A meeting between the SADC Secretariat’s delegation and the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China took place on 3 September 2018, on the margins of the 2018 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which was held in Beijing from 1 to 4 September 2018.
The SADC Secretariat’s delegation was led by the SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, while the Chinese delegation from the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China was represented by Sr.Col. CHEN Liye, Director General of Bureau of West Asian and African Affairs, Office of International Military Cooperation.
The meeting discussed cooperation in the area of peace and security, during which, the SADC Secretariat presented its proposal on the construction of the SADC Regional Logistics Depot. Sr.Col. CHEN Liye expressed China’s commitment to support SADC in this area, in line with the FOCAC 2018 Declaration on Peace and Security. He indicated that, the sought support can be considered through the existing Chinese grant provided in the framework of peace and Security support to Africa.
Dr. Tax thanked Sr. Col. CHEN Liye, and the Government of the People's Republic of China for the continued support to SADC from the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and for its readiness to provide assistance to the SADC Regional Logistics Depot.
The SADC Regional Logistics Depot is part of the SADC Standby Force to support regional peace operations under the African Union Standby Force Policy Framework, and whose objective is to facilitate storage of material, equipment and end-user stocks to ensure readily available logistics support when required. The aim is to provide stocks on a “just in time” basis to meet the rapid deployment capability of the SADC Standby Forces to support regional peace operations under the African Standby Force Policy Framework. Therefore, the SADC Regional Logistics Depot function is to undertake peace support and humanitarian missions, and forms a vital component of force readiness.
