Kampala — UGANDA has commended Burundi for its contribution towards peace in the Great Lakes region and sending a contingent of peacekeepers to war-torn Somalia.

"We take these relations seriously and the mechanism of the Joint Partnership Commission (JPC) will propel further our cooperation to greater heights," said foreign affairs state minister Okello Oryem during JPC meeting of Burundian and Ugandan ministers at the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

The meeting was intended to update the officials on the status of implementation of the relations between the two countries in preparation of the visit of Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza.

Oryem said Uganda and Burundi shared the same vision on regional cooperation and integration from which the region would reap benefits in the form of a larger market, a stronger bargaining power and infrastructural development.

"Attractive investment and consolidating peace and security remain part of our cooperation," Oryem added.

He congratulated Burundi for successfully negotiating with the PALIPEHUTU rebels, who recently laid down arms.

Nkurunziza jetted into the country on Thursday. He visited a milk factory and the faculty of computing and information technology at Makerere University, where he was received by the Chancellor.

He also toured Jinja on Friday.