Botswana to host 6th SACU summit
The Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) Summit will be attended by the Heads of State and government representatives from the Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.
The Summit which will be held on 29 June in Gaborone, Botswana, will consider progress being made on the implementation of the Ministerial Work Programme, which was approved by the SACU Council of Ministers and endorsed by the Summit in June 2017.
This Work Programme was developed following introspection of SACU’s relevance and as an organisation that supports the economies of its Member States by the Council of Ministers at their 3rd Retreat held in June 2016.
The key activities and focus areas of the Work Programme are the review and development of a suitable architecture on tariff-setting and application of tariffs, rebates, refunds or duty drawbacks and trade remedies and strengthening of existing cooperation and collaboration on Trade Facilitation to improve border efficiencies.
The programme will also review the Revenue Sharing Formula, the long-term management of the Common Revenue Pool and the establishment of a Stabilisation Fund and a financing mechanism for regional industrialisation. Work will be undertaken to explore the feasibility for financing options for the regional projects.
The programme is spearheaded by the two Ministerial Task Teams on Trade and Industry and on Finance within an agreed time frame of 24 months. The two Task Teams are supported by the Task Teams of Senior Trade and Industry and Finance Officials, respectively.
