The SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax has expressed gratitude to the European Union Delegation to Botswana and SADC for its continued support to various programmes in partnership with the SADC Secretariat. Dr. Tax said this during her meeting with the Head of the EU Delegation to Botswana and SADC, His Excellency Ambassador Alexander Baum at the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, on 30 May 2017.
Among other things, the two Parties discussed modalities for the implementation of the 11th European Development Fund (11th EDF) programmes focusing on three priority areas for cooperation namely: Peace, security and regional stability; Regional economic integration; and Regional natural resource management, with a particular focus on the SADC Regional Agriculture Policy. They also discussed issues regarding preparations for the upcoming 2017 SADC-EU Ministerial Political Dialogue.
The EU pledged to support SADC in implementing the conclusions of the SADC Strategic Ministerial Retreat that was held in the Kingdom of Swaziland in March 2017 under the “The SADC We Want”. The objective of the Ministerial retreat was to assess progress made towards attaining the vision of SADC since the regional organisation was established, the challenges encountered, and examined the prospects for the future. The retreat also examined alternative options for sustainably financing the SADC integration agenda.
