President Ramaphosa to attend the 7th Southern African Customs Union Summit Of Heads of State and Government In Botswana

President Cyril Ramaphosa will undertake a Working Visit to the Republic of Botswana to attend the 7th Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Summit of Heads of State and Government in Gaborone.

The Summit will be held on the 30th June 2022 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre and will be attended by Heads of State and Government and representatives of SACU Member States.

Member States include the Republic of Botswana as the summit host and the current chair of the Union; the Kingdom of Eswatini; the Kingdom of Lesotho; the Republic of Namibia; and the Republic of South Africa.

SACU is the oldest Customs Union in the world and its Summit is held annually to discuss progress on the implementation of it’s agreed upon Work Programme.

In this regard, the 7th Summit will consider progress made on the implementation of the refocused Work Programme whose priorities include:

Industrialisation through the development of regional value chains, investment attraction and export promotion;

Regional Financing Mechanism;

Trade Facilitation and Logistics; and

Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Summit will further consider the five-year SACU Strategic Plan as approved by the Council of Ministers on the 2nd June 2022.

The Summit is preceded by the meetings of its institutions namely

64th Meeting of the Finance and Audit Committee: 22 June 2022;

68th Meeting of the SACU Commission: 23-24 June 2022; and

47th Meeting of the SACU Council of Ministers: 28-29 June 2022. 6

President Ramaphosa will be accompanied by Minister Ebrahim Patel of Trade and Industry and Deputy Ministers David Masondo and Fikile Majola of Finance and of Trade and Industry respectively.

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – 082 835 6315

Source: Government of South Africa