Mozambique is now Chair of the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM). This follows the 10th meeting for the organisation’s Council of Ministers (CoM) held on the 27th April 2023 in Kasane, Botswana.
The meeting hosted by Botswana, the out-going Chair, was the first physical meeting by the Council of Ministers (CoM) since 2020 due to the COVID-19 restriction which saw two other meetings of 2021 and 2022 held virtually.
The ZAMCOM Chairship handover ceremony took place at the end of the Council meeting during which Botswana, led by the country’s Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Hon. Dr. Kefentse Mzwinila, handed over the instruments of power to Mozambique and Namibia as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively.
ZAMCOM Chairship is rotational and takes place alphabetically annually at an ordinary session of the Council of Ministers’ meeting. This is the second time that Mozambique takes over as Chair of ZAMCOM. The first time was from 2018 to 2019.
In his acceptance speech, Mozambique’s High Commissioner to Botswana, His Excellence Ambassador Antonio Macheve representing that country’s Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources Hon. Eng. Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita, commended Botswana for its leadership from 2022 to 2023.
He also commended Riparian States for attending the meeting saying this was an indication of their commitment to cooperation in transboundary water resources development and management. This, he said, also demonstrates the countries’ dedication to ensuring the achievement of regional integration by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
He highlighted the importance of such cooperation in recent years where extreme weather events such as floods caused by devastating cyclones and droughts had left a trail of destruction and loss of human life in the Southern Africa region. Mozambique, he said had been one of the worst affected by the recent floods caused by cyclone Freddy.
Ambassador Macheve said the out-going Chair, Botswana, had overseen a year that saw a number of achievements by ZAMCOM. Chief among them was the beginning of implementation of the Strategic Plan for the Zambezi Watercourse (ZSP) through the Programme for Integrated Development and Adaptation to Climate Change (PIDACC Zambezi).
He said, Mozambique was taking over the Chairship recognizing the good work that had been done and what still needed to be done to ensure the momentum was maintained.
“I can assure you, we will honour this responsibility given to us. We take it as a challenge, and we will deliver. To the ZAMCOM Secretariat, as Chair, we will support and give guidance,” said H.E. Ambassador Macheve.
He urged the ZAMCOM Riparian States to continue supporting the organization financially through the annual contributions and to also assist in further resource mobilization for the implementation of the ZSP. This calls for unity around PIDACC Zambezi “as this programme will help us achieve strong communities in the Zambezi Watercourse”.
The ZAMCOM Council of Ministers’ meeting is held annually to take stock of what the watercourse organization, shared by eight Southern African countries has achieved. This year, Council assessed progress for the 2022/2023 annual financial year.
The ZAMCOM Council, as the highest decision making organ of the organization, adopts and provides policy guidance and makes decisions on recommendations from the ZAMCOM Technical Committee (ZAMTEC), the organisations technical arm.
The Ministers’ meeting was preceded by that of ZAMTEC meeting of 24-25 April 2023 in Kasane which made some recommendations for approval by the Council.
ZAMCOM is a watercourse organization set up through the ZAMCOM Agreement by the eight Riparian States that share the Zambezi. ZAMCOM promotes and coordinates the cooperative management and development of the Zambezi Watercourse in a sustainable, climate resilient manner. The eight Riparian States are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Apart from the contributions from Member States for its operations, current support for ZAMCOM, mainly for the implementation of the ZSP under PIDACC Zambezi, is from ZAMCOM’s Strategic Partner Organisations, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF). Support for other activities is from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Bank.
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