US and SADC sign agreements

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) signed several agreements on Wednesday to fund work in regional market integration, agriculture, natural resources management and democracy-building, a USAID statement said. These agreements will total US $18.4 million. The statement said that Prega Ramsamy, the Acting Executive Secretary of SADC, and Edward J. Spriggs, Director of USAID's Regional Centre for Southern Africa, signed the agreements at the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone. "The US government granted US $8.85 million for regional market integration activities that will promote free trade within the region and with global trading partners, remove trade barriers, and improve the movement of goods and services throughout the SADC region. The US will also fund US $3.6 million worth of agricultural projects to provide improved seeds for sorghum, millet, cassava and sweet potato and to develop cattle disease control technologies for farmers in the region," USAID said. USAID will also contribute US $5.8 million as part of its on-going support for regional wildlife management programs, including assistance to the recent initiatives for the creation of transboundary wildlife protection areas such as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in Botswana and South Africa. The balance of the US $18 million will support democracy-related endeavours carried out by civil society associations in the SADC region.