SADC tourism ministers meet on sidelines of Spanish trade fair |25 January 2014

Tourism ministers from Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Seychelles and Mozambique met this week in Madrid, where they were all gathered for Fitur 2014, the tourism trade fair of Spain.

The five ministers are the 'working group of six' appointed by the SADC (Southern African Development Community) tourism ministers at the Mozambique meeting last year.

Minister Sylvia Masebo from Zambia, Minister Walter Mzembi from Zimbabwe,  Minister Marthinus  van Schalkwyk from South Africa, Minister Alain St Ange from Seychelles and Minister Carvalho Muaria of Mozambique met at the Intercontinental Hotel Madrid to discuss the restructure of Retosa in a bid to integrate the tourism body back into SADC. Absent was the minister from Malawi who was unfortunately not in Madrid for Fitur.

Two sub-committees were named from the five ministers to plan the way forward ahead of the February 13 meeting in Cape Town. This meeting will be followed by a tourism ministers meeting in Livingstone, Zambia to prepare final restructuring documents ahead of the SADC heads of state summit in August.