By Zakaria Soohoyde - Reporter
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MOGADISHU, 22 October 2026 Somalia and Uganda have signed a bilateral labour agreement aimed at protecting workers’ rights and regulating employment, officials said on Thursday.
The agreement was signed by the two countries’ ministries responsible for labour during the Somalia-Uganda Joint Permanent Commission mid-term review, business forum and joint exhibition held in Mogadishu from 20 to 22 October.
Uganda’s Labour Minister Henry Tumukunde said the deal was intended to address challenges faced by some Ugandan workers in Somalia, including unpaid wages and employment benefits, the withholding of passports, employment without written contracts and disputes over work permits.
In civil aviation, the two governments agreed on a revised text of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement after identifying discrepancies in an earlier version. The revised document will undergo legal review, with signing scheduled for December 2026.
The two sides also agreed to sign an agreement on military training and education by 30 December 2026 and establish a joint defence committee. Somalia is expected to nominate its representatives to the committee by 30 October.
On economic cooperation, the countries agreed to finalise the establishment of a Joint Permanent Council on Investment and Trade by 30 November. Their investment promotion agencies will also hold regular meetings to assess progress in bilateral cooperation.
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Other planned agreements cover health, statistics, customs and product standards, with deadlines established for their completion.
The agreed minutes also indicate that some previous commitments remain unfulfilled, including planned business meetings and unresolved challenges affecting Uganda Airlines’ operations in Somalia.
The meeting followed the second session of the Joint Permanent Commission held in Kampala on 7-8 October 2025, where the two governments agreed to conduct annual reviews of progress on bilateral commitments.
The delegations were led by the permanent secretaries of their respective foreign ministries, Hamza Adan Haadow of Somalia and Vincent Bagiire Waiswa of Uganda.
Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Abdisalam Abdi Ali, formally opened the Mogadishu meeting.
Both sides agreed to continue conducting annual reviews of their bilateral agreements and commitments. The third session of the Somalia-Uganda Joint Permanent Commission is scheduled to take place in Somalia in 2027, with the exact date to be determined by the two governments.