17th meeting of the SADC ministerial taskforce on regional economic integration |12 July 2016

Minister Benstrong leads Seychelles’ delegation

Minister Michael Benstrong headed the Seychelles’ delegation at the SADC 17th meeting of the ministerial task force on regional economic integration that was held in Gaborone, Botswana on July 6, 2016.

The meeting noted progress on the development of the Draft Costed Action Plan for implementation of the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap and referred it for further consultations at national level.

The meeting also considered the implementation of the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan and noted that concerted efforts continue to be made with the roll out of infrastructure in the different sectors of energy, water, transport and ICT. The task force urged member states to allocate adequate resources to ensure implementation of power projects within the planned milestones in order to eliminate the prevailing power deficit in the region. Member states were also urged to submit their projects to the various funding mechanisms for project preparation to ensure a pipeline of bankable regional projects.

Minister Benstrong, who holds the portfolio for investment, entrepreneurship development and business innovation, also attended the SADC 28th meeting of the committee of ministers for trade and the SADC ministers for finance and investment meeting held on July 5 and 7 respectively.

The ministers for trade reviewed progress in the ongoing negotiations for scheduling commitments under the Protocol on Trade in Services and took note of the outstanding issues delaying conclusion of the negotiations by the extended deadline of September 2016.

The ministers for finance and investment discussed and approved, among other issues, the draft Agreement on the Operationalisation of the SADC Regional Development Fund.

Minister Benstrong was accompanied at the SADC ministerial meetings by Irene Croisée and Ricky Barbé from the Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, Ziyaad Ebrahim from the Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship Development and Business Innovation and Sandra Isnard from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport.