The new World Bank Country Director responsible for Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, Ms. Marie Françoise Marie-Nelly, who is based in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, paid a courtesy call to Her Excellency, Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax, the SADC Executive Secretary, in Gaborone, Botswana, on the 21st January 2020.
Her Excellency Dr. Tax congratulated Ms Marie-Nelly on her appointment, and warmly welcomed her and the delegation to the SADC Secretariat. She thanked the Director for the continued cooperation and collaboration with the World Bank in a number of areas. Her Excellency Dr. Tax underscored the importance of ensuring that there is more focus on both regional and national programmes to enhance effective delivery of development projects and avoid duplication of efforts. She also pointed out the need for joint initiatives with other development partners, such as the African Development Bank and the European, to create synergies.
For her part, Ms Marie-Nelly thanked the Executive Secretary for the warm welcome and reiterated, the World Bank commitment and desire to work closely with SADC Secretariat and Member States to assist in the industrialisation of the region. She also underscored the need to ensure that the priorities of the World Bank are aligned to those of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as SADC. In this regard, the World Bank will engage SADC and other RECs in the validation of the World Bank Regional Integration Strategy.
Both parties agreed to continue working on the identified priorities, which include the development of the regional value chains, infrastructure, energy, disaster risk management, finance and investment, and statistics.
The meeting was also attended by SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Corporate Affairs, Ambassador Dr. Joseph Nourrice; Director of Policy, Planning and Resource Mobilization, Dr. Mubita Luwabelwa; Director of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Domingos Gove; Director for Infrastructure, Ms Mapolao Mokoena; Director Finance, Investment and Customs, Mr Sadwick L. Mtonakutha; Acting Director for Industrial Development and Trade, Mr. Calicious Tutalife; Senior Officer (Energy), Mr. Moses Ntlamelle; and Mr Maxwell Mkumba, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Executive Secretary.
Ms. Marie-Nelly was accompanied by The World Bank, Country Representative to Botswana and Special Envoy to SADC, Mr. Xavier Furtado and other senior officials.
