The Member of Parliament for South East North, Olebile Gaborone, and MP for Kgatleng West, Gilbert Mangole, are among the delegates attending the joint sessions of the 28th African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) parliamentary assembly and the 23rd session of the ACP-EU parliamentary assembly.
The two left the country on Monday and will be taking part in the parliamentary assembly, which is set to start today (Wednesday) at Horsens, Denmark and end next week Wednesday on May 30).
The parliamentary assembly is expected to discuss different topics but the urgent ones are the situation in Sudan and South Sudan, which have recently been at loggerheads.
Sudan’s 21-year civil war left around two million dead and split the country into two and eventually resulted in the formation of two countries, Sudan and South Sudan. Although the war ended in 2005, peace remains fragile, especially after the South became independent from the North in July 2011.The situation of unrest that has been taking place in Nigeria is also on the agenda.
Other topics that will be discussed include the social and environmental impact of mining on ACP countries, price volatility, the functioning of global markets for agricultural products and their impact on food security in ACP countries. The Political impact of the Libyan conflict on neighbouring PAC and EU states as well as the political situation in ACP and EU states are also to be discussed.
The ACP is composed of a body of three standing committees, which are Social Affairs and the Environment, standing committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade and the standing committee on Political affairs. Botswana is currently a member of the ACP-EU standing committee on Social Affairs and the environment.
The MP’s are expected to be back in the country on the 1st of June.