Uganda has signed an agreement with a business association from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to construct a new international airport, according to President Yoweri Museveni’s office.

This will be Uganda’s third international airport, furthering the UAE’s economic involvement in the country beyond renewable energy and oil and gas sectors.

The UAE’s Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry will oversee the construction just outside Kidepo National Park, near Uganda’s border with Kenya.

While the cost of the project has not been disclosed, construction is set to begin in August, as announced by Abdallah Sultan Al Owais, chairman of the Sharjah business body.

The new airport aims to boost tourism by attracting visitors to the 1,442-square-kilometer (557-square-mile) Kidepo park, renowned for its lions, giraffes, buffaloes, and other big game.

President Museveni, who witnessed the signing, remarked on X that the agreement symbolizes “the deepening relations with our Gulf partners and another opportunity to cooperate in investment and trade.”