The Commonwealth Secretariat team has toured a number of hotels and conference facilities in Kampala and Entebbe for next year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
A total of 53 heads of government, including Queen Elizabeth, who is the titular head of the Commonwealth, will attend the biannual meeting.
“We are quite satisfied with what we have seen. There has been a lot of work since we last visited here, we have every confidence that Uganda will host the CHOGM,†said Joel Kibazo, the Commonwealth Secretariat spokesman.
He said the team was yet to inspect the city infrastructure and consider other issues like security and transport.
The team inspected facilities at Serena Hotel and the International Conference Centre where the opening ceremony will take place.
They also toured Speke Resort Munyonyo, the venue for the Heads of State retreat, Sheraton Hotel and Hotel Africana. Kibazo said the hotel rooms were of international standards.
Officials of the Ministry of Foreign affairs said construction of 60 presidential suites at the Speke Resort was going on well and would be completed by the middle of next year. “They are on target,†said a senior official.
Other incomplete hotels inspected were Karim Hirji’s Imperial Royal Hotel and Golf Course Hotel.
The team led by Matthew Neuhaus, the director of political affairs, also met high commissioners from the Commonwealth countries accredited to Uganda.
Other members were deputy head of public affairs Manoah Esipisu, head of conference Lorna Mclaren, civil society liaison chief David Kalete and special adviser on political affairs Syed Sharfuddin.They were scheduled to meet President Yoweri Museveni last night.
Uganda needs at least 3,000 hotel rooms to host the summit, which is preceded by meetings of Commonwealth foreign affairs ministers, the business, youth and women forums and the leaders of civil organisations.
Today, the team will meet the national CHOGM taskforce before a final briefing on Uganda’s preparedness.
Uganda was given guidelines to follow. They include acceptance by the 53 member states, enough meeting rooms, presidential suites, proper security plans, accreditation and good infrastructure.
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