South Africa: President Ramaphosa Arrives in Eswatini for SACU Summit

29 June 2023
SAnews.gov.za (Tshwane)

President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in the Kingdom of Eswatini to participate in the 8th Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) Heads of State and Government Summit.

The summit is being held under the theme "SACU Industrialization Opportunities through Improving Economic Complexity".

"The President's working visit at the SACU Heads of State and Government Summit is at the invitation of the current Chair of SACU, His Majesty King Mswati III and the iNgwenyama of the Kingdom of Eswatini," the Presidency said in a statement on Thursday.

The President will deliver a statement at the opening ceremony.

"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 statement read.

SACU is the oldest Customs Union in the world having been established in 1910.

It 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.

President Ramaphosa is accompanied by Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza, Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter.

Read the original article on SAnews.gov.za.

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