The SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr Stergomena L. Tax, met His Majesty King Mswati III, the Chairperson of SADC to brief him on a number of issues including preparations for the SADC Extra-Ordinary Summit scheduled to take place in March 2017, the political and security situation in the region, and implementation of SADC decisions, and regional integration programmes.
On implementation of programmes, the SADC Chairperson appreciated the tremendous progress made on a number of decisions and programmes, including finalisation of the SADC Industrialisation Costed Action Plan, implementation of the 37th SADC Summit Theme “Resource Mobilisation for Investment in Sustainable Energy Infrastructure for an Inclusive SADC Industrialisation and for the Prosperity of the Region”, and operationalisation of the SADC University of Transformation.
The Chairperson of SADC was also briefed on the Ministerial Retreat, which will form part of the SADC Council of Ministers Meeting and feed into the extra-ordinary Summit. The objective of the Ministerial retreat is to take stock of what SADC has achieved since its establishment in 1980: achievements and challenges; analyse alternative ways of financing SADC regional integration effectively and sustainably; and identify suitable institutional arrangements to accelerate the pace and level of the SADC integration agenda.
On the political and situation in the DRC and Lesotho, the Chairperson noted the developments in the DRC and the Kingdom of Lesotho, and progress made towards implementation of SADC Decisions in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The Chairperson outlined the need for continued SADC engagement and support in both countries.
The Secretariat committed to report on progress continuously to the Chairperson of SADC, His Majesty King Mswati III.
