Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo emphasised the importance of implementing the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology, in order to promote rapid and sustainable economic growth in the Southern African region.
Opening the SADC/EU Transport Conference in Maputo today Minister Nzo, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of SADC, said that "the coming into force of three of the nine SADC Protocols signalled a view phase in the organisation's programme of regional integration and that these are important building blocks for the SADC Community."
Minister Nzo thanked Austria, the current President of the European Union, for financing and organising the conference under the auspices of the Berlin Initiative. He also commended the efforts of the South African Transport and Communications Commission. Minister Nzo welcomed the European Union's commitment to the region and shared its view that transport, in particular, played a critical role in the economic and social development of the sub-region.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 15 OCTOBER 1998