The new Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador to Botswana and Representative to SADC, Ms. Margit Hellwig-Boette held a virtual introductory courtesy call with SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax on the 20th October 2020.
H.E Ambassador Ms. Margit Hellwig-Boette thanked the SADC Executive Secretary for the warm welcome, and applauded the existing friendly relations between SADC and Germany. She also highlighted that Germany remains committed to strengthening cooperation with SADC at both regional and national levels, and pledged the German Government continued support to the SADC region, in areas of mutual interest.
H.E. Dr. Tax congratulated Ambassador Hellwig-Boette for the appointment and welcomed her to SADC. She informed the Ambassador that SADC values existing cordial relations with the Government and people of the Federal Republic of German, and looks forward to the continued good working relations with the Ambassador. She also expressed her delight that German support is aligned to SADC priorities, with a number of on-going projects both at the national and regional levels. Dr. Tax further said that, having looked at the Ambassador’s resume, she is looking forward to learning from the Ambassador, specifically in areas of change management and conflict resolution, amongst others.
The SADC Executive Secretary apprised the Ambassador of the two strategic documents guiding the direction of SADC, namely the SADC Vision 2050 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020 – 2030, highlighting that these are based on a firm foundation of Peace, Security and Good Governance; with the following priorities: Industrial Development and Market Integration; Infrastructure Development in support of Regional Integration, both hard and soft; Social and Human Capital Development; including, cross-cutting issues of Gender, Youth, Environment and Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management, emphasizing that these are the priorities that SADC wishes to cooperate with International Cooperating Partners.
The two Parties affirmed the existing cooperation, while noting that COVID-19 remains a global challenge, and committed to continue cooperating on the fight against it.
The Executive Secretary was accompanied by Mr Andoniaina B. Andriamiandrisoa, Resource Mobilisation Officer from the Directorate of Policy Planning and Resource Mobilisation; Ms Kelly Moichubedi, Executive Assistant to the Executive Secretary; and Mr. Peter Mabaka from the Public Relations Unit.
