By 
By King’s Office Correspondent
LUANDA, ANGOLA: His Majesty the King has signed four protocols that endorse the country’s commitment to improving cooperation in various sectors among countries in the SADC region. These are: the SADC Protocol on Employment and Labour; the Protocol on Statistics; the SADC Declaration on Accelerating Action to End AIDS as a Public Threat; and the Protocol on Interstate Transfer of Sentenced Offenders.
The SADC Protocol on Employment and Labour is aimed at, among other things, providing member states with strategic direction and guidelines for the harmonisation of employment and labour, as well as social security, policies and legislation.
It also seeks to enhance cohesion, encourage collaboration among member states, and promote common approaches to labour market challenges for the attainment of sustainable development.
The protocol further seeks to promote and enhance labour productivity by providing harmonious and conducive working environments, ensuring the achievement of minimum labour standards, providing social protection, and creating sustainable social dialogue.
The Protocol on Statistics seeks to serve as a legal framework for enabling and enhancing statistical development and innovation in the region.
It also seeks to promote a culture whereby policy, planning, decision-making, monitoring, and evaluation of development processes at every level are informed and driven by good-quality statistics.
Additionally, it is to strengthen the harmonisation of the compilation and dissemination of official statistics in state parties to make them relevant, timely, and reliable to assess and measure the progress of regional integration in the region. The SADC Declaration on Accelerating Action to End AIDS as a Public Threat is aimed at reducing the incidence of new infections among the most vulnerable populations within the Member States.
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It is also to mitigate the socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS, review, develop, and harmonise policies and legislation relating to HIV prevention, care and support, and treatment within SADC.
It further seeks to mobilise and coordinate resources for a multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS in the SADC region. The Protocol on the Inter-State Transfer of Sentenced Offenders is intended to facilitate the transfer of sentenced offenders to serve their sentences in their home countries.
It is aimed at contributing to the social reintegration of citizens who are sentenced as offenders as a result of criminal offences they committed in foreign countries in the
region.
