The ninth ordinary meeting of the Management Committee and eighth Conference of Ministers of the Lake Tanganyika Authority, started on Tuesday, February 11 and ended on February 14 2020. It was held at Twangale Park, Chilanga District, Zambia. Participants of the Management Committee meeting were, the members of the four countries bordering Lake Tanganyika, namely the Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Zambia, as well as observers from the European Union, the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel), the Lake Kivu and Rusizi River Basin Authority, the FAO.
To mark the active start of the activities, the Acting Executive Director of the Authority of Lake Tanganyika, Mrs Beatrice Nyakorema Marwa, took the floor and thanked the Republic of Zambia for the warm welcome and hospitality reserved for all delegations as well as for any other facility implemented to ensure the proper organisation of the Chilanga meeting.
She recalled that the Lake Tanganyika Authority continued to facilitate the implementation of the LTA Sstrategic Action Plan (2012) . Despite the financial constraints that the Secretariat has, efforts are still being made to work with donors to achieve its objectives. In particular, the European Union had agreed to finance two projects, namely Lake Tanganyika Water Managmnet (LATAWAMA) and Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Managmnet(LATAFIMA) projects,” indicated Ms Nyakorema Marwa.
In his opening speech, Mr Mabvuto Sakala, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Water Management, Sanitation and Environmental Protection, expressed his joy at the official opening of the ninth ordinary meeting of the ALT Management Committee. On behalf of the Government of Zambia, he welcomed Management Committee members and partners from the four Members States and other countries to participate in this important meeting to aim at preparing for the Conference of Ministers to be held on February 14 2020.
The Conference of Ministers, for essential decisions!
The Conference of Ministers (CoM) began on February 14 2020. All the delegations representing the countries that signed the Convention were present. They had to validate the Management ’Committee’s report and give guidelines relating to future actions. Among the main conclusions were the appointment of the new Executive Director of the Lake Tanganyika Authority, Mr Sylvain Tusanga Mukanga from the Democratic Republic of Congo to succeed Ir Jean Marie NTIMPIRANTIJE.