The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Her Excellency Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax on 23rd February 2018 held discussions with the German Federal Government’s Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa and Sahel, Ambassador Georg Schmidt that focused on enhancing cooperation on the agreed priority areas of collaboration.
Her Excellency Dr. Tax welcomed the Ambassador Schmidt and commended the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for its continued support towards Regional Integration and development through the Secretariat as well as bilateral arrangements with Member States, adding that the Success Stories that the two parties have jointly published in the last two years highlight the benefits resulting from the SADC-German cooperation.
The Executive Secretary said SADC is committed to drive the Industrialisation agenda with the ultimate objective of reducing poverty through creation of job opportunities and enhancing the capacity of Member States to produce and trade competitively. She highlighted that infrastructure development and peace and security have also been prioritized as key enablers of industrialization and catalysts for regional integration and development. To this effect, the Executive Secretary emphasized the importance of regional integration, and invited Germany to support SADC in these priority areas, and utilize investment opportunities arising from the SADC integrated market.
She further underscored the importance of enhancing implementation of the regional integration agenda at the national level, and commended the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for supporting SADC through the “Strengthening the National Regional Linkages in SADC” programme(SNRL) that aims to foster the integration of the SADC regional agenda in national policy making processes.
Ambassador Schmidt expressed gratitude for cordial relationship that exists between SADC and the Germany Government. He commended the SADC Secretariat and its leadership for championing regional integration and development. He assured the SADC Executive Secretary of the commitment by Government of the Federal Republic of Germany to continue supporting the SADC Region in its key priority areas.
The two parties agreed to continue working together on programmes to support regional integration.
