Honorable David Bahati, State Minister for Industry,
Our guest of honor this evening,
Honorable Ministers,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
Esteemed MP’s,
Distinguished Representatives of the International Organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Turkish National Day Reception, marking the 101st anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Türkiye.

The founder of our Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and his comrades-in-arms, all the brave men and women, heroes and fighters, started an independence war in 1919, which ended with the establishment of the Republic in 1923 and made it possible for us today to celebrate the 101st anniversary of our independence.

We commemorate them for their incredible leadership and unwavering resolve.

On this special day, please allow me to say a few words in Turkish to my fellow citizens;

Değerli vatandaşlarım,

Cumhuriyetimizin kuruluşunu, ülkemizden uzakta ama sizlerle birlikte ikinci kez kutlamanın mutluluğunu ve kıvancını yaşıyorum.

Bu vesileyle, başta İstiklal Savaşımızın Başkomutanı, Cumhuriyetimizin kurucusu Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ve silah arkadaşları olmak üzere, bağımsızlığımız ve vatan uğruna canlarını veren ecdadımızı saygı, minnet ve rahmetle yad ediyorum.

Büyükelçilikteki mesai arkadaşlarımla birlikte hepinizi saygı ve sevgiyle selamlıyorum.

Cumhuriyetimizin 101. Yılı Kutlu Olsun!

Distinguished guests,

Let us now hear the message of His Excellency President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
.......

Honorable Minister,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I will briefly highlight some important and pleasant developments between our sisterly countries in 2024.

As you all recall, we began the year with the NAM and G-77 Summits, which were successful both in terms of adapted documents and hospitality extended to all high-level delegations from member countries. Though Türkiye is not a member of NAM, our President H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was invited by H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, as the only “Special Guest” to the NAM Summit. Vice President H.E. Cevdet Yılmaz represented our country at the Summit and he was given floor at the opening session. We extend our gratitude once again for this meaningful gesture, which truly demonstrated our excellent bilateral political relations.

On the economic side as well, we witnessed stunning developments, especially in the construction area. Summa signed the contract with the Ugandan Government in last June, for the construction of the stadium in Hoima. Considering the work they have done on the ground so far, I have no doubt that they will hand over the stadium on time before AFCON2027, as long as both sides fulfil their obligations.

And recently Yapı Merkezi has signed another contract with the Ugandan Government to build the Malaba-Kampala Standart Gauge Railway. For Uganda, a country positioned as a growing hub in East Africa, this railway project is more than just a transportation initiative. It is a catalyst for regional integration and economic transformation. That’s why I have been calling this project a “game changer”. We will soon witness the ground-breaking ceremony.

We are also pleased that Gülsan and Polatyol, which have undertaken to build around 100 km of tarmac roads in Lira and Nakapiripit, have completed %60 and %70 of their work respectively. I congratulate them for their hard work.

We are delighted to be part of these critical infrastructure investments which will unlock the untapped potential of Uganda. These projects also create tens of thousands of jobs during and after their construction. It will boost industries, improve supply chains, and make Uganda more competitive in global markets. Therefore, we are more than happy to be part of Uganda’s journey towards welfare and prosperity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Besides these infrastrucure projects, we are looking for other potential sectors to develop our bilateral economic and trade relations. To this end, various reciprocal official and business delegation visits have been exchanged in 2024. To give you an idea I would like to mention two, which took place last week.

A Ugandan delegation headed by Minister of Defense Jacob Marksons Oboth and Lt. Gen. James Mugira, Managing Director of National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) attended the 4th SAHA EXPO International Defence and Aerospace Exhibition held between October 22-26, 2024 in Istanbul.

Another Ugandan delegation composed of Ugandan Tour Operators spearheaded by the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) participated in the Antalya Tourism Fair 2024 and they opened the Uganda pavilion where they had the chance to promote tourism opportunities in the pearl of Africa. The three-day Fair between 23-25 October, has hosted over 25,000 people and brought together tourism professionals from all over the world.

As some of you may know, Antalya is one of the leading tourism destinations on a global scale, receiving around 20 million tourists alone annually. Therefore, I believe there is room for cooperation and transfer of know-how in this sector between our sisterly countries.

This year, we were delighted to host the Honorable Jeje Odongo in Antalya between 1-3 March for the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, under the main theme “Highlighting Diplomacy in Times of Crisis”. Honorable Jeje addressed the participants at the “A New Agenda for Peace”; Shift of Paradigm Toward Peace” Panel. I thank him for his contribution to the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and his visionary and insightful address during the panel. The Forum also created an opportunity to meet his Turkish counterpart, our Minister Hakan Fidan. We hope to see Honorable Jeje at the upcoming ADF next year between 11-13 April.

This year’s event saw the attendance of 4.700 individuals from 148 countries. The forum featured discussions led by experts on various topics including global issues, crises, climate change, migration, Islamophobia, trade wars, and artificial intelligence.

On development assistance, Turkish Coordination and Development Agency TİKA has been doing a great job this year. I am excited to share with you that they have completed 8 projects in 2024. With the addition of these 8 projects, the total number of projects completed by TIKA so far in Uganda reached 91.

Our support for Uganda's development is not limited to TİKA. Various Turkish NGOs have been active in Uganda for a long time, and their work has been welcomed and appreciated in almost all corners of the country.

On our charity activities; just to give you an idea, during the last Eid-Al Adha, more than 50 Turkish NGOs slaughtered more than 20.500 cattle in Uganda. Representatives of some of these NGOs are among us tonight.

Also, we are proud and pleased with our flag carrier Turkish Airlines, for their daily İstanbul-Entebbe-İstanbul flights. These flights are boosting our bilateral relations in all fields and connecting Uganda to the rest of the world via İstanbul.

This year, we are even happier with them because they allocated two business class round trip tickets to Istanbul for our fortunate guests tonight.

Distinguished guests,

While concluding, let me reiterate that Türkiye stands with Uganda in her quest for further development and prosperity. The Turkish Embassy in Kampala will resolutely continue to work to enhance the bilateral relations between our countries for the good of our peoples.

I want to thank our presidents, H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and H. E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Without their leadership and firm efforts, we would not be able to reach the current excellent level of our bilateral relations.

Now, I would like to invite our guest of honor,

Honorable Minister, the floor is yours.