Cabinet Briefs

DECISIONS taken at Cabinet’s 13th ordinary meeting held on July 21, and released at the end of last week.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTHE Minister of Environment and Tourism, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and a delegation returned from the 17th meeting of the Commission on Sustainable Development at the UN in New York from May 4 to 15. Government has asked Ministries to follow up on the decisions and issues related to climate change as a result.Some of the issues included that agriculture be recognised as a cardinal pillar for achieving sustainable development, food security and poverty reduction; to facilitate an integrated approach to managing land and water resources for crucial for rural development; to create a robust enabling environment for drought preparedness and mitigation; and to accelerate efforts to combat desertification.STRATEGY FOR SECURITYTHE Ministry of Safety and Security has a five-year strategic plan for national and internal security (2009-2014), and this has been endorsed by Cabinet. The plan outlines the Ministry’s mission, mandate, vision and core values. No further detail was provided on the plan by the Cabinet which added that additional funds would be needed to implement the plan which was developed with input from stakeholders, but these were not identified.COASTAL MANAGEMENTTHERE had been good progress in sustainable coastal management, said Cabinet. The process was being spearheaded by the Nacoma project of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism with a view to putting in place a Coastal Policy. The Ministries of Fisheries and Mines and Energy would also be involved in the project, the goal of which was to ensure ‘the Namibian coast was managed in a sustainable manner to conserve its unique natural biodiversity for the economy and wellbeing of Namibians as well as visitors’. A workshop will take place in this regard in Swakopmund soon.ANNUAL REPORTSCABINET has authorised the Minister of Information and Communication Technology to table the 2008 annual report of NamPost Limited; as well as the 2008 report of the Development Bank of Namibia. They also authorised the Minister of Labour to table the 2007-8 report of the Social Security Commission.