BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– His Majesty King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini and Chairperson of the SACU Summit will be hosting the 8th SACU Summit of Heads of State or Government on the 29th of June 2023, in Ezulwini. This was revealed in a statement, posted by SACU on their website.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg said the country was all ready to host such a big summit this was during a press conference yesterday at the Happy Valley Hotel. Rijkenberg said as a host country, Eswatini had been working together with the SACU Secretariat in preparation for the summit, which will be attended by at least 160 delegates. The minister stated that delegates would start flocking in from tomorrow until next week.
The SACU Summit will be held at the Madvulo Convention Centre and will be attended by the Heads of State or Government and representatives of the SACU Member States being the Kingdom of Eswatini, the host; the Republic of Botswana; the Kingdom of Lesotho; the Republic of Namibia; and the Republic of South Africa.
The 8th Summit will consider progress being made on the implementation of the SACU Strategic Plan whose
According to the statement issued by SACU Executive Secretary Thabo Khasipe, the SACU strategic plan will be considered as pillars including; industrialisation through the development of regional value chains, investment attraction and export promotion; trade facilitation and logistics; implementation and leveraging of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA); unified Engagement with third parties; and finance and resource mobilisation.
Khasipe said Professor Ricardo Hausmann, Founder and Director of Harvard’s University Growth Lab, will present to the Summit on the theme ‘SACU Industrialisation Opportunities through Improving Economic Complexity’.
The Meetings of the SACU Institutions will precede the Summit as follows:
(a) 70th Meeting of the Finance and Audit Committee: June 23;
(b) 72nd Meeting of the SACU Commission: June 24-25; and
(c) 49th Meeting of the SACU Council of Ministers: June 27-28.
