French Ambassador H.E Stephanie Rivoal (centre) with Muk Vice-Chancellor Prof Barnabas Namwangwe (second left) and other officials during a press event. (Photo By Javira Ssebwami)
KAMPALA– Makerere University will host Uganda’s first ever geopolitics conference slated for October 26 -28.
According to the organizers, the conference is targeting the general public with a special focus on students, civil society, media, political decision makers and the diplomatic community.
The two-day debate is courtesy of the French Embassy in partnership with Makerere University as the host, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, IRIS France, UN women Uganda and Alliance Francaise Kampala.
According to the French Ambassador Stephanie Rivoal, the conference is aimed at providing a platform for building strong free flow of ideas and open discussions in a creative yet informative way contributing to the generation of knowledge.
She said engaging the young generation is the first step of a country’s development, therefore the French Embassy moves to sensitize the Youth on positive involvement in the political, social and economic affairs of their country with an intention of opening their mindset for a broader view of issues that can help develop Uganda.
“Geopolitics is not a threat but rather an issue of everyone because it is the world’s reality, therefore, it stimulates the intellectual discourse,” she added.
The Ambassador said that the French Embassy looks forward to fully promote debates through the generation of topics and panel discussions by international and local researchers with the intention of creating an open-minded society to the realities of societies.
Meanwhile, Makerere Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said that the University is proud to host the two-day vibrant public debate on World geopolitics as this will create an interactive and dynamic platform for dialogue and free exchange of ideas cutting across contemporary, local and international geopolitics.
Pro Nawangwe said the program will also awaken the debating culture at the University as Makerere had made a tremendous milestone in African literature that directly addressed the legacy of colonialism after it hosted the first African writers’ conference shortly after independence in 1962 which attracted prominent writers like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka among others.
“Our professors, researchers, staff, students, Ugandans, and regional experts, as well as researchers from France and Germany, will come on board to engage into interactive debates with the main purpose of finding solutions to the challenges affecting our politics, societies, economics and international relations.” Prof Nawangwe said.
He, however, called upon students from all Universities to attend the conference for their own benefit and for all Ugandans.
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