Mr Museveni was fielding questions from journalists at a press conference at the Uganda-South Africa investment forum in held in Pretoria.

"Our talks were exploratory... but what I told him was that Uganda has no food problem... but this is not the case with other countries... so still the problem remains," he said during the press conference aired by South Africa's state-run television SABC.

"But I wanted him to know that there are some African countries which are strong economically."

The two leaders held a telephone conversation on 22 February in which they talked about the potential for developing bilateral relations.

Fuel and food prices have skyrocketed around the world since February last year when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Africa is heavily dependent on grain supplies from the two countries that together account for about 29% of global wheat exports.

Uganda has continued to state its neutrality over the Ukraine-Russia war.

A day after Mr Museveni's phone conversation with Mr Zelensky, Uganda abstained during a UN vote that called for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces.