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Herald Reporter

FOREIGN Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo, who also chairs the Ministerial Committee of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation will tomorrow host the 22nd meeting of the committee via a virtual platform.

The MCO will be preceded by the senior officials’ meeting to be held today.

Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu and State Security Minister Owen Ncube are also expected to attend the MCO virtual meeting.

In a statement yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade spokesperson Mrs Constance Chemwayi said, “Top of the agenda of the 22nd MCO will be: the political and security situation in the region, with particular attention to the developments in the Kingdom of Lesotho, Republic of Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Mozambique and the border dispute between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Zambia.”

She said the meeting will review the reports on elections held in the period between July and December 2019 and exchange views on how member states holding elections this year can do so amid the Covid-19 and how the region can continue to deploy SADC Election Observation Missions.

“The meeting will also consider security challenges posed by, among others, rising threats of terrorism and extremism, cyber-crime, transnational organised crime, climate change and disasters, illegal migration and marginalisation and exclusion,” Mrs Chemwayi said.

An extraordinary virtual meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers was held on Tuesday, where the ministers adopted guidelines that will see the region enhancing cooperation in trade through increased traffic movement, manufacturing drugs and jointly acquiring medicines from countries such as India in order to reduce costs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic .

The meeting, which was chaired by Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation, Prof Palamagamba John Kabudi, was a follow-up to another one that was held in May by the Sadc Council of Ministers, which among other things directed the expanded technical committee on health to meet by June 5 and come up with revised regional guidelines on harmonisation and facilitation of cross border transport operations across the region.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Dr Moyo, who led a delegation of ministers, permanent secretaries and senior Government officials, said Zimbabwe and the region at large, was now adapting to the new normal that has been brought on by Covid-19.