The second (2nd) 2019 Southern African Railways Association (SARA) Board meeting was held on Thursday, 28th November 2019 at the Windhoek Country Club, will be on one of the key highlights on the TransNamib calendar.
The Southern African Railways Association (SARA) is an association of railways in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) formed in 1996 to promote the business interests of regional railways.
A total of thirty attendees included Minister of Works and Transport, Hon. John Mutorwa and Minister of Public Enterprise, Hon Leon Jooste, Chief Executives Officers, SARA Exco, Railway key players, TransNamib staff and media representatives.
Mr. Johny Smith, TransNamib CEO currently serving as Vice President of SARA, emphasised in his welcoming remarks that; “hosting this event at TransNamib is an indication of our commitment as TransNamib Holdings and Namibia as a country about our future involvement of railway partnership in the SADC region and also at the same time to develop railways in totality”.
When Hon. Jooste spoke, he commenced with the role of the two ministries, whereby he stated categorically that TransNamib is key on their priority list. As for the SARA deliberations, he called for greater collaboration on both regional and continental level.
Currently, the Association now consists of 21 members of which 13 are full members and 8 are associates. Its Secretariat formed in 1998 is based in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Secretariat is financed by annual subscriptions from members. (Secretariat to comment and verify information) Delivering his keynote address, Hon. Mutorwa commended SARA’s 2018-2022 Regional Strategic Plan, which responds to the ever-changing business environment. He shared vital information as follows; “the SADC Ministers responsible for Transport are and remain committed to providing the required Policy and governance framework to enable the ease for doing business in the rail transport sector.
This commitment is expressed at national, regional, continental and global levels…. The Ministers convincingly presented our pro-rail aspirations and desires at the African Union level, as captured in the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), and at SADC levels as elaborated in the SADC Infrastructure Development Plans”.
TransNamib would like to thank all the participants, who made the event a success.
