Uganda Telecom last week launched a solar charged mobile phone in Arua Municipality.

The development sounds relief to rural mobile users especially who erstwhile have had to travel distances to charge their phones at a cost of between Shs500 to Shs1,000.

Speaking during the launch, Uganda Telecom's Chief Marketing Officer Ms Mona Lisa Brookshire said the company is committed to developing products that are relevant to Ugandans' development needs.

"Lack of power has been identified as a major barrier to bridging the gap of entry to the digital age because it requires phones to be charged using grid power."

The handset, which currently costs Shs81,000, has an in-built solar panel that charges it using sun rays and can also be charged using a power outlet. He said the phone provides up-to 12 hours of talktime after an hour of exposure to the sun.

Uganda asks for help from G20 on global crisis

Uganda has asked the G20 to support its request for financial assistance through the World Bank in a bid to forestall any further secondary shocks from the global economic crisis, Finance, Planning and Economic development Minister, Syda Bbumba, has said.

In a recent interview with Daily Monitor, after signing three financial agreements with the World Bank, Ms Syda Bbumba said: "We have already submitted our request to the G20 for financial support because we have seen a decline in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), remittances, foreign reserves level and reduced earnings from tourism,"

Ms Bbumba explained: "Last time when the World Bank President Robert Zoellick was in the country, he wanted a justification for our request for help from the G-20 and this is the justification we have submitted in reference to the above areas where we have felt some impact of global economic crisis,"

On how much Uganda has asked from the G20, Ms Bbumba said that the principle is that a country first submits the request for discussion by the G20 and it is only after it has been discussed and approved that a request for a specific amount is made.

The Group of 20 (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together the leading industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.

The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The European Union , which is represented by the rotating Council Presidency and the European Central Bank, is the 20th member of the G-20.

The country, however, continues to do well as its economic growth remains robust with real GDP growth for 2009/2010 being projected to grow at 6 percent. This makes Uganda economy one of the fastest growing economies in Sub Saharan Africa.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been the main advocates for increased donor assistance to the world's poorest countries.

An index on the global crisis produced by the World Bank early this year reveals that Uganda is vulnerable to the global financial crisis. The vulnerability index as of January 2009 shows the figures have moved from 0 per cent to 0.6 per cent.