Luanda - The President of Botswana, Duma Gideon Boko, on Wednesday formalized his country's accession to the agreement amending the SADC Treaty, which transforms the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) into a regional parliament, by signing the relevant document in Gaborone.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Chairperson of the SADC-PF National Monitoring Group, Pedro Sebastião, representing the Speaker of the Angolan National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira.

It was also attended by senior officials from Botswana and the Speakers of the Parliaments that are members of the SADC-PF Transformation Lobby Group, namely South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Botswana's signature symbolizes its commitment to the transformation agenda as the country hosts the headquarters of the SADC Executive Secretariat.

In his speech, the President of Botswana assured that the intention to sign the treaty was never in doubt.

The SADC Treaty Amendment Agreement will enter into force in July 2024, at which time it will have been signed by three-quarters of SADC members, or 12 states.

Currently, 13 of the 14 SADC PF member states have signed the Treaty Amendment. Mauritius, the last non-signatory state, is expected to do so shortly.

The SADC PF was established in 1997 by Article (9) 2 of the SADC Treaty as an autonomous institution of SADC and consists of 14 parliaments, namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.ART/DAN/AMP