SADC Council ministers meeting in Maputo

The SADC Council of Ministers are meeting in Maputo, Republic of Mozambique. The meeting forms  part of a series of discussions that started on 28 February. The Council meets in accordance with Article 11 (4) of the SADC Treaty’s provisions. The council customarily meets around this time in order to consider the SADC budget for the fiscal year starting on April 01 and ending on March 31 the following year.
During this sitting, the Council of Ministers will review the implementation of its decisions including the expenditure on the SADC budget during the period  01April 2012 to 31 March 2013 and consider the SADC budget for 2013/14 fiscal year as well as receive a Report from the SADC Audit Committee on its operations during the period under review.
Regarding the implementation of its previous decisions, Council will consider, among others, progress on the status of the review of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and  the Agenda of the SADC-EU Ministerial dialogue scheduled to take place on March 20, 2013 in Maputo, Mozambique. The meeting will also address the funding operations of the SADC Accreditation Service (SADCAS), convening of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Investment Conference as progress towards the implementation of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan, the Regional Strategy for Development of Statistics and lastly the review of the SADC Communications and Promotional Strategy including the Media Awards.
Council documents will be prepared during a series of meetings preceding it, namely, the Finance Sub-committee meeting which took place from 28 February to 02 March, the Finance Committee meeting which took place on 04 March and the Standing Committee of Officials meeting in accordance with Article 13 of the SADC Treaty to clear the Council Agenda which took place from 04 – 06 March.