Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has formally expressed his enthusiastic endorsement for an ambitious proposal to transfer the primary headquarters of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) completely out of the European continent. Highlighting that such a monumental shift would empower the 79-member alliance with significantly heightened strategic sovereignty, Museveni maintained that shifting the central administration away from Brussels would enable the intergovernmental institution to more effectively cater to its diverse member states and authentically mirror their collective goals.
The prominent Ugandan leader delivered these impactful statements in the wake of a strategic high-level summit held at State House Entebbe, during which he warmly welcomed OACPS Secretary-General Moussa Saleh Batraki. Their comprehensive dialogues focused heavily on expanding multi-dimensional cooperation between the East African nation and the broader global organization.
Throughout the conference, Museveni underscored the deep-seated historical and cultural connections linking the native communities of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. He outlined a powerful perspective wherein diasporic populations of African ancestry living in the Caribbean, alongside indigenous Pacific communities, should be embraced as core members of an expanded global African family.
At present, the OACPS bases its administrative operations in Brussels, Belgium, representing a lingering historical arrangement despite the undeniable reality that its entire roster of members originates strictly from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Museveni firmly committed that Uganda remains completely ready to support the upcoming relocation initiative, characterizing it as a crucial milestone.
Transferring the headquarters to a host nation situated within one of the organization’s home regions would carry profound symbolic and operational significance. It would visibly demonstrate a permanent transition toward authentic regional ownership, reinforcing the bloc’s identity as a genuinely autonomous Global South entity rather than one bound to historical, colonial-era dependencies on Europe.
Representing an aggregate populace of well over one billion individuals, the OACPS encompasses nations that routinely struggle with interconnected systemic obstacles. These persistent difficulties involve restricted access to sustainable development funding, extreme vulnerability to climate change shocks, heavy economic dependence on raw commodity exports, and marginalized positions within global trade arenas.
Statistical records from the organization reveal that 39 of the 79 total member countries are classified specifically as small island developing states, while 64 function as coastal territories, thereby establishing vital matters like climate adaptation and comprehensive ocean stewardship as core institutional priorities.
Secretary-General Batraki, a distinguished Chadian professional and former minister responsible for economic planning and development who took command following his election in February 2025, has steadily redirected the alliance toward enhanced South-South collaboration. His forward-looking administrative doctrine prioritizes mutual economic investments and robust trade partnerships over conventional, lopsided donor-recipient frameworks.
For Uganda specifically, cultivating tighter and more formalized relations with the OACPS yields substantial financial and geopolitical benefits. Such an alignment possesses the capacity to unlock fresh, profitable trade markets throughout the Caribbean and Pacific territories for local commodities like coffee, tourism, and agricultural exports, while simultaneously drawing crucial foreign capital into national infrastructure projects and expanding industrial sectors.
