FOPRISA Meeting with the Sponsors, 18 July 2007

The FOPRISA meeting with representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took place as scheduled in Gaborone, Botswana  on 18 July 2007. The FOPRISA delegation comprised representatives of BIDPA, SADC Secretariat, and CMI.

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) approved a further grant for FOPRISA’s activities for the year 01 May 2007 to 30 April 2008.

Re-election of FOPRISA Steering Committee Chairperson

At its meeting in Johannesburg on 28 May 2007, the FOPRISA Steering Committee again re-elected Dr Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, Witwatersrand University, as chairperson for a third year, effective 01 May 2007 to 30 April 2008.

Next FOPRISA Meeting with the Sponsors, 18 July 2007

The next FOPRISA meeting with representatives of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is scheduled to take place in Gaborone, Botswana  on 18 July 2007. The FOPRISA delegation will include representatives of BIDPA, SADC Secretariat, and CMI.

FOPRISA Programme, 2006/7

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) approved a further grant for FOPRISA’s activities for the year 01 May 2006 to 30 April 2007.

Recruitment of the FOPRISA-SADC Research Fellow

Applications for the post of FOPRISA-SADC Research Fellow have been processed and interviews of the short listed candidates were on 13 March 2006.

FOPRISA Annual Meeting, 15 November 2005

Following on the Steering Committee meeting, the inaugural FOPRISA Annual Meeting was held at the same venue on 15 November 2005. As most projects had not actually started implementation, only the Steering Committee members and the thematic team leaders attended. The agenda was devoted to discussion of progress on the various research themes and projects, and developments that had occurred in the FOPRISA programme since the inaugural Steering Committee meeting of 27 May 2005.

The Chairperson briefed the annual meeting participants on the deliberations of the Second Meeting of the Steering Committee, which had been held the previous day. The meeting proceeded to receive presentations from thematic team leaders, which were Prof. Balefi Tsie (Democratic Development); Dr Dirk Hansohm (Monitoring SADC); Elling Tjønneland (Monitoring the International Cooperating Partners); Prof. Gavin Cawthra (Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation); Dr Arne Wiig (Regional Trade and its Relations to the International Trade System); and Dr Josaphat Kweka (Economic Harmonisation, Finance and Investment).

FOPRISA Steering Committee Meeting, 14 November 2005

The second FOPRISA Steering Committee meeting was held at the Breakwater Lodge, Cape Town, South Africa on 14 November 2005. The meeting’s agenda included an overview of developments since the inaugural meeting of 27 May 2005, research coordination, scheduling and budgeting.

The committee noted that on the 5th of July 2005, the initial funding for the year starting May 2005 to April 2006 was deposited into the BIDPA/FOPRISA account by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Steering Committee also noted that the research team leader for Theme III: Regional Trade and its Relations to the International Trade System, Dr Kennedy Mbekeani, had left BIDPA. The Steering Committee recommended that Dr Arne Wiig of CMI become the new team leader, with a researcher from BIDPA assigned as an understudy.

The Steering Committee concurred that some new project proposals were necessary for FOPRISA to realign with SADC priorities. For example, projects relating to the SADC core objective of attaining integration through a common market and establishment of the free trade area; the determination of a clear road map, through documentation of different scenarios; and other projects on the role of  infrastructure and services, especially energy, in the integration project.

The Steering Committee reiterated the need for constant and continuous interaction and consultation between FOPRISA and SADC, because the basic idea behind FOPRISA was on the one hand, to get SADC increasingly interested in learning from research, and on the other, to enable FOPRISA research teams to understand SADC needs. This would help the project become a success by making the research realistic and valuable. As such, each research team should plan to conduct a dedicated research visit to the SADC Secretariat; such a visit would help to clarify perceptions and inject realism into the research projects.

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