The SADC Council of Ministers meeting started on August 14, 2015 at Gaborone International Convention Center (GICC).
The objective of the two-day meeting is to pave the way for the Summit of Heads of State and Government that will be held from August 18-19, 2015.
During the meeting, the Ministers cleared the agenda for the Summit after the preliminary discussions that took place during the meeting of the Standing Committee of Officials held from August 10 to 13.
The meeting was opened by SADC Executive Secretary, Dr. Stergomena L. Tax who welcomed the participants and extended her gratitude to the outgoing Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Hon Simbarashe S. Mumbengegwi, MP for achievements made during his mandate “This meeting provides an opportunity and platform to take stock of the implementation of Council Decisions and progress made in pursuit of SADC regional integration agenda. I am happy to report that the Decisions taken by this Council in August 2013 and in April this year have been largely accomplished”, she said before welcoming the incoming Chairperson.
Handing over to the incoming Chairperson, Botswana Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Hon. Kenneth Matambo, Hon Mumbengegwi gave an overall summary of the activities and action undertaken during his mandate and thanked SADC Secretariat for the support received. “Council must be proud to have worked assiduously to put in place a Regional Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap which was approved by the SADC Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe on 29th April, 2015. In celebrating this collective achievement of our organization, we are not oblivious to the fact that much more remains to be done in this area, the most urgent and important task being the speedy operationalization of the Strategy”.. He congratulated Hon. Matambo and wished him a successful year as new Chairperson.
In his acceptance speech, Hon. Matambo thanked Hon. Simbarashe for the important decisions taken and progress made under his leadership and particularly with regard to the development of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap under his chairpersonship.
The meeting will end tomorrow 15 August with a post-Council Media Briefing to be addressed by the Chairperson of Council of Ministers and the SADC Executive Secretary.
Inserted photos by
Felicity Male
