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Ever since the first commercial oil discovery was made in the Lake Albert Rift Basin in 2006, public expectations have been high that the addition of oil to government revenue would significantly transform the Ugandan economy. Oil revenues are expected to help finance several infrastructure projects critical to national development as well as a host of other public services that include health and education.

However, if not well managed, the extraction and sustainable use of Uganda’s oil could face several challenges which may eventually lead to the resource curse phenomenon. Many have questioned whether Uganda can avoid the resource curse considering that many developing countries, not only but also in Africa, have not managed to do so.

There is a growing body of practical experiences, and lessons from current oil and gas producing economies from different African countries that has not been widely shared and disseminated.

Experiences of these countries have the potential to assist emerging petroleum economies, such as Uganda, to understand and incorporate lessons into their own policies and programs. This will eventually support the development of a more efficient structure and thus make it possible to avoid the various mistakes that have occurred in some of the countries. The demand for systematic sharing and dissemination of lessons among peer countries, as a means to build capacity in the petroleum sector, forms the basis of this resource management forum.

The aim of this particular conference is to facilitate a constructive dialogue on emerging oil and gas producing in Africa, and to share experiences, intelligence, and knowledge on oil resource management from the different countries on the continent.

The high-level conference will bring together an expected number of 200 invited guests with particular expertise and general interest in the areas of business and economic governance around the oil production sector. Those participating will include high-level government actors, media players, academia, civil society, and private sector players. The panel will consist of high ranking Ugandan experts on oil and gas from politics, the media, and the business sector.

More information on this event can also be found on the homepage of our partner: http://leoafricaforum.com/energy/