The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of German to the Southern African Development (SADC), His Excellency Mr. Ralph Breth on 18th February, 2019 held discussions with the SADC Executive, led by the SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax, ahead of the consultations meeting on SADC-Germany Cooperation due to start on 19th February 2019 at the SADC Secretariat.
The consultations meeting is expected to solidify areas of cooperation, aligned to the converging priorities of SADC and Germany in the coming years.
During the meeting, Ambassador Breth thanked the Executive Secretary for welcoming him. He highlighted the German Government’s continued commitment to support SADC within the framework of the SADC-German Cooperation.
In her remarks, H.E. Dr. Tax hailed the long standing cooperation that exists between the Federal Republic of Germany and SADC. She said that the consultations are a clear indication of strong commitment for continued cooperation between the two parties.
H.E. Dr. Tax highlighted that the Secretariat was delighted by His Excellency Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany’s visit to the SADC Secretariat on 21st November 2018. The Executive Secretary said the visit by the Germany President demonstrated the highest level of commitment that the Government of Germany places on the SADC-German Cooperation.
H.E. Dr Tax and H.E. Ambassador Ralph Breth will on 19th February, 2019 officially open the two-day consultation meeting on the SADC-German Cooperation which will be attended by the SADC Executive, Directors and technical staff from the SADC Secretariat and representatives of Germany development cooperation agencies, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and KfW as we as representatives from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the National Metrology Institute of Germany.
The meeting was attended by the Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration (DES-RI) Dr. Thembinkosi Mhlongo, the Deputy Executive Secretary for Corporate Affairs (DES-CA) Ambassador Joseph Nourrice, Director of Policy Planning and Resource Mobilisation, Mr. Mubita Luwabelwa and other officials from the SADC Secretariat.
