The 7th meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Committee of Ambassadors and High Commissioners was held on 28th February 2019 at Hilton Garden Hotel in Gaborone, Botswana.
The SADC Committee of Ambassadors and High Commissioners (CAHC) consists of SADC Member States’ Ambassadors accredited to Botswana and SADC. The role of the committee is to undertake a liaison role between the Secretariat and Member States as well as facilitate information dissemination, interaction and consultation between the two institutions.
The Namibian High Commissioner to Botswana and Chairperson of the CAHC, His Excellency Asser Kuvari Kapere chaired the meeting which was attended by the SADC Executive Secretary Her Excellency Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, and Ambassadors and High Commissioners accredited to Botswana and SADC for Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Also in attendance was the Foreign Affairs Officer in the Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation of Botswana and the SADC Secretariat Management team.
His Excellency Mr Kapere reaffirmed the importance of the CAHC as a platform which provided an opportunity for the Ambassadors accredited to Botswana and SADC to be kept up to date on the programmes being facilitated, and implemented by the SADC Secretariat.
The CAHC received progress on the Secretariat’s implementation of the decisions from the last SADC Council and Summit, and a briefing on the issues on the agenda for the upcoming SADC Council of Ministers Meeting which will be held on 15 and 16 March, 2019 in Windhoek, Namibia, and will be preceded by the meeting of the SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials on 11th March 2019, and the meeting of the Finance Committee on 12th March 2019.
The Council of Ministers oversees the functioning and development of SADC, and ensures that policies and decisions are implemented. The Council consists of Ministers from each of the 16 Member States; usually from the Ministries responsible for Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Economic Planning or Finance, and meets twice a year in March, and August.
