Gaborone, 1st November 2023 - The public is informed that the Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa, will host the 29th Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Expert (ICSOE) for Southern Africa. The event will be held from the 8th to 9th November 2023 in Gaborone, under the theme: Accelerating implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for Inclusive Development in Southern Africa: Building on the Free Trade Areas (FTAs) of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Harnessing Technology and Innovation for the Private Sector and Value Chains Development.
The meeting, which will be attended by Senior Government Officials and Experts from the SADC countries, development partners, representatives of the UN system and other relevant regional and international organizations, will provide a platform to discuss ways to promote inclusive industrialization with a view to foster sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty and inequality across the region.
Preceding the meeting will be three Ad Hoc Experts Group Meetings (AEGMs) which will be conducted from the 6th to 7th November 2023. The AEGMs will be held under themes that speaks to the different strands of the ICSOE theme. The themes of the AEGMs will respectively be on “The Status of poverty and inequality in Southern Africa”, “Leveraging the AfCFTA for the reduction of poverty and inequality in Southern Africa”, and “Regional Integration in Southern Africa – Accelerating the implementation of the AfCFTA in Southern Africa building on the acquis of the RECs FTA”
The ICSOE is a United Nations (UN) General Assembly policy sub-organ of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development established to provide a forum for engaging member States’ senior officials and experts on policy and programme-related matters in each of the five (5) sub regions of Africa – North, Central, West, East and South. The ICSOE is an integral part of ECA’s governance machinery and meets annually to consider, provide guidance and endorse the formulation and implementation of the programme of work in line with the priorities of each sub region and issue recommendations with a view to ensuring that the development imperatives of the sub regions are fully reflected in the overall work programme of ECA.
Both the ICSOE and AEGM, provide a forum for exchanging ideas and sharing lessons from a diverse pool of expertise and experiences through panel discussions, presentations and open discussions.
For more information, please contact the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Department of Industry Development; Licensing and Protection Division at 3995200 or 3957406, kcharowe@gov.bw and kegobagoba@gov.bw.