By REUTERS

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Uganda has signed a pact with a business association from the United Arab Emirates to build a new international airport, President Yoweri Museveni's office said on Friday.

The deal for the country's third such airport expands the UAE's economic footprint beyond its interests in the renewable energy and oil and gas industries. 

Read: Gulf States intensify scramble for Africa

The main airport is Entebbe, on the northern shores of Lake Victoria, in central Uganda. Kabalega International Airport in the oil-rich Hoima District in western Uganda is under construction.

The UAE's Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry will build the airport just outside the Kidepo National Park in the northeast near Uganda's border with Kenya, Museveni's office said in a statement, without giving the cost.

Construction will start in August, said Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, chairman of the Sharjah business body.

The airport will boost tourism by drawing visitors to the 1,442 sq-km Kidepo park known for lions, giraffes, buffaloes and other big game.

Read: Uganda ready to sign Africa open skies plan

The agreement was "a sign of the deepening relations with our Gulf partners and another opportunity to co-operate in investment and trade", Museveni, who witnessed the signing, said in a post on X.

I witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Uganda and the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce led by their Chairman, H.E Abdallah Sultan Al Owais for the construction of Kidepo International Airport in Karamoja. This MoU is a sign of the deepening relations with… pic.twitter.com/ulxaYNpH50

— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) June 21, 2024