has been launched by the Government of India in Uganda, and a university and a hospital have been identified for e-VBAB. Online courses by partner universities in India started from the Academic Year 2020-21 under e-Vidya Bharati. The brief states that the last enrolment was done in 2023 and that enrolment has stopped since, although students enrolled in 2023 have been allowed to complete their courses.

Training and capacity building

India organised a special capacity-building course at SSIFS for 25-30 Ugandan diplomats from 12-23 June 2023, as offered during the Foreign Office Consultations held in New Delhi in November 2022. The Government of India bore all expenditure on travel, stay and other costs.

Defence cooperation

An MoU on bilateral defence cooperation was among the agreements signed in July 2018. An Indian Military Advisory & Training Team has been stationed at Uganda's Senior Command and Staff College (SCSC), Kimaka, since February 2010. The team is led by a Brigadier-level officer, assisted by two Colonels and one Group Captain, and trains senior officers of the Ugandan armed forces and select officers from East African countries. The present team, the seventh since inception, joined in July 2025.

The Government of India offers more than 50 training courses to Uganda's defence personnel under ITEC every year. For the training year 2025-26, 85 slots have been allotted in various Indian Army and Indian Air Force institutes. A 15-member team from the National Defence College (NDC) Uganda visited India from 27-31 May 2024.

Uganda took part in the second edition of the Africa-India Joint Military Exercise (AFINDEX), conducted from 21-29 March 2023, in which 24 African militaries participated. The Chairman of the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) represented the Chief of Defence Forces, UPDF, at the Chief's Conclave.

Defence visits to India

  • Minister of Defence Adolf Mwesige and senior officers of the Ugandan Defence Forces attended the Defexpo and the India-Africa Defence Ministers Meet in February 2020.
  • A defence delegation led by Hon'ble Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, Minister of Defence & Veteran Affairs, attended the first convocation ceremony of NFSU, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in August 2022.
  • A delegation led by Hon. Oleru Huda Abason, Minister of State for Defence and Veterans Affairs, took part in DefExpo-2022 and the India-Africa Defence Dialogue in October 2022.
  • Hon'ble Marksons Jacob Oboth, Minister of State for Defence and Veteran Affairs, with senior officials of the Uganda Government, took part in Aero India 2023 and the SPEED Defence Minister's conclave, held from 13-17 February 2023 at Yelahanka, Bengaluru.