PRETORIA, June 28 (NNN-SANEWS) — President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday attend the 8th Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) Heads of State and Government Summit in the Kingdom of Eswatini.
The President will lead a delegation comprising Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel; Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza; Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana and the South African Revenue Service Commissioner, Edward Kieswetter.
The President‘s working visit at the SACU Heads of State and Government Summit is at the invitation of the current Chair of SACU, King Mswati III and the iNgwenyama of the Kingdom of Eswatini.
The 8th SACU Heads of State and Government Summit will be preceded by the meeting of the Council of Ministers taking place on June 27–28.
According to the Presidency, the Council of Ministers meeting will reflect and update on the status of the implementation of the SACU Strategic Plan 2022-2027, of which the Heads of State and Government will provide political and strategic guidance.
“The SACU Strategic Plan 2022-2027 – which will be in its first year of review since being adopted at the 7th SACU Heads of State and Government Summit – is centered on six pillars, namely Industrialisation, Export and Investment Promotion, Trade Facilitation and Logistics, Implementation and Leveraging of The AFCFTA Opportunities, Trade Relations/Unified Engagement with Third Parties, Finance and Resource Mobilisation and Effectiveness of SACU Institutions,” the Presidency said.
Established in 1910, SACU is the oldest Customs Union in the world and has since its agreed new dispensation by its five members states (Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa) in 2002 assumed the status of an international organization, which facilitates compliance with the World Trade Organisation treaty in pursuit of its goal of regional economic integration. — NNN-SANEWS