International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will attend the Southern African Development Community Council of Ministers’ meeting scheduled for 9 to 17 August 2010, in Windhoek, Namibia.
South Africa will participate in the SADC Council of Ministers' meeting within the context of strengthening SADC which remains the primary vehicle to achieve regional economic development and integration.
In addition, SADC, as one of the five regional economic communities on the continent, is regarded as a building block in the consolidation of the African Agenda and wider continental integration.
Accordingly, the SADC Council of Ministers' session will consider the following:
- consideration of the report of the executive secretary
- reports from sectoral and cluster ministerial meetings
- the regional food security situation
- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)-Economic Advisory Committee (EAC)-SADC tripartite inter-regional coordination
- a report on food agriculture and natural resources
- administration and finances of the organisation (SADC)
- a review of the application on the SADC quota system
- the report of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission
It is also expected that the Council of Ministers will discuss the implications of the global economic crisis on the region, institutional arrangements for the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a report on the EPA processes, progress made in the Eastern and Southern Africa and East African Community EPA and the proposed COMESA-EAC-SADC tripartite free trade agreement as well as the SADC monetary integration.
Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and her delegation will return to South Africa on 18 August 2010.
For further information please contact:
Saul Kgomotso Molobi
Cell: +27 82 940 1647
Tel: +27 12 351 0083
E-mail him on molobisk@dirco.gov.za
